My final images

These are the photographs that I have taken for my 'Feminism in Fairy tales' project.

This series of images consists of a 'start', 'middle' and an 'end'.

'Start' consists of two images introducing the Barbie's and their roles.

'Middle' shows the conflict between characters and shows the dominance of the female character.

'End' contains two images basically showing the 'victory' stages of the battles. In these images the female shows a lot of pride.

In order to determine which images I was going to use, I used the process of elimination. I took the images which were most uncluttered (visually) and which images looked more 'fairytale' and which would flow better in a series of images.

For this project, I intended on using modern day icons and manipulating their roles expected by society. The icons that I used are Barbie and Action Man. I used Barbie because in society she is perceived as just a pretty face who doesn't do anything other than arrange her wardrobe of pretty pink dresses. I used Action Man because he is a seen as a very tough guy and is an icon to many boys. Taking these two icons, I switched their roles to make Barbie the more dominant one who defeats the "big strong men".

I feel that using dolls instead of actual people works better because you can take the known iconic characters (along with their roles in society) and use them to give your images a deeper meaning which the viewers most probably will understand. If you were to use people, you wouldn't (really) have this in-depth meaning.

I also feel that using my Neutral Density filter (ND filter) worked because it gave me assistance to adjust the lighting when specific parts of the image were too light (even when the aperture was changed).

I also like the use of the sword and shield (that the Barbie was holding) because it makes the photographs look a lot more fairytale-like (which is the look I was going for) because we normally we associate these items with a "Prince Charming" but not in this case.

The only difficulty I had with this project was positioning the dolls (as it is difficult to keep them standing up) but I overcome this problem by using "props" to prop them up.

When experimenting with my props (dolls), I did try to add fake blood (seen in previous post) to the Action Men but I don't feel like the blood looked real enough so I decided to portray defeat in different ways (altering their positioning and poses).

My images relate back to each and every one of my research pieces.

My images relate back to Dina Goldstein's works because my images also take specific characters and twists the expected "fairytale ending". My images relate back to my 'Alpha females' research as my images also portray my female characters as the dominant alpha-female. My images relate back to my 'Controversy' research as I have kept my female characters less feminine, much tougher and slightly tomboy-ish. My images relate back to Rion Sabean's works as my work also portrays specific genders in a reversed representation of that sex. My images relate back to my 'Barbie' research for obvious reasons; I have used Barbie dolls to represent the "alpha-female" characters. My images relate back to Boushra Almutawakel's images because I've also used dolls to get a certain message across.

In relation to my final proposal, I have stuck to it. Reading back through my proposal I realize that I haven't once drifted from what I said I was going to do. The only difference to my proposal is that I have produced 7 images whereas in my proposal I said I was intending on producing 6.

If I had the opportunity to re-shoot these images again, I would experiment with different locations (so that the background would be more interesting and look a lot more atmospheric) and I would also experiment with different costumes for my dolls because the same dress was used for all of the images (which could look a bit boring and not very imaginative/ experimental) and I would use different Action Man dolls to give a bit of a nice change in characters.

Contact sheet of 2nd shoot

When analysing my first shoot, I realised what I wanted when photographing my second shoot.

This is a contact sheet of all of the photographs that I had taken during my second shoot:

Specific images:

For this photograph, I have experimented with posing the dolls and angling my camera. I think that this angling of this photograph has worked because it's very clean cut .. it's very clear that the rule of thirds has been considered whilst taking the image. However, the only problem I have with this image is the expression on the male character's face ... it is very bleak and there is no emotions there. In this scenario, he should be fearing for his life. The only way I could alter his facial expressions is through Photoshop.

Again, I have experimented with angling and posing. I feel that this image works really well however, my only issue is with the Barbie doll's hand ... it's just there doing nothing showing no body language whatsoever. If I were to take this photograph again, I would put a shield in her hand as this would give more atmosphere to the image.

For this photograph, I have experimented with angling my camera. I feel that this has worked, I like how only the Barbie's head is in focus. However, I feel that the Action Man is too blurred. The way I could fix this is to bring the two dolls closer together.

For this photograph, I have experimented with posing the female doll. I feel that this photo works BUT it's very bleak. There's not much going on other than the Barbie pointing her sword at you. The body language and facial expressions of the character is very plain and simply boring.

Again for this photograph, I have experimented with posing the female character and angling my camera. I really like this image because it's like the 'alpha-female' is pointing her sword at you. This addresses the viewer and involves them in the photograph. She makes you feel like the less-dominant character as she is above you in the image. Although the image has all this impact on the viewer, I feel like the overall image is not very atmospheric.

For this photograph, I decided to experiment with posing the doll in different locations. Although I really like what's going on in the image, I feel like the image is too light.

Because I liked this image so much, I decided to re-shoot it using a Neutral Density filter so that I could filter some of the light out (as changing the camera setting wasn't helping that much).

For this image, I experimented with the angling of my camera and the positioning of the doll. I tried to portray a 'victory' type stance where the character is at a higher position (in comparison to the camera) with the sky in the background. Overall, I don't really think that this image works, it's just too plain/ bland for my liking; the body language of the female is just too dull.

For this image, I decided to play around with special effects. Here, I tried to replicate blood in order to give the impression that the Action Man has been in some sort of fight. It also gives the impression that the male character has been defeated. Although I like the overall image, I don't feel like the 'fake blood' looks realistic enough. To create the blood, I used a syrup which was a very deep red in colour; however, when applied onto the dolls face it came out very opaque and not very real. If I were to take this photograph again, I would have tried to find something more realistic to apply to resemble blood (however, I would have to find something that also wouldn't stain).

