Scotophobia Part II

To conclude my fourth and final piece, I reverted back to the original image and tweaked it a little from there onwards. In the end  I began disliking the green/blue effect as it made the image very flat and dull.
I added the text so the image matches the other three final pieces I created prior to this one.
In general, I am content with the images I have produced and I feel they are all of good and equal quality.

Here is the final image:

That image concludes my Unit 1 coursework with the theme of viewpoints.
I feel I have created some images that nicely represent the viewpoint of someone with a phobia, though I may be a little biased in that statement. In terms of improvements, there is always room for improving - but only when you feel as though the improvements are necessary. I am content with the results my images have given me (or, well, are going to give me...)

Scotophobia Part I

My fourth final piece is called Scotophobia, the fear of darkness.

Here is the contact sheet of my shoot:

You will have to click to enlarge.

Out of all the shots, I chose the image I most liked (which is named DSC_0158 in the picture above.)

Here is the original:

I like this image most because of the harsh shadowing on the face, and the emotion that I, the subject, am portraying through this image. 

One thing I do dislike about this photo is it's warm, orange-nesss (for lack of a better description.) This wasn't a problem though, as I could easily correct it in post production. 

Using Picasa, I added a vignette and made the image darker around the edges to make the image a little more claustrophobia, per say. Here is the image:

I further edited my image by adding a duotone on Photoshop CS4. I actually tweaked my image between the vignette and duotone, however I didn't save the changes to then upload to the blog. 

Here is the duotone effect:

I actually cheated a little and after applying duotone I took a Blue/Green gradient and applied it to give it a little more colour, so it's not pure duotone. 

Next I will be adding text to my image, I will be writing the definition of Scotophobia so this image fits in with my other ones. 

Additional information:
Subject:
As this is a self-portrait, I am the subject.
Costume:
I wore a blue and white t-shirt mainly because that happened to be what I was wearing that day, but I also felt it was subtle enough that I could get away with it in my shoot.

Location:

Situated in my bedroom.
Equipment:

Nikon D5100
Nikkor 18-55mm f3.5-5.6
A bed-side table and a pile of books to act as a tripod.
Lighting:
Candle-lit
Risk Assessment: 
As I used used a candle as my one light source, I had to fiddle about with the camera settings a fair bit before getting the right settings for a good image. This meant I was leaning forward near a candle to fiddle with my camera, and although I was being cautious there was a risk of me burning myself.
As I have rather long hair, I had to be extra careful none of it went near the flame, or I could have accidentally set my hair on fire - and that wouldn't have been fun!

My Fourth and Final Artist

I have decided to change artist. I was recommended to look at Jane Brown by my teacher, and I much preferred her work to that of Alyssa Oliver.

Brown was an English photographer who worked for The Observer newspaper from 1949. Her portraits primarily photographed using natural, available light and are often black and white.
Since her death she has been referred to as "a kind of English Cartier-Bresson" by Lord Snowdon, claiming she "produced photography at its best. She doesn't rely on tricks or gimmicks, just simple, honest recording, but with a shrewd and intellectual eye."

Here is some of her work:

Samuel Beckett by Jane Brown, 1976

John Lennon by Jane Brown, 1967

The reason I have switched to Brown's work is because I feel I could benefit from her photographic style more than Oliver's. This is because for the next shoot, I was planning on taking a photo in the dark, where the only source of light my camera would be able to pick up on was from a candle. Like Brown's work, I wasn't going to use any fancy studio lights nor was I using any form of artificial lighting.
The harsh natural lighting seen on Lennon and Beckett's faces above is something I would like to be present in my next shoot for Scotophobia, the fear of darkness. I feel the harsh lighting will give the image some edge.