Work Diary - Shoot 2

Evaluation

This shoot of mine was inspired by Nick Fancher, who photographs tasty snacks and adds surreal elements to the composition. In his Ritz photograph, he had the crackers flying out of the packet and falling down in a tidy pattern towards a bowl. I wanted to reproduce this style of work in my own way, where I had M&M's flying out of its packet directed towards Danielle's mouth. I also included miniature M&M figures and created the illusion that the two characters were catching a pattern of M&M's in their hands and bouncing them back and forth. This shoot was extremely successful, as the patterns I created were evident and beaming with colour, making them even more noticeable and bold against the white background. Below I have displayed how I create images like this, using the select tool on Photoshop and separate images - piecing one photograph together through layers. As advertising is also something that I am interested in, I wanted to produce some images that could relate to this theme, and I feel my outcomes would be appropriate for M&M advertising as they are bright, filled with colour and convey lots of imagination - features that make for a strong piece of advertising photography.

With this photograph, I wanted to create the illusion of M&M's piling up in Danielle's mouth as a follow on photograph to the one of the M&M's falling into her mouth from the packet at a side angle. I had to select each M&M and drag them into the frame of this one, placing them in random spots of Danielle's mouth, doing so until I filled it up. I then had to select each M&M that I wanted to rub out, in order to create the shapes of her teeth and outline of her lips which became lost in the group of M&M's. Once I had rubbed out some of the M&M's and perfected the shape of her mouth with the confectionery, I altered the brightness and curves etc to make this photograph even more appealing. I was pleased with the outcome of this photograph as it looks bizarre but effective. The neutral colours of Danielle's hair and top contrast with the high saturation of the M&M's which allows them to stand out even more, as they are the focal point.

This was another successful photograph from today's shoot that I created on Photoshop. I photographed two M&M characters at a certain distance from eachother to leave space for the M&M pattern. I used a simple white sheet that rolled down over the table I was shooting on to form an infinity curve. I also had a natural light source coming in from the right side of the frame and casting a slight shadow next to the figures. Form is therefore a formal element that I have used in this photograph, alongside shape, pattern, colour and movement. I placed each M&M in a chronological order, so that the colour sequence of green, yellow, blue, red and orange was consistent throughout the whole pattern. I want to develop this photograph into a gif, where each M&M pops into the frame one by one as this is what Carl Kleiner done with his Ritz project, where the crackers piled out of the packet and into a bowl.

Progression

It was fun for me to be creative again with Photoshop, experimenting with surrealism and creating pieces of photography that effortlessly catch your eye. I therefore want to develop this technique in an upcoming shoot where I be creative again with sweets/chocolate. Photographing confectionery is the most fascinating food product for me to shoot because it is always beaming with bright colours and the packaging is usually artistic and photogenic, making being creative come naturally as I am always able to employ some eccentric features that link to the product.