True Detective - Mini Brief
The true detective mini brief is focus on my ability to merge and edit images in a way thats similar to an advert, movie or true detective type poster. this'll test my photoshop ability aswell as my photographic ability and keeping the edit in mind whilst shooting. the following are examples, similar to what I want to do. Below are some examples of the types of outcomes I'm interested in re-creating/putting my own twist on.
Tales Almeida (@ta97.edit) -
One thing that I noticed in these images that I can take inspiration from is the colour palette. The colours relate to the team being made into this edit. The colour pallet also has to look good, the blues and reds in these examples relate to the colours of the team & work well together in this retro-style edit. The edits are quite detailed and used images and graphics that could be close to copyright. therefore if i do something similar I'll have to be careful to not break any laws.
Professional sports photography as always been a goal of mine so I feel like expanding on my photoshop and image manipulation skills with stills from real matches would help improve me as a photographer. This is something that in the industry you have to do especially when shooting to a brief. My photoshop skills will also be tested as I can combine this technique with others that I will research further.
Tim Tadder
Tim goes for a more simplistic approach and uses double exposures in his work. A double exposure is a good way of combining two images, typically a portrait and a landscape. I like how they tell a story, not only can you see the person but you also get some background information too. The examples above I've picked as references as they link to sports, but they also have an image that has been taken in the studio which is a requirement of my final outcome. i want to combine the ideas of double exposures and the more graphic example shown previously.
Test Shoot
In order to understand the type of lighting set-up we want for the final outcome, we had a play with lighting and poses.
The only source of lighting on the subject was that from the snoot. The snoot directs light straight into one ares of the image, different to a soft-box that spreads the light out. As well as this we used some regular soft-box lighting on the background behind the subject. this ensured our background is a pure white and made would make it easier for us to cut the subject out later on when it comes to photoshop and post production.
My favourite images from this selection are the ones of Georgia (white t-shirt) as I feel they are closer to the sports idea and theme I'm going for. I also feel like I prefer the pose, the others are also good poses but these relate to sport/football more.
Colour Palletes for edits -
All if these images are taken by me down at Dartford FC, more specifically their women's team. I chose these images as the colours vary throughout and all have different hues and themes. the swatches i gathered were taken from the kits and surroundings of the players/manager. I can use these colours to edit with in my final piece.
For a sample edit I'm going to use the colour pallete from the far right above. the bright yellow gives me connotations of lightning and relates nicely to the clubs sponsor. So I'll use this as a theme to work from. below is a video of the step by step and layers I used to create the final image.
The cutting out around the subject (Georgia's) face is a bit messy and could be done better, in order to improve I'm going to practise more on different objects and look at cutting them out more effectively.
Bottle Lighting
To get a better understanding of how to cut objects out within photoshop and prepare further for our brief we did a shoot of a bottle of gin. this easy to cut out shape was a good start. We used the pen tool to create a path around the object. The tool to begin with was a little fiddly to use but once you understand how it works I can see how useful it can be.
By cutting the bottle out I was able to make it a selection and duplicate the layer. However this meant that the bottle was just floating above a plain background. To develop my photoshop ability further I planned to make the bottle sit on something, like a tabletop or some sort of surface.
I added a gradient to the background and then using the rectangular marquee tool to add a second gradient which will take place as the table-like surface. After this i reflected the bottle by duplicating and flipping the image. then by masking and brushing the reflection I made it fade out.
Cutting out hair however can be tricky, one way to do it is through masking, you can mask a layer and brush out around the hairs individually. This however can be time consuming. Below is a further edit where I combined these techniques.
Space Man Edit
To practise editing subjects into different backgrounds, we were given two images, a spaceman and a landscape. I had to edit them together to create one full image. I had to think about shadows, lighting and colours.
in this edit I started off my using the path tool to cut out the space man. This probably the most time consuming part of the edit but when done well, makes a ton of difference. I then had to remove the road from the original landscape, this isn't accurate to the surface of the moon. I did this using the clone-stamping tool.
Creating the shadow was tricky as theres rocks and bumpy surfaces below the spaceman which makes the shadow uneven. All I did was use the mask from the spaceman, duplicated it, and laid it on the floor beneath. using a bit of warp in the free transform tool I made it look a bit more natural.
The background at this point was still blank, so i found a generic galaxy image in the background. The colours of this background then made be alter the highlights and shadows on the surface, and on the spaceman. using a low opacity, soft low flow brush I brushed a similar colour onto the subject and the background paying close attention to the shadows and highlights.
Another little detail is the reflection of the mask, i used the hands from the original image in the reflection and then flipped the background in the reflection and warped it.
what I found hard with this edit is that you're editing something that isn't there yet. I might need these skills when it comes to my edit as I might have to adjust things to suit a different environment. But in conclusion I am happy with this edit as I feel it challenged me and pushed my photoshop ability.
Double Exposure
One thing that I've always liked but always struggled to make is a double exposure. in one of our classes we got taught a few tricks to help make the process easier. I started by cutting out my subject and placing them in the centre of the canvas. on top of the image I placed my "filler images" on top in a rough area where I'd like them to show through.
If you hold down shift and move your cursor to the bottom of the "filler" layer a little down arrow will appear if you click this the image will clip into whatever layer is placed below. This can then be masked and brushed in/out where needed.
Before I'd cut the image out completely and try to line it up manually but this way makes it 10x easier.
Second Edit
In my second edit, I ventured away from double exposure and went towards more of a 'cluster' look. I feel that this way of editing fits the style I'm going for more. I can also use techniques I've learned from the double exposure in this.
This cluster type edit is another popular way to mix images either in a movie poster or social media sports edit. This edit in itself I think is quite successful however I need to combine these photos somehow with my studio taken shot.
In order to refine my work and link it closer to that film/movie poster aesthetic I'm going to head in a new direction and try t merge the images a more simplistic way. I think the colours that are within football can be distracting, so by making a few elements monochrome I can make certain colours pop and some duller. This gives a more mature feel and fits the brief a bit better. I'm also going to leave the double exposure idea as I feel it makes the image busy and hard to look at. My images aren't subtle enough colour wise.
Test Edit - 2
I personally much prefer this image as I feel it fits in closer with the brief. Although it's faint it does include three images, the two more obvious ones in the foreground and the one in the background. The background I felt initially was a bit bland so I placed a basic paper crinkle texture on top to change it up a little bit. I used similar techniques to the previous edits, I masked the model out the same as before and slightly erased the bottom of the image so that they fade into each other. By cutting out the footballers I can place them on top and get rid of the colours that are distracting.
Some things I'd change are the paper texture I'd get a more hi res image so that it's not as fuzzy and pixelated. I'd also re-do the shadows as they look a bit rough and rushed, however this is still only a first try.
Final Edit
In my final edit I'm going to use all of the techniques I've learned and combine them into a final image. The idea of muting the colours is something I like and might implement into my final image more. I think it's more mature and relates closer to the true detective theme.
Final 3 images used in composite
In this edit I opted for a colour scheme that is more mature and basic. This simple colour scheme allowed the images to all be linked and have the edit based around one team rather than two like before. The colour scheme in the previous edits were based around the two teams playing each-other however this is based on solely one team.
I also added a third image into the edit, this is a floodlight. this helps give the image context and adds to the football aesthetic in the image.
The final image reminds me of old football film posters, a-lot have these have shots of a stadium in the background to give the main subject a setting. as this isn't a necessarily high level of football, I've added a floodlight to make it an accurate location of the team.
