Album 4
This is my fourth album in my collection for my capstone. I had the most fun creating this one, as it was an interesting challenge combining both digital and analog methods of photography to create a hybrid style of imagery.
The Background pictures
Unique to this album cover, I use a Canon Rebel GII black and white film camera to take some photos. The background images were taken around the Northside apartments where I live after a big rainstorm. The sky was slightly cloudy, but the ground had these gorgeous puddles that reflected light in such a unique way. These images were shot and then later developed in a film processing room where they were turned into negatives. The film negatives were then scanned on a printer in order to be saved as tiff files. From there I worked to clean them up, removing any spots or blemishes on them in order to use them for the next step.
The subjects
I had my mom pose for me in a couple of different stances. The background might look slightly messy, but I was more focused on having a clean enough looking wall in order to get as close of an outline as I could get
Layer masks and speckled brush
After getting an outline of her body, I decided to make things look interesting and took a speckled brush to the edges to make it look more worn. Normally with layer masks I use a soft solid brush, but with a couple of clicks with the speckled brush, I was able to get this neat worn looking effect which would show through when the background images were compiled with it.
Black and White Image
Having all of the layers completed I then added them on to a black gradient background. I chose this to sort of contrast, yet play into the black and white coloration of the images, yet the image felt like it was lacking something. I decided then to add a bit of color along with some text to spice it up more.
I decided to add a purple layer over all of the layers. This not only kept everything in the same tonal range, but it also allowed me to colorize my black and white images through a bit of trickery. I liked how the color made it stand out, and how it added much needed life to the slightly bland looking image. I was aiming for a very 80's pop sort of looking aesthetic.
Final Image
With the purple layer in place I added my name at the bottom as well as text at the top of the page that says "Northlide" in Rockybilly font to appear more 80's esque. the phrase Northlife is a bit of play on words due to the fact that I lived at Northside, but also the lifestyle there. Though I might be living temporarily in a completely new place that has a different culture all together, it was now my new temporary home, and my mom is the reminder that my old home is always with me.
Inspiration
Although not nearly as graphic, the various silhouette art styles for the GTA games always stood out to me due to just how creative they were. It combined having a very distinct figure, along with vivid cityscape backgrounds. Not to mention color adds the overall character as well, something I had to include in my work despite using black and white images.