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Anonymous
These are some photos I did last night for my Studio Photography Class. What are you thoughts.

ALSO

When I showed them to my classmates and teacher they asked what the story was behind the images. I explained to them that there was no story, that I simply wanted them to have a cohesive feeling to them that looked elegant, and had the color red that appears in all of them. Of course then everyone felt like they needed to tell me what THEY THOUGHT was the story behind them. I told them that I didn't have a story, and they can choose to create their own narrative. Anyway, the teacher even joins in saying that she feels there should be a story yada yada. I explained that I find artists who try and put stories and symbolism behind EVERY piece of artwork are pretentious, and I didn't want any kind of story or symbolism. So then she tells me she doesn't like the rose because it is too symbolic and over used. I told her I WANTED the rose in there because I wanted every picture to have red in them. So then she suggests putting a blob of red paint on her dress. I told her I wanted the dress to look the same in all the photos. So she said just add red to the bottom right of the image.

So this is where I need you help. I like the rose, and I want to keep it in the painting. So I want the most elaborate symbolic story/idea/thought that you can come up with to represent these images. I was thinking about having her represent Aphrodite as she created the rose in Greek mythology. Any suggestions?
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>> Anonymous
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>> Anonymous
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>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)


Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeNIKON CORPORATIONCamera ModelNIKON D70Camera SoftwareAdobe Photoshop CS4 WindowsFocal Length (35mm Equiv)27 mmMaximum Lens Aperturef/3.5Sensing MethodOne-Chip Color AreaColor Filter Array Pattern962Image-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandHorizontal Resolution300 dpiVertical Resolution300 dpiImage Created2008:11:02 23:13:05White Point Chromaticity0.3RenderingNormalExposure ModeManualWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandardGain ControlNoneContrastNormalSaturationNormalSharpnessNormalSubject Distance RangeUnknownExposure Time1/40 secF-Numberf/3.5Exposure ProgramManualExposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternLight SourceUnknownFlashNo FlashFocal Length18.00 mmColor Space InformationUncalibratedImage Width933Image Height1474
>> Anonymous
>>286859
Holy fuck, that looks like a man.
>> Anonymous
>>286862
no...she is no man.
>> Anonymous
Anyone out there?
>> d !PkbcxkjESs
>>286857
Is blurry, in fact a couple of them are. I've never worked in a studio before, but I always thought one of the benefits was having lighting you control, so you can keep the shutter up, the aperture wider, and the iso down?
My only other thing is the rose stalk is a bit long and distracting. Chop it down maybe and lose a leaf or two to move the focus to the actual flower?
Other than that you have some really nice photos.

>>286861
Is my favourite I think. It's very nicely composed and excellent use of studio lighting.
>> Anonymous
>>286868
I actually blurred them some in photoshop to draw the attention to certain parts.
>> Anonymous
>>286858
The bluring of her hair looks fake as fuck.

What lighting setup did you use? You need over 9000 more softboxes/reflectors/ect in these pictures to even out the light. These all seem soft focused, but not in a good way. It seems like you're off to a good start with these pictures though.

If you want some symbolic idea/story about the pieces just relate it to love, hate, injustice or some other broad topic. Art teachers tend to eat up that pretentious shit. Just pick randomn parts of the picture and attribute meaning; the girl biting the apple with blood on her hands represents a past lost love, who tore your heart out and ate it (symbolically) ect ect. If you've got pretentiousartstudentfag block, just smoke some herb and it'll come to you.
>> Anonymous
>>286871
Doesn't work, they just look unfocesed.
They look like crap to me. If I handed in this shit for my classes, I'd get flamed. I'll C&C later today.
>> Project !dashI8UpO.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.
>> Anonymous
why can't you use 1,8 or 2,8 aperture if you want blur?
>> Anonymous
Ha! Fucking awful. Fat manly model, bad lighting, FUCKING PHOTOSHOP BLUR, bad makeup and just general fail.

CAN'T SAGE HARD ENOUGH
>> Anonymous
>>286859
>>286861

These two are the only ones I like. And yet they are so soft and unsharp, where on earth did you focus?

The rose looks dumb in the first one and the second one is just blah.
>> Anonymous
The fact that it left so many people wanting to know more should be all the praise you need.

Remember that those who can't do, teach. Very few art profs break this rule. There's only so far she can go.

I've seen good talents ruined by a jealous, incompetent art prof. Stick to your guns, kid.
>> Anonymous
>>286857
If you can ask your prof if you can borrow the lights for taking pictures, take the model somewhere more scenic or something that has strong Greek architectural influence. And Aphrodite is pretty, your model isn't.
>> anonymous
>>287488
i've seen aphrodite couple of times in my young days,
guess what. its actually afro-dite
>> Anonymous
>>287487
>>The fact that it left so many people wanting to know more should be all the praise you need.

