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Planning and Experimental Stage
In this section of the page, I will be emphasizing about the planning, research and the experimental stages while doing the project Se7en Deadly sins.Firstly we were given brief about what we need to do and achieve for this project which is shown below in the figure, I have tried my best to follow this briefing throught the project.
Brain Storming
Initially, I first decided to research each individual 7 Deadly scenes and then brain storm all the 7 deadly scenes just to get all the ideas. Here below in figure 1.1 I have brain stormed all the 7 deadly scenes with respect to lighting, Camera angles, Make up and Prop.
`Brain storming`
Research
As the subject Seven Deadly Scene was new to me I decided to research all the 7 Deadly secene from throughouly starting from wikipedia. "The Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of the most objectionable vices which has been used since early Catholic times to educate and instruct followers concerning (immoral) fallen man's tendency to sin. The final version of the list consists of wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony."- Wikipedia. wikipedia was very usefull to me through out this project. Through Wikipedia I found out the Film "Se7en" (1995) was based on the 7 deadly sins, I watched the film and it gave me clear insight and different ideas about the 7 deadly sins. The Movie was potrayed to show each seven individual sins with different creative aspects in it, which helped me in this project to think differently and be creative. Below is the trailer and screen shots of the movie "Se7en" which is about the 7 deadly sins.
Brain storming and sketches for Each Individual sins
I further Decided to brain storm each 7 deadly sins Individually so that I can I have more freedom of adding creative ideas and using themes to it, then I decided to draw a sketch for each sin using these ideas giving me clear view of how I want my final pictures are.
Wrath
Initially before starting my Se7en Deadly sins project I decided to brain storm each sins collect ideas then start my sketching for my final ideas which I had done above. Above is the brain storm for my sin "Wrath", on the left side are the different ideas that I came through while researching and on the right side is how my final "Wrath" would possibly look like. In the sketch is a model holding a knife with blood all over it and his clothes. I decided to add knife and blood to my composition as Knife are often linked with anger, frustration, and crime. where as blood are often the result of anger due to which it links with my wrath. Also the fact the color of blood is "red" will help summarize wrath.
Pride
I used this sketch idea in my final pride sin but did in different way as while taking the photos experimenting which one would stand out from others, the close up shot of her face holding mirrror turned out better then the front angled due to which I used the other one. Firstly I decided to take the photo using low angle shot as it show the power, pride and strength of the person. The use of mirror in this picture symbolizes love for herself.For this piece have tried to show the person's inner sin of trying to be some one who she is not using make up. I like the lightining in this picture and the shapness of the lipsticks and the lips which adds more complextion to the picture.
Sloth
Sloth is usually represented when people are lazy. For sloth I decided to use my model in Sleeping position. To represent this sin the use of messed up hair and make up was one of my top priorities. My above sketch is bit different to my final piece as when I experimented sloth I came up with better ideas and experimented with it which turned out better then what my initial ideas was. For my final piece I used chairs as one of my props to represent sloth .
Greed
Above is my brainstorm and sketches which I did before experimenting my final ideas, In the brainstorm I have mentioned the use of camera angles, lighting, different ideas, make up and prop. Some of the things like the position of glasses turned out different for my final piece as it looked better during the experimenting process.
Lust
Lust is usually thought of as excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature. For this sin I have tried to be less obious in this sin where I have used the lips and red wine as the main things to show the sin. Lips are usually related to kissing due to which I tried to focus on lips for this sin. Also in the glass there is lipstick kiss marks, which I did to add more dimension to sin Lust.This sketching really helped me to come with my final pice for lust as it is very similar to this sketch.
Gluttony
Gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. This brain storm supports this point due to the maily the way she is drinking from three glasses recklessly at the same time which shows her inner sin of greed and hunger. I used black and white theme in this picture first because of the inspiration got from jane bown who used black and white in all her potrait pictures and secondly due to the fact that it is a sin and sins are usally regarded as dark and evil.
Envy
Envy may characterized by an insatiable desire, the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it. For this sin I have presented the apple which is usually usead as envious object in many things and also due to the fact that apple is a rich fruit, and the eyes are looking at the apple with an evious look which makes her look jelous and wanting it. which belongs to some one else. The primary theme about this picture was to show the model wanting some thing which is not her
Vampire Theme (Initial Idea)
Initially while doing this project I had an idea of using Vampires as my theme for my "7 dealy sins" so I had to research through some of the pictures of other photogprahers to get add to my creativity and ideas for my final pictures. The First picture on the left was one of my main ideas for the Sin "Wrath" where as the middle was gave me brief idea about how "lust" could be done by me. But due to model being girl and photoshop reasons I had to change the this theme and use another one.
Location and lighting Experiment
Initially I tried to capture my images for all my dark room and using side lamp as my lightining but the result didnt turn out as i expected due to which I changed my location into more bright and open place. Below in Gallery.1 is the test shots that Initially experimented for location. and gallery.2 is the location that i choose for my final pieces as the lightining was really better then the other one.
Gallery 1
Gallery 2
This was the location where i captured my final seven deadly sin as the lightining was way better then gallery 1.
This was the location where i captured my final seven deadly sin as the lightining was way better then gallery 1.
Final Theme
Finally I decided not to use the Vampire theme that I came up for all my Se7en Deadly sins due to the fact that it was difficult to organise the costome, fangs, make up and other props and also it was huge risk as I had to do lots of editing even after the photos were taken. My final Theme would be to make my Se7en deadly sins Metallic black and white,which I got inspired after looking at some of the master pieces of Jane Bown a well know potrait photographer and using same model in all pictures using props in all the pictures to make the sin more clearer. .I wanted to use Black and White theme in my works due to the fact that Sins are usually represented as dark and evil which is usually represented by color Black. Also adding props in every sin would add more to my composition and make unique to others work.
Photoshop
Before doing this project I had no experience in photo shop so I had start learning about photoshop from basics. When I researched and looked into tutorials for photoshop I realized that not using photoshop was not an option due to its massive potential.Below are the pictures of my images before and after being edited using photoshop.
Experimental and un-used pictures.
Below are some of the experimented and unused pictures that I took in different location, ideas, lighting, Props, and model.