APD2 – Assignment 4 – Composite

The purpose of the images produced for this assignment is advertising. I chose the same product for the two pictures, but in different flavors to emphasize the cohesive nature of the concept. This is a reason why the images work well together. The viewer can see the link between the two images, and can even image what other images from this series could look like, had I chosen different flavors. The overall message of this ‘ad’ is that the jams produced by Première Moisson are natural and do not contain several unpronounceable ingredients. The main ingredient is fruit (strawberry or blueberry in this case).

Creating this series was very interesting. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that the best way to shoot the fruits while keeping the same vantage point as the jar was to have them ‘float’ in the air above the jar. I believe that if I had shot them differently, at another angle, the result wouldn’t have been as realistic as the one I obtained. In order to do this, I took a fishing line, wraped it around the fruits and I had my assistant hold the line while I was shooting the fruits. Since the fruits span, I could shoot the same fruit several times without it looking the same. In post-production, I selected the fruits I wanted from many images, and pasted them on the original image that only showed the jar. I was able to play with the size and the orientation of each fruit for a more natural look.

APD2 – Assignment 3 – Decisive Moment

For this assignment, I decided to select images I had taken backstage at a fashion show. This was my very first fashion show and I really enjoyed it. As soon as I arrived on site, I could feel the quiet excitment in the room. I thought everyone would be screaming, running around, but in fact everyone knew what they had to do, so the people seemed pretty relaxed. Well, except for the designer, who was really excited to unveil his new collection to the public.

The only problem I encounted that day was that there were about 3 different light sources, so it was at times hard to figure if I would be able to correct this issue properly in post-production.

APD2 – Assignment 2 – Conceptual Image

Kim Hurley-01

I chose to shoot this image in my apartment. The setting represents a nice dinner table set for two, with a few various food items on the menu. However, as one can see, it’s not a usual meal. The food is actually cat food. As expected, my very own furball couldn’t resist the smell of ‘tuna’ and ‘chicken’. Often times, people are caught giving diner scraps to their beloved pets, which is not necessarily good for them. My intention was to show what it would be like if it was the other way around, meaning humans actually eating cat food for diner.

Kim Hurley-02

Who has never dreamed of swimming in a fountain? I know I have, many times. This man takes the fulfilment of his longtime dream very seriously. Though he has the gear, he might not be a professional swimmer. Or maybe he is and he’s just doing this for fun. We can see him at different stages of his preparation : fixing his goggles, stretching and positionning himself to take the plunge. Since the picture was taken at night, this aquatic daredevil didn’t want to bring any attention to himself and wanted to have a quiet swim, which means the time and the place were carefully thought out beforehand. After this moment, he probably got out of the freezing cold fountain water as quickly as possible and ran back to his place before anyone saw him, or worse, got caught by the police.

Because I had been thinking about this shot for a little while and knew that very few people would be willing to go in a park half naked on a cold fall evening, I thought I would have to do a self-portrait. Luckily, I had a volunteer. He just naturally gave me a few poses ideas, which worked really well. Choosing the props was a fairly easy process, as a swimmer only had a few accessories (cap, goggles and bathing suit). Also, I’m lucky enough to have a beautiful park full of trees right next to my house, and the fountain hadn’t been empited yet, so the location was an easy choice.

APD2 – Assignment 1 – Figure/Ground

Kim Hurley – 01

F/2.8, 1/125, ISO 800

I framed only the subject to focus on the designer’s actions. The model is not that important in this picture, it’s what the designer doing to the clothes that’s important, hence the close up and the fact that we only see half of the model’s legs.

Since she was moving relatively slowing, I was able to have a 1/125 speed, but I needed to increase my ISO, otherwise the picture would have been too dark.

 

Kim Hurley – 02

F/2.8, 1/80, ISO 400

I wanted to emphasize what the people were looking at, so I used them to frame the subject. Here, they are looking at the picture of the model taken by the photographer. The viewer’s eye goes directly into this frame because it’s the brightest point in the picture. I used a very shallow depth of field so the focus would be the computer screen, as the model standing a few feet further is not the center the attention. Here I could use a slower speed (1/80) because the subjects were not moving that much, and the light was sufficient for me to be able to decrease the ISO and reduce the noise.

 

Kim Hurley – 03

F/2.8, 1/160, ISO 640

In this picture, the subjects fill the frame almost entirely, but there is enough space to show that the background is white. Since the main subject, the model, is black and the girl is wearing white against a white background, it creates separation and the viewer’s eye can really focus on him and what’s being done to him. Again, I choose a very shallow depth of field, and because I wanted to freeze the action (ie. the person combing the model’s hair), I chose a speed of 1/160, so I had to have a higher ISO for the subjects to be correctly exposed.