I don't think you know how that works. There's good 'wanting to know' and there's bad 'wanting to know' which translates to "Wow, such an intrueging photograph, but what's happening I do not realize. I wonder.." and "Wtf, why is it just unsharp." The latest is the opposite of praise.
>> Anonymous
Clean up and smooth out your backdrop, either in photoshop or before you shoot.

Iron the sheet/dress before using it in the shoot.

Quit using all these overdone photoshop tools. It looks fake, and it's obvious photoshop in an image that shouldn't have it.

You aren't going to get away from symbolism. It's been deeply ingrained in art throughout history. Not only that, but it is a valuable tool in creating an image. You can control how people will feel about your work with symbolism.

This image is *very* heavy with symbols that are very common. The rose, red in general, the white dress, and a woman eating an apple. Even red hair carries some meaning, though it's not as strong as the other ones. You don't need to have a narrative to every piece, but you will never get away from symbolism.

These were not shot well, nor were they processed well. You should *always* set your white balance. Auto is terrible. It is generally preferable to use a longer focal length with portraits, slightly telephoto. Make sure your ISO is 100 or less. You have enough control in the studio to keep the ISO down. Use a tripod so you can get the images in focus and stead, if you are already using one, then you need to pay more attention to focusing. I know you said you blurred it in photoshop, but there doesn't appear to be a single thing that is sharp.
>> Anonymous
I actually apprecitate the lack of sterotypical skinniness in your model.

Real women look like that - and if you DO connect it to aphrodite, classic art has that curviture to the women.

Fuck those that think she looks manly.

either way, be a little careful with that photoshop...the second is blurred at to quick of a rate, it should be gradual.

I like the fourth one a lottttt :)

and yea, fuck your teacher.
>> Anonymous
yeah, fuck your prof. that being said, having a theme in mind before hand is a great idea no matter what. 4 is good.
>> Anonymous
>>286861
Winner. (I like the drop effect, did you add that in later, or were you lucky enough to catch that?)
>>286858
Make-up needs some touching up, the shadows are just too harsh (unless that was intended) and the blur everyone else has mentioned.
>>286859
It's not that she s fat, because she is not. However, that angle and pose look unflattering and inelegant, for lack of a better term. If you insist on that pose on the ground, try over-extending her neck so the skin near her jaw isn't as...undefined? (whats a word that I could use instead of 'flabby'?)
>>286857
Hunchers aren't hot. First thing I think of when people are hunched over in Mythology related art are that they are in mourning.

Happen to try any images of her back? I think with her a nice back facing, looking to side, holding rose with one hand, other held to her body would have been beautiful.

Studio is fun...wish I could more.
>> Anonymous
>>286857this looks stiff
>>286858could do with some touching up
>>286859more work with her hair would have been better
>>286861the hair obscuring the eyes

the photos have potential.the ideas are sound but the excecution fails due to lack of attention to details.
>> Anonymous
So anyway OP, what was the story bhind it??
>> Anonymous
>>286857
>I didn't know what I was doing. I just threw in a bunch of props with the chick and splashed some red paint to make it look artsy. I couldn't answer when my photography teacher asked me about the theme because I couldn't come up with one. God damn her for making me look like an idiot in front of class. Screw thinking, REAL artists FEEL. Now I'm just going to call anyone who utilizes symbolism in art a pretentious faggot, because I'm a REAL artist and they're not.
>> Anonymous
>>287993
move forward.you have an eye for composition even though it is unconscious.
>> Anonymous
>>287999
Sure, but I just don't think OP has the right to be bitching and moaning about symbolism when the props and composition he chose are so blatantly full of them, horribly cliched ones even. Heck, I would've thought OP was a devianTart had I not read his whiny commentary. If only I knew it would make me rage more. It's obvious that he's totally enamored with his idea, judging from the way he refuses to acknowledge hundreds of years of associated meanings, as if denying them makes him original. Pah. If he'd actually tried to produce some original compositions in order to shed new light on those objects then I might have been convinced of his argument, but as it is he just came off as an idiot pretending to be an elitist pig.
>> Anonymous
These aren't so bad.
>> Anonymous
god dammit, just come up with something, if you dont have an idea, just use the bible, it´s cruisecontrol for "WABABA LOOK AT MY GIANT THOUGHTS"

--> she´s your interpretation of eve, biting the apple of sin, hence the blood on her hand (i.e. she committed the crime of eating the forbidden fruit and therefore we all have blood on our hands because sin has come to men)
the rose is for seduction, or love, or whatever, go with seduction, because ya know, she seduced adam - or was the rose perhaps a gift from adam (WABABAB SEE WHAT I DID).

and yeah, then go liek (rofl, for a moment i wrote like...whatever that menas..) and i used the blue light, to show that now she´s separated from heaven, that she´s down to earth expelled from the garden eden

btw, prepare to be burned and crucified