Mind Vision: Project 1: Write Up

With our first project I wanted to demonstrate that photographs are an important and fun way to document the moment, however, in the digital age we cannot trust any image to be "real." What a photograph really captures now is whatever the digital artist and/or photographer wants you to see. Not only can you stage a photo, but you can also manipulate it to the point of changing the very inner core and character of the image.

My work is composed of all my own photographs, other than the image of the backwards clock on the wall. I took the images of my son and myself in a playful and fun manner (making it like a game for him). He is 23 months old in these photos which were all taken within 30 minutes of each other. Both he and I were (and still are for that matter) recovering from a brutal bug that knocked us out for well over a week. I had planned to take these images the week before last, but because we were under the weather it was impossible to do so. I asked him the other morning if he would help me with an art and photo project and he agreed! What a kind and awesome lil' dude!

Inspiration now-a-days comes a lot from Troy. He is such a joy and such a light. Having a child is an awesome journey to say the least, yet more work than you can imagine -- unless that is, you have spawn of your own. Your whole world does a 180 and you no longer are worried about what you are going to do or where you are going to go -- your major concern is now for someone other than yourself. Along with all the fun we have, it is a ton of work, and this image reflects how I feel sometimes when he is all over the place and all over me! Sometimes it seems as if he is in multiple places at the same time because he moves so darn fast! Time is flying along with him, but sometimes it feels as though time is standing still. My whole sense of time has changed since he came into my life. People always say it goes "so fast" and they aren't kidding!

I used the tricks of the trade that I have learned so far in my process of creating the final image. While setting up the shots I used a tripod, self-timer and my external flash to limit camera shake and keep the lighting as even as possible. I wanted his positions to be natural, yet fit together in the final image. I helped place him in different locations and took multiple images to be sure I would get one working shot of each position. He both smiled for me and gave me looks like, "Mom, why the heck are we doing this??!!" and "Are we done yet?!! Geesh MOM!" Some of the looks he can give are priceless and ridiculous all at the same time. I think that having him change outfits helps make this image be more believable. I'm just greatful that even when sick he was still willing to help me create my vision for this project.

As far as my post-production work, the main focus was on the layering of the multiple images. I took each image of him and used the magnetic lasso tool, magic wand, and eraser to remove him from the background. Then I took those images and layered them on top of each other in PhotoshopCS5. I used the image of us together as the background and then put four more images of him layered on top. I was able to merge them nicely into one flowing image which looks like it could possibly be a real picture of a set of quintuplets and one very frazzled mama. I also selected my eyes, duplicated the layer, used the free transform function and enlarged my eyes and a few of his smiles. I was able to do this by using a layer mask on the enlarged section and brushing out the sides with a black brush. The hardest element to integrate was the clock. I used the transform function to skew the perspective somewhat and also added a slight shadow under the clock.

Below are thumbnails of my source images: