Final Major Project

For my final major project, my original idea was to re create my 60's Mod theme. I wanted to modernise them by shooting them in digital and include modern items such as modern cars and phones. But then after thinking about it, I wanted to do something completely new and different for this assignment because I have the chance to think of a new idea from scratch. Also, because I'd done a small version of the 60's Mod before I just wanted a brand new idea and something I've never done before. My new idea is to create and photograph crime scenes. I originally got my inspiration from CSI and wanted to create something like that. 

I then researched different photographers that all have a different take on crime scene photography. I created collages of the photographs, choosing my favourites from their images. 

I first looked at Paul Seawright. His photography doesn't show a crime scene in a CSI kind of way like what I wanted to do, his photographs show more destruction in areas rather than a murder scene or anything with victims involved. I like his versions in a way but this is not something I'd want to do for my photography. I just like how it's quite creative and something you don't instantly think of when you think 'crime scene photography'. 

I also looked at WeeGee. I prefer this kind of crime scene photography a lot more and will most likely be using a lot of his images as inspiration for my own. I would prefer mine to be in colour rather than black and white, even though I think colour in these photographs would take away the effectiveness. You can also see that this was a long time ago because of the cars and the fashion in the photographs which is why I think they suit black and white a lot more. I also like the fact his photographs aren't staged, he had access to a police radio and went to photograph a scene as soon as it came through on the radio. 

Guy Bourdin brings a lot of fashion into his crime scene photography and likes to stick to less colours and primary colours. He also keeps a lot of his images very minimal which is what I like about them. I do prefer more of a literal crime scene though so I don't think I'll be doing any in a fashion kind of way.  But I still might take inspiration because I like his ideas.

I like these photographs by Melanie Pullen, I like the fashion kind of feel it gives you with the models being well dressed and in their heels. I also like how there is barely anything else in the photograph other than the model, it draws your attention to her straight away as most of the time, she's in the middle and quite close up. I'd like to take inspiration from these photographs, I like the composition, where the model is placed in the image and would like to try take some of these techniques for my own photographs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Proposal

For my FMP I want to try something I haven’t ever tried before but have always been interested in. I’m going to try forensic photography, I’ll be creating my own crime scenes and placing my own evidence to photograph. To display this work I want to create individual crime files and include all the photographs in them to give the feel of an actual murder case/crime. I would like to aim towards creating 3/4 of the files. They will include an overall photograph of the crime scene, close ups of the evidence and I would also like to create my own stills of CCTV footage too. I think that will make it look more realistic. The CCTV footage will be edited into black and white and I’ll make it fuzzy/grainy quality.

The resources I will need to successfully create the images I want will be: A camera, an off camera flash (soft box/flash gun), scenery for my crimes, models to play the role of the victim, objects needed for my evidence to place in my scenery. Also, to make sure I manage my time well so I shoot as many photographs as possible I will plan out my time using the production plan sheets we were given for each of the weeks until the end of the assignment.

I will need to follow some health and safety procedures during my photo-shoots.

·      - If soft boxes are being used inside/outside make sure no wires are in the way so no accidents are caused

·     - If I’m shooting outside, make sure the model is comfortable on the floor (nothing sharp/nothing that could injure them) if I decide to do a murder scene

·      - If I decide to use a knife or something sharp as an evidence prop, make sure it’s carefully placed and carefully taken away once done the shoot

·     -  If I use the studio, make sure no drinks are taken in, in case of spillage

·      - If in the studio, make sure chairs are placed over wires from soft boxes so me and the model knows where they are to prevent trips/breaking soft boxes

I will need to learn/develop skills to be able to go forward with my idea too. I’ll need to practise more with soft boxes in case I want to use them on a location shoot. I can do this by using the studio and practising in there or booking out portable soft boxes from college and taking them home to practise in the garden. Doing this will eventually improve my final images.