In this photograph, I have tried to experiment with more than just two characters, the positioning of dolls and how I angled and photographed this scenario. I feel that this image works really well; it gives the impression that the three male characters are much weaker than the one female character. I also like how you can't see the identity of the female character - this gives a sense of mystery.

Lastly, in this photograph I have experimented with positioning the doll and the angling of my camera. I really like this image, it gives a real sense of victory and bravery. However, I don't think that the doll's head works very well being in the image along with the arm; it kind of jolts the sword off to the side and puts it off centre. If I were to take this photograph again, I would focus only on the sword ... make that the only subject in the image. 

Taking all of the analysis', I now know what I am looking to produce. 

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Final images: How I edited them

Image one

Image two

Image three

Image four

Image five

Image six

Image seven

How I added the Vignette effect using Photoshop

Firstly, I took the image and altered the levels to give the desired lighting and contrast combination:

Secondly, I selected the areas that I wanted to vignette then selected the feather option:

I then altered the feather level to 100 pixels:

Lastly, I altered the level of the selected area to create the Vignette effect:

I decided to edit these images the way I did because I didn't want to drastically change the image but I did wan't to make it look relative to my project. I decided to edit my images by altering their levels, desaturating them (to wash the colour out a little bit and to make the dolls skin look more realistic) and by adding a vignette.
All of these alterations combined created photographs that were relative to my images as they look very 'fairytale-like'.

Re-shooting

Now that I have taken my test shots and analysed them, I can now move on to re-shooting my images. 

After analysing my images, I now know what I am looking to do for my final images. I am looking to:

Experiment

- Set building

- Special effects

- Scale

- Angles

- Different scenarios

- Possibly make a storyboard (a series of images which tell a story)

Being a photographer, I know that not everything goes exactly how I would like. In this case, because I am shooting my images outside, I need the natural sunlight to light my images. If this does not go to plan, I would have to have a back-up plan.

Plan B

If I do not have the weather on my side, I have devised a back-up plan so that I can still photograph my images.

- Indoors

- Build a set (keeping it quite simple)

- Use artificial light


Building my set
Jake and Dinos Chapman are English visual artists, often known as the Chapman brothers, who work together as a collaborative sibling duo. Their subject matter is often deliberately shocking, including, in 2008, a series of works that appropriated original watercolours by Adolf Hitler.

If I decide to build a little bit of a set for my piece of work, I will bear Jake and Dinos Chapman's work in mind:

These images are from the photo series 'hell'.

Although these images aren't relevant to my project in sense of theme, they are relevant in set-building. These images will give me a reference to look back to when building my set in order to give my images a sense of surrounding and give them more of an atmosphere.

Contact sheet of test shots

To initially settle on what type of photograph I'm going to take and how I'm going to photograph it, I decided to take some test-shots so that I am able to settle down and analyze them and pick out particular parts I like and how I can develop it further.

Here is my contact sheet of test shots:

Specific images:

The two images above are more or less the same. Here, I have tried to experiment with the posing of the dolls AND the the use of natural lighting. I did this in order to help me to see which lighting I am happier with. I like the lighting in both of these images; this means that I would have to meet somewhere in the middle ... not too light, not too dark.

Although I like the posing of the dolls, I don't particularly think that it fits in with what I am trying to do. The image seems very still and there isn't a lot going on; therefore, it wouldn't make much sense to the viewers AND it won't be very interesting.

For this image, I have experimented with different dolls and poses. I wanted to see what the doll would look like in a more natural pose without having too much going on.
Here, the doll is seated looking away from the camera wearing the princes crown. Also in the background is the sword and shield.
Naturally, you would think that the sword, shield and crown would belong to the prince (who's job is to save the princess), however this isn't the case in this photograph. The princess owns all of the prince-related items giving the impression that the princess is her own hero ... she doesn't need any man, she's quite capable of dealing with situations.

Again, for this photograph I have experimented with the positioning of dolls. This is a very standard portrait image of the princess; it shows her profile.
If I were to take this photograph again, I would have to think of the scale of things ... In this case it's the Ivy in the background. 

For this photograph, I have decided to experiment with the posing of dolls and adding more props to the image. Here, I wanted to try to make more of a scenario within the photograph. To add effect to the image, I added another doll ... this doll is an "action man" doll. Action man is perceived as the tougher one, however the princess is the more dominant and powerful one. If I were to take this photo again, I would make the image more dramatic by adding special effects (like fake blood, bruises etc) and considering the background (scale of items).

For these two images, I decided to experiment with angles; this was to see how certain scenarios would look using different perspectives.

These images are probably my most favourite from the whole shoot.

Again, if I were to take these image again I would consider the scale of things in comparison to the dolls and maybe consider building more of a set to give atmosphere.

Again, here I have experimented with angles and perspectives. In this photograph, we can't necessarily see who the princess is but we know for sure that it is a princess (by using the dress). We can also tell that the princess has the upper hand over the male character; we can tell this from the positioning of the characters ... the princess is physically higher up than the male and the male is at a lower position than the princess giving the impression that the lady is the most dominant in this scenario.

This image fits in with the research that I have done because the princess is challenging the stereotype of women being the weaker sex.

Again, I need to work on my set-building and scaling.