self-portrait for school

obscure.individual · Oct 5, 2012

i'm taking a digital photography class at my high school, and the most recent assignment is a self-portrait. since longboarding is a huge part of my life, i decided to do something with that.

i was trying to take only one photo, but after taking 10 i noticed that 3 of them line up as if they were taken within seconds if each other. so i used layer masks in Photoshop to delete the background of 2 photos and then layered the remainders on top of the 3rd photo. when i notice that the shadows from the 1st and 2nd photos, i duplicated the layers and used layer masks to blend the concrete from all three photos so that there were shadows from all of the photos present. and since the 1st and 2nd photos didn't look natural against the background, i applied a teeny tiny gaussian blur to the edges. i know that some of you are going to say "oh its way under exposed," but that was on purpose. the weather was the worst its been in a while; it was so foggy that i could barely see the end of my street. i wanted to show in this photo that i'd longboard in bad weather, and since i'd longboard in the worst conditions then i'd longboard for the rest of my life. yes the picture is a metaphor of sorts, haha. my school is very focused on the English department.
/rant

rexbobcat · Oct 5, 2012

It looks a little dark.

Designer · Oct 5, 2012

Seems underexposed.

Light Guru · Oct 5, 2012

rexbobcat said:
It looks a little dark.

It looks a LOT dark.

412 Burgh · Oct 5, 2012

Light Guru said:
rexbobcat said:

It looks a little dark.

Click to expand...

It looks a LOT dark.

I'm with Light Guru.

obscure.individual · Oct 5, 2012

rexbobcat said:
It looks a little dark.

Designer said:
Seems underexposed.

Light Guru said:
It looks a LOT dark.

412 Burgh said:
I'm with Light Guru.

alright alright, i'm posting from my phone so it looks lighter from my end. i said in my original post that i wanted it dark, but i guess its too dark. is this any better?

tirediron · Oct 5, 2012

It still seems a little dark on my calibrated monitor. My question is however, what is it about this image that tells me it's a self-portrait of you?

obscure.individual · Oct 5, 2012

tirediron said:
It still seems a little dark on my calibrated monitor. My question is however, what is it about this image that tells me it's a self-portrait of you?

are you asking what about it tells you that its actually a picture of me? or how as a self-portrait does it describe me as a person?

pic_chick · Oct 5, 2012

the 1st one was way dark the 2nd one is better I like the out of the box self port showing us what makes you you I do think it is still a bit dark I think it is the dark jeans infront of the dark road I dislike but then this is your selfport the iq over all looks nice to me the PS is well done as well.

tirediron · Oct 5, 2012

obscure.individual said:
tirediron said:

It still seems a little dark on my calibrated monitor. My question is however, what is it about this image that tells me it's a self-portrait of you?

Click to expand...

are you asking what about it tells you that its actually a picture of me? or how as a self-portrait does it describe me as a person?

Yes.

obscure.individual · Oct 5, 2012

pic_chick said:
the 1st one was way dark the 2nd one is better I like the out of the box self port showing us what makes you you I do think it is still a bit dark I think it is the dark jeans infront of the dark road I dislike but then this is your selfport the iq over all looks nice to me the PS is well done as well.

thank you, at first i tried to just layer the photos with different opacities but that didn't work. this was the first time i've ever used layer masks, and it wasn't that hard.

tirediron said:
Yes.

that wasn't a yes/no question haha

tirediron · Oct 5, 2012

obscure.individual said:
that wasn't a yes/no question haha

Yes to both.

obscure.individual · Oct 5, 2012

tirediron said:
Yes to both.

oh haha alright.

well you know that's me in the picture because here're my shoes

and these shoes are also in the photo.

as i said in the original post: "the weather was the worst its been in a while; it was so foggy that i could barely see the end of my street. i wanted to show in this photo that i'd longboard in bad weather, and since i'd longboard in the worst conditions then i'd longboard for the rest of my life. its a metaphor of sorts." the photo shows how longboarding is such an important part of my life and that i'm so passionate about it that i'd do it in any weather.

amolitor · Oct 6, 2012

tirediron's point is simply to make you think a little more -- you've got the "longboarding" part of the portrait, but what makes it about "you" not in the proof that it's you sense, we believe that, but what makes this a "portrait" rather than a picture of a longboard?

He's suggesting that you think about how to make a photograph that encapsulates the idea of the longboard with the idea of YOU, in some way.

Well, I think. I am certainly suggesting that, anyways!

obscure.individual · Oct 6, 2012

amolitor said:
tirediron's point is simply to make you think a little more -- you've got the "longboarding" part of the portrait, but what makes it about "you" not in the proof that it's you sense, we believe that, but what makes this a "portrait" rather than a picture of a longboard?

He's suggesting that you think about how to make a photograph that encapsulates the idea of the longboard with the idea of YOU, in some way.

Well, I think. I am certainly suggesting that, anyways!

ah, i think i get what you mean now. like what does it tell you about me as a person and not just me on a longboard. so a photograph that encapsulates the idea of the longboard with the idea of me would be maybe me crouched on my longboard cruising down my street on a sunny day with a smile my face and the wind in my hair. that picture would show you that i love to have fun and that i'm adventurous and care-free.

sorta like this

my friend took this of me this summer with his phone while we were skating. i know it has a lot of blown-out highlights, but its a picture taken with a cell-phone