I’ll also need to practise night time photography more to make sure I can get the lighting needed and be able to see my set up clearly. I can do this by testing the off camera flash and soft boxes to see which gives the best outcome at night and then continue to use my preferred artificial lighting. Being able to do this will help me because it will enable me to use daytime and night time for my photo-shoots, which I think, would be a lot better for my ‘crime scene’ theme.

Plans/sketches

Practise shots

(SHOOT 1) I took some quick photographs on a Samsung Galaxy S3 with and without flash just to plan out what I want my images to look like. I looked at my planning sheet where I wrote out different crime scene ideas and tried to re create a couple quickly to get an idea of where I'm going to put props and how I want my images to be composed.
I set up my 'overdose murder' scene in 2 different locations inside a house. I planned out where I want my lighting to come from and where I want to put the props (tablets/alcohol etc).

This is my first practise shoot I did for my theme, I wanted to try a set up in a bedroom where the victim had been murdered but it looks like an overdose. So this is a rough idea of what I want to try and re create with better light sources and a Canon 600D. I want to try this scene in lightness and darkness using the natural light from the window at daytime and use soft boxes at night. I like this idea because it's simple to do and can look very effective. I'm definitely going to try this idea again but with artificial lighting, I think that would look better than having the natural light coming in through the window. 

(SHOOT 2) For this shoot I wanted to try something that didn't involve a person in the frame and just find blooded, smashed bottles and a knife on the floor. But after shooting this, I think I want to try add a victims arm or hand in the image to make it look a bit more personal and have more shock to it. 

The images on the paper towel are supposed to be the analysing of the weapon from the crime scene. For now I just put blue kitchen roll down but I will find a better backdrop for this when I come to shoot again. But my idea is to maybe edit a fingerprint onto the handle or try mark my own there so make it look more realistic. I think shooting this from above is a lot more effective because you get an idea of the actual length and size of the knife.

My favourite images from this shoot are the ones with the knife and the broken glass on the concrete outside. I like them because of how real it looks. At first I didn't want to include anybody in the images but I think next time I'm going to try that because it might look more powerful as a whole image. I didn't really like how the knife on the blue paper looked, but that's just because it was a quick practice. It's meant to represent the work on the murder weapon being investigated for fingerprints etc. in the lab. But next time I'm going to use something that looks clean and plain. 

(SHOOT 3) This shoot has the same idea as my first practise shoot but in a different location. I tried this with the flash on and off to see which would look better but I think I should try it with soft boxes in the dark because the lights give a orange tone which I don't really like. I would also like to try this image outside instead of a hallway too to see which location I prefer.

I do like the overall idea of this photo shoot but I think I could improve it a lot. Also, it was taken on a phone as a practise too, so with a DSLR it's going to look a lot more professional and better quality.

(SHOOT 4) This is a practise shoot just to plan out what I want to do with my next shoot. I plan on using this location but at night time using artificial lighting. I just wanted to get an idea of what angles I could take photographs at and if this location would work well. I plan on using this location as a murder scene but for this shoot I didn't but any props or fake blood. I just wanted to put the model in the scene and test out some photographs. 

I like this idea because when I do this shoot, it's going to be in the dark which is going to make it look like it's not in a garden. I think it's going to be a lot more powerful with the model in the scene.

Camera settings:

Contact sheets:

Crit for practise images:

Things I like:

- The idea of the set ups
- The 'evidence' in the scenes
- The fake blood makes it look more realistic

Things to improve:

- The lighting
- Composition
- More images

Practise with lighting (SHOOT 5)

For this shoot I wanted to try and use professional lighting, so I used a soft box and took photographs in the dark outside. I set up the model in front of the light and tried lots of different angles to see what worked the best with this lighting. I think that working in the dark with soft boxes looks so much better with my theme rather than using natural lighting. I think it looks a lot more realistic and looks more of a crime scene. 

