For the University part of life I decided to use a photo from Tottenham Court Road. This photograph depicts a part of the underground and on the walls of the corridor are advertisements for films, shows, musicals, and bands. I thought that this illustrates a large part of university life - the entertainment and fun aspects, the culture part of university.
For this photograph I turned the background black and white to make it less prominent but kept the colour of the advertisements. Then I brightened the advertisements, before increasing the saturation of their colour. Before finally adding a slight warming filter to make the advertisements seem more inviting and appealing as this is what they set out to do - attract young people, especially students, to pay to see the films and shows so that they can gain profit. This one took me a particular length of time as I needed to cut each advertisement carefully and make sure the image was still clear and bright after the adjusments.
Time taken = 1 hour
Total time taken = 8 hours 30 minutes
This pocket watch was one I came across when looking for inspiration for my photos. I saw it and instantly thought of retirement - the reason for this is that it symbolises time is running out in the work place, and a lot more time will be on the persons hands after retirement. Also a watch is often given at retirement.
To edit this picture I duplicated the watch image and then reduced the hue of the background so that this was less prominent. I then increased the hue of the watch so that it was more obvious and added a bit of a blur for mystique. Following this I created a dark shadow of the watch and placed it directly upon it. Retirement usually happens towards the end of a person's life (though with increasing life expectancy this is not often the case any more) and so this shadow suggests that something is catching up with them, the end of their life is approaching.
I had to take time out due to other work and commitments but now I am getting back on track with working on the project.
Time taken = 45 minutes
Total time taken = 7 hours 30 minutes
After thinking over what I wanted to use the photograph of the donuts for I decided to use it for the Toddler stage.
I first increased the saturation of the whole photograph, and then again in certain colours: red, magenta, green & blue. Following this I altered the curves to add both brightness and darkness to the photo. Following this I add a few shadows and highlights to the top left corner of the photograph to make the plate of donuts stand out.
I decided to use this photograph for this stage as it shows the brightness of life at this age. You are just discovering the world, everything is new, bright, interesting and exciting to a toddler and they want to explore everything. Not only this the plate of donuts show how most toddlers have quite a sweet tooth.
Time taken = 1 hour
Total time taken = 6 hour 45 minutes
Unfortunately I was forced to take another short hiatus in January as I had 6 GCSE exams which I need to revise for, however while waiting for my results (which I will receive in March) I am able to continue working on my Challenge.
These photos were ones I took and edited right at the start of the project, however I have finally decided what to do with them. Though they are the same picture, I have decided to use them both in the project as their meanings are quite similar and the final product of the photographs are quite different.
The first photography was done simply by using Photoshop CS3 and using the filter 'Coloured Pencil' and then altering the pencil thickness and stroke, and I left the saturation and colour intensity alone. I am planning for this photograph to be for the Illness part of the Pensioner age. The photograph isn't block colour, there are bits of colour everywhere as if something was inhibiting the person colouring it in. Therefore I think it works for this part of life as during illness, especially during old age as this is when illness affects us more than others, thinks inhibit us from working properly and we often don't feel whole, or complete and some parts of us don't feel right.
The second photography was also a simple edit. Using Photoshop CS3 I increased the saturation and then altered the light curves to accentuate the reds in the photograph. For this photograph I hope to use it for the Death stage. The bright yellow on the background at the right hand side, gradually changes to a dark red and finally to a black, as if suggesting the life running out from the fullness of adulthood through old age and finally to death. The flower itself, when I took the photo, was in its dying stages and this can still be seen in the photograph and so emphasises the meaning. Furthermore, the red glow around the flower suggests a life burning out.
Time taken = 30 minutes
Total time taken = 5 hour 45 minutes