Project 4: Re-Creating Film Stills-Final Prints

Contact sheet

Filter:4

Aperture:4

Time: 1.5 Seconds

Filter:4

Aperture:4

Time: 1.5 Seconds

This is my first final print. In this shot, I used the soft box as a prop and this caused some problems. The first time I shot, I didn't have any other lights except the soft box and so, the subjects were not lit up at all. So the next time, I used another light lighting up the two of them in general. Even though Heather is darker than Barbara in this picture, she is supposed to be.

Filter:4

Aperture:4

Time: 1.5 Seconds

Just like the one above, I used the soft box as a prop. It did not only light up Heather's face, it acted as a prop. Before, I couldn't see Heather's face very well as I could not even see the outline. Now, I lit up another light facing Heather and made it lighter. I guess the composition of this picture is wrong as there is too much space above the light and Heather.

Filter:4

Aperture:4

Time: 1.5 Seconds

In this picture, Barbara had to be in place of a man. However she was the shortest one so she was in the middle and the second shortest was on the front. I lit up Barbara and Josh in general as they were the ones with light. Fabrizio was the darkest and so did not need much light. I do not think the composition of Josh is bad as the original still also had the front person cut off.

Project 4: Re-Creating Film Stills-Printing Compositions

This is a test shot of my first final print. On the original screen shot, there were four men, three on one side and one on the other side. However since there were limited number of boys in our class, I had to ask Katlynne to be one of them. I also prepared the setting in the way that the tallest one is to the closest and the shortest one is in the middle. It is also like that in the screen shot. I had Fabrizio holding a paper because the man in the picture also had a paper in his hands. I also wanted Fabrizio to be speaking and catch him in motion because the man's mouth also seemed like he was talking.
In the original picture, the overall lighting was very blue, and so I had quite a hard time figuring out the right light setting. However I realized that the focus of light was mainly on the first two people at the left. The man on the right was very dark and in shadow. So I turned one of the lights at them and left the other two unlighted. Even though they were not lighted, the light on the top helped.

This is a test shot of my second final print. In this shot, there are one girl and one woman. I wanted Heather as the girl because she had the similar hair color and style. I also wanted Meghan in the place of the woman because of her hair color and her black clothings. I tried to have a table in front of Heather so it resembles the girl with her hands on the table. However Heather trying to hold her hands up in the air seemed useless and just painful. So I got rid of that and instead put the light prop at the back. I realize that the distance between the light and the models are too close, but if I had them apart, they would not fit in the same frame.

For the lighting, I had a dim light in front of them to give a general light. Then I put the soft box behind them both as a prop and as a light source. In the original screen shot, the mirror has lights around it. I was aiming for this when I put the soft box in the frame.

This is a test shot of my last final print. In the original screen shot, there is a woman facing her back to the viewers. She is looking into the mirror with lights in front of her. I had Heather as the model because she had the straightest hair in the class. I had her lean back at the chair and put one of her leg up and rest it agains another chair, so we can see a part of her crossed leg. I also put the soft box in replace of the mirror, since the mirror in the original shot also had lights around it.

For the lighting, I only used the soft box. It did not only act as a prop but also as a light source. It brightened the model's face and darkened her backside.

Project 4: Re-Creating Film Stills-Image Bank

MIRJANA VRBASKI
Mirjana Vbraski is a Serbian photographer, who currently lives in Den Haag, the Netherlands. She was born in Canada and grew up in Serbia since 2008. She studied English literature at the university of Guelph, Canada. Now, she works at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague, the Netherlands. She has won many awards including, national portrait gallery and best four entries at shortlist.
I chose this image because it was one of the main pictures that she talked about that day. She told us about how she got to cast this model and her general way of shooting. In this picture, you can see how she set the lighting from the shadows on the model's face. I really like how the portrait itself seems very mysterious, yet very original.