As I've been taking my photographs I've noticed the way that I've done the images is different, at first I wanted to take a lot of inspiration from WeeGee. I'm still going to try that but I think my images have changed a lot especially with this shoot, they've become more arty I think because of the angles and close-ups I'm trying with the images. 

I liked how this shoot turned out because I think with the lighting it just makes it look so much more realistic rather than using natural lighting. It also allows me to shoot a lot more too, as I can do it in the complete darkness and during the day. The only thing I would change is the lighting set up. I couldn't set them up properly because I didn't have the stands for the soft boxes. So next time, I'll get the stands and try take these images again.

Camera settings:

Set up:

This is the set up of my light and where the model will be. I didn't have a stand with the soft box so I wasn't too happy with the angle of the lighting and I couldn't alter it that much either. I placed the soft box on a chair and faced it towards the model, it created complete darkness behind him and a shadow coming in at the top because the light was facing upwards towards him. I changed the lighting a few times to get it the exposure I wanted.
I really liked this shoot, I think it was my best one so far. With the lighting it just adds to the image whereas, before I just had natural lighting and the lights in the rooms. I am definitely going to try more shoots outside using soft boxes because I just think they look so much more realistic and fit a lot better with my theme. 

Edits:

I used a soft light brush tool with a low opacity with the colour red and went over the 'blood' just to make it look a little more red and realistic. I then used the burn tool to darken the areas around the model so that the focus is just on the model and where the light hits. I applied all of these steps to all these edited photographs. 

Contact sheets:

After thinking about how I'm going to present my work I kind of changed my idea. Now I want to kind of juxtapose my images, for example I would like to take a photo of a detail in the crime/murder and then take a separate photo of something to do with that e.g. the murder weapon. I think this will work really well with my presentation. Also, it gives more meaning to my project in a way I didn't have before. It shows a victim in one photo and then what happened to them in a completely different photo. I think it's a strong idea to bring my project together.
At the end of year show, I want to use foam board to mount two sets of my images up on the wall and then use a table in front of my wall to place something where people can look more into my work and get a better idea of what my project is. My idea is to place either crime scene like files on there or little pieces of evidence to make it look a little bit more creative.
When I go onto improving this shoot I want to use two soft boxes on stands and try get more of an even lighting rather than balancing one and having the bottom half really bright and top half really dark. I want to set them up so they're facing down towards the model. With the object I'm going to be photographing I just want to place it near the location where I photographed the model and just take a simple photograph of the object to juxtapose it with the image of the detailing of the crime scene. I want them to have the same lighting as the image I'm juxtaposing with, so whether it's outside using soft boxes or inside using natural lighting. Both images will have the same light source to they fit together and then you can clearly see the link between both of the photographs.

(SHOOT 6)

For this shoot I wanted to re-create one of my first practise shoots in the bedroom. This time I used 2 soft boxes, one lowered shining directly onto the model and then the other one lifted high up and pointing down towards the model.
Also, with this shoot I tried to add on the idea I had about the juxtaposition. I took photographs of the model in the scene and then took separate photographs of the object that caused the death.
I liked this shoot, it was a massive improvement to the one I practised with this idea. I can definitely tell the difference with the lighting and the quality of the images that these ones are so much better, especially with the lighting. I also think that adding in a separate image of the object has made my images look very powerful.

This is my set-up.

Camera settings:

Edits:

All I did with these images were brighten them a tiny bit using the curves tool. Then I just used the dodge tool to lighten up the objects a little bit.
I like how this photo shoot turned out because it looks a lot different to my other shoots but I think it's still really effective. I like the lighting, it looks more professional rather than having lighting from the window. But then I still think it looks more realistic. I like the composition of the image where you can just the the models legs in the frame. The photograph looks a lot better taken from above, I tried it from a different angle but it looks better composed and it also fits in with the crime scene feel where everything is taken from above to get a accurate length/size of the person.

