Digital Photography & Imaging - Project 2: Surrealism

04/10/19 - 18/11/19 (Week 6 - Week 8)
Ahmed Yaman Ibrahim (0341119)
Digital Photography & Imaging
Project 1: Surrealism

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LECTURE NOTES

Project 2: Surrealism

For this project, we are to choose an image as a main subject and change part of it using elements from another image to create a surrealist photo. The end result is meant to be surreal but believable. We are to then animate the image as well, on Adobe After Effects.

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INSTRUCTIONS

PROJECT 2: SURREALISM

I started off with drawings of the kind of ideas I had in mind, and I showed these to Mr Martin. After going through these with me, he approved the 'goose + megaphone' idea for me to go ahead with.

Fig. 1.1: Sketches (1)

Fig. 1.2: Sketches (2)

Fig. 1.3: Sketches (3)

I began by searching for a picture of a goose (or geese) that I can use as the main subject of the picture. I wanted the posture of the animal to show that it was already making a noise, so that when I Photoshop the megaphone onto its head it will look a bit more humorous. I found a picture that was similar to what I wanted:

Fig. 1.4: Goose image used as main subject

I decided to Photoshop megaphones onto both of the geese; I searched for two separate images of megaphones and edited them.

Fig. 1.5: Megaphone 1

Fig. 1.6: Megaphone 2

I began by erasing the backgrounds in the megaphone images, as well as getting rid of the handles; I wanted the actual megaphone part to blend in with the neck of the goose. After doing so, I lined up the first megaphone with the head of the goose, and erased any parts sticking out from behind the megaphone with the clone stamp tool.

Fig. 1.7: Lining up the megaphone with the goose's head

At this point, I consulted with Mr Martin for feedback and he suggested that I get rid of the tree trunk in the background as it was sticking out a bit. I did so using the clone stamp tool, and I did the same with the heads of the geese as well.

Fig. 1.8: Removing the tree trunk and the goose heads

I then continued to work on blending the megaphone with the goose. I did so by using a displacement map on the outside of the megaphone to have it match the rest of the goose's neck. I then used clone stamp again to match the inside of the megaphone with the texture of the feathers at the base of the goose's neck, and then added a subtle shadow to give it some depth.

Fig. 1.9: Blending the megaphone with the neck of the goose

I then did the same for the second goose.

Fig. 1.10: Both geese edited

Fig. 1.11: Project 2A: Final still image

I then imported the image to Adobe After Effects for the animation. For this, I simply wanted to show the geese jittering their heads as if they were honking, except with megaphones for heads. I added subtle back-and-forth movements on the heads using the puppet tool to keep the rest of the image in place.

Fig. 1.12: Adding movement in After Effects

Fig. 1.13: Project 2B - Final animation

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FEEDBACK

While working on the still image, Mr Martin suggested that I remove the tree trunk in the background as it stood out a bit. He also found the animation humorous and said that it communicated what I wanted to convey.

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REFLECTIONS

Experience:

Coming up with ideas for this project was fun as there was so much I could do with it, and I wanted to do something humorous yet surreal. The animation process was quite enjoyable as well, as After Effects is quite new to me, so learning how to use it was an interesting experience.

Observation:

While working on the still image and animation, I noticed that there were several ways that you could make the same edit, both on image and the animation - either manually or through the use of effects.

Findings:

I found that animating even a small part of something takes a lot of time as there are a lot of factors that need to be considered, even if the animation is as short as 5 seconds.

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