POLLY CHANDLER
Polly Chandler is an American photographer, who is famous for her unique portrait style. Her pictures show "the personality of her subjects through selective backgrounds and the use of large formats." She began as a graphic designer but ended up with photography.

I chose this picture because all of Polly Chandler's photographs seem like they are film photographs. Even though I am not sure if they are actually film photographs, she edits her photographs to seem like black and white film photos. Unlike our project, this picture uses natural light and depth of field.

RICHARD MURAI
Richard Murai is a Japanese photographer, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He now teaches photograph in Northern California and he is known for shooting the world's sacred sites, such as Peru, Turkey, Egypt, Russia and Asia. Unlike the process for our project, he uses film as practice shots and turns to digital photography for final prints.

I chose this picture because from all of Murai's pictures, this seemed the most like a film photograph. I am pretty sure that this is a digital photograph as Murai uses digital photography as final prints. This picture also uses natural light and since it is black and white, it seems more moody.

DAVID BAILEY

David Bailey is a British photographer, born and raised in England. He became an assitant at the John French studio before being contracted as a fashion photographer for Vogue magazine in 1960. He rose to fame in the 1960s and since then, has shot for many magazines, such as Rolling Stones and GQ Magazine. He apparently prefers film photograph instead of digital because of the photographs' quality.

I chose this picture because I liked the composition of the picture. The edges look like this picture is lomo and the fact that it is sepia makes the photograph look more official. Just like the pictures above, I am not sure if this is a film photograph because it seems like a digital photograph.

Project 4: Re-Creating Film Stills-Theory Notes

This is a screen shot from the movie "Casablanca" from 1940's. This is similar to the one with four people. In this picture, one of the man on the left is much closer to the man on the right than the other two. This is one of the differences between this shot and my picture. Also the man on the right has a gun in his hand, which in my picture is holding a paper. Moreover the lighting in this picture is mainly on the character's heads, while my picture's lighting is mainly on the two people on the left. I don't think there were any limitations from the time period as it did not require any technological advancements.

This is a screen shot from the movie "Doctor Zhivago" from 1960's. This is similar to my picture of two women. In this picture, the models are male and the one on the right is more or less sitting. However in my picture, the two models were females and the person on the right was standing. Also, the lighting in this picture is on the right top that it is lighting the model's faces. However in my picture, the lighting is mainly on the models's backs with a prop at the back. Once again, there were no limitations from time period.

This is a screen shot of the movie "10 Things I Hate About You" from 1990's. Even though it was not from today, I still thought it belonged to more modern movies. The model in this picture is a blonde girl with her hair tied up. However the one in my picture is a brunette woman with her hair loose. Also in my picture you can see her leg crossed up. Moreover in this picture, you can see the model's reflection on the mirror, while on my picture, you can not see the reflection. One of the main similarities is the lighting. Both of the pictures have the lighting in front of the model beside the mirror, so that it lightens up their faces. Once again, there were no limitations but the model's overall mood are very different.

Project 4: Re-Creating Film Stills-Diary Entry

BAD
Today, I kept on printing my photos for the current project, re-creating film stills. I already had a hard time with printing them last class. I tried with the highest filter and different apertures, but everytime the test strips came out either too dark or too grainy. Since, ms.Dele was late to class today, I just followed her instructions on the email. Even though I tried every possible combinations with the color filter, it simply did not work. Even ms. Dele tried to work on it during her free time, but she decided that 3 other students and I have to reshoot. She extended the due dates for us, and we decided to do the re-shoot the next week. The four of us were very upset and devastated when we heard the news. I just hope that everything works out at the next shoot.
GOOD
Today, the other 3 students and I worked on our re-shoot. Even though we earned ourselves an extension for due dates, we thought it would be better to finish it earlier. Since Fabrizio and I needed to reshoot all three photographs, we went first. After he finished his, I worked on mine. Fortunately, we didn't have to reshoot with the digital pictures and so, it was easier for us. Since I already knew where the lights should be and which poses the models should be in, the re-shoot went faster than before and I finished them in one class.