Contact sheet:

(SHOOT 7)

For this shoot, I wanted to try something that wasn't too repetitive. I thought of some different ideas for crimes/murders and came up started to think more in the way of what could work with 2 images (my scene and then the object to go with that scene). So I thought of the idea that my scene would be the person in the bath and the photo of the object would be a plug/lead, so this symbolises that they've put the toaster in the bath with them in it.

I was going to use 2 soft boxes but 1 was enough when I came to testing it out. I set it up to be quite high and facing down on the bath.

I think this shoot went well, it adds some variation to my project so I don't just have blood and knives in my images all the time. I think the soft box add really nice lighting too, I tried to make it look a bit dim and miserable looking to create the mood of my image.

Camera settings:

Edits:

To edit these images, I brightened them a little bit using the curves tool and then used the dodge tool to brighten the main focus of the image (person/plug).




Contact sheet:

(SHOOT 8)

This shoot is an improvement on a shoot I did before. I did some shots of pills and alcohol bottles before but I thought they look a little too set up, so this time I just dropped everything onto the mattress and re shot it.

I think they look a lot better and less set up how I've shot them this time and I'm happy with the outcome. I plan on using one of these to pair with my scene in the bedroom.

Camera settings:

Edits:

To edit this photo, I adjusted the curves tool and then brightened the bottles and the packets with the dodge tool a tiny bit.

Contact sheet:

(SHOOT 9)

This is another improvement shoot, when I did this shoot before I had to balance the soft box on a chair but I got the stand this time so I wanted to see if I could get better lighting using the stand so I could get a better placement of the lights. I also only focused on the arm in this shoot because I only want the detail of the scene in my images now.
I prefer this shoot to the last time but not in terms of the lighting, I don't think the lighting has changed that much. I prefer the angles I've taken the photographs at and the edits I've done. So I think I'll be using one of these images instead to pair with the object photo.

Camera settings:

Edits:

Contact sheets:

Juxtaposing the images:

First pair:

Second pair:

Third pair:

Evaluation

I'm going to choose 2 out of the 3 pairs to display at the end of year show. I think my favourites are the first pair and the third pair. I like the first pair because I think the two images go together really well and effectively. I like the lighting, it's just the right amount of brightness for this mood of image I think. Light, but dark and dingy at the same time and that compliments my overall idea. I also think the composition of the images work well because you can only see exactly what you need to see which is what I wanted to do, literally just to see the model in the bath and then the plug and wire. I chose the third pair because I think adding this into my display will add more of an understanding from the audience that views my work. I think this image shows clearly that I wanted a murder/crime scene and then a weapon. These images show this idea, also in a way it's kind of gory which will get more of a shock factor from the audience with the blood on the knife and arm. I also think all sets of images are good quality as they were all shot in RAW.

I enjoyed this assignment because I decided to go completely out of my comfort zone and do something I wasn't fully sure on how to do and something I've never tried before. I did change my mind quite a lot throughout this assignment, but I'm happy with my outcome and I think the images are got are a lot better than what I wanted to do in the first place. At first I wanted to do more of a literal crime scene but as I started my practise shoots I noticed it was harder than I thought it was going to be and then I started to gradually change it into more of a fashion kind of crime scene. I made the scene a lot more photogenic and then realised I could start to take photographs of details in a scene and then add another photo and pair them up. This made the project a lot easier and more enjoyable to carry on with and finish.

Reflecting on my proposal, I have definitely changed a lot of my ideas. I didn't make any of the crime scene files that I originally planned and didn't do the CCTV footage shots along with the mug shots. After changing my idea I just don't think that would have fitted really well into a file. In the end, I took the most inspiration from the crime scene style images Melanie Pullen shot.

If I was to re-do this project, I would make sure that I started doing practise shoots as quick as I could because by the time I changed my idea, I didn't have a lot of time left to do the idea I planned which is why I don't have a lot of sets. So, I would take a lot more photographs and try and shoot in a lot more different scenes.