Shaw Final Portfolio Critique

Krysten Shaw

Final Portfolio Critique

1. Explain how you have successfully interpreted the subject selected for your final

photographic portfolio assignment. Include outside influences by photographers/artists.

My final portfolio subject was self-portraits using photomontage and I believe that I

successfully interpreted this in my images. Each was a different take on the self-portrait,

with multiple “versions” of myself interacting with each other while doing activities in

my normal routine. I successfully edited the images so that they are almost seamlessly

blended together and showcase my interactions with myself. The only exception to this

is the image with my hand protruding from the computer screen, as Professor Shillea

pointed out in his critique. I really enjoyed creating the illusion in our last photomontage

assignment and wanted to take it a step further. The reason I chose to create selfportraits

with this method is because I was heavily influenced by the work of an

Instagram user, @melovemealot, who introduced me to this idea of creating selfportraits

using photo-montage. Her work is quite complex at times, and she often uses

extreme visual effects to create a surreal image. I chose to interpret this in a way that

represented who I am as an individual and would demonstrate my skills as a

photographer. Everyone can view her work at the following link if you would like to

further understand the inspiration behind this series:

https://www.instagram.com/melovemealot/?hl=en

Krysten Shaw


In this photo I was trying to convey my playful side,

being silly whilst taking a portrait, as I often do. The

posing on this photo was difficult and took me

countless tries to get the desired effect. I used a

combination of diffused natural lighting, which I

achieved by putting white sheets across the windows

near my front door, and I also used artificial light from

an overhead chandelier. I used my body to elongate

the lines created by the diagonal of the staircase and

to show perspective and clearly mark the foreground,

middle ground and background of the photo.

Focal Length: 25mm

Exposure: 1/8 sec, f/4.0, ISO 800, Manual

For this photo I used natural lighting

only, and it was a cloudy day.

Editing this photo was particularly

difficult because as the clouds

shifted, so did the amount of

sunlight. That made the process of

editing them to look natural

difficult. I chose to close the sunroof

to eliminate any unnecessary light,

limiting the shadows created by the

shifting sun.

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure: 1/60 sec, f/5.0, ISO 400,

Manual

Krysten Shaw


was unable to without it looking unnatural.

Focal Length: 30mm


My intentions with this photo

were to show myself having fun, I

love to sit down with a glass of

wine and I truly do entertain

myself when in this setting. I

chose to capture it from this

angle and distance to give the

viewer a sense of closeness to

the subject. The lighting was

artificial and overhead at an

angle, which unfortunately

created the shadow of the wine

glass on my left leg that, at first, I

attempted to remove in PS

because I found it distracting but

This photo is one of my favorites

in the series, as I feel that it truly

represents a huge part of me. I

am often preoccupied and

distracted, even when it may

appear that someone has my full

attention—but my mind

constantly goes a mile per

minute. The mirror reflection

represents my inner self. The

lighting here was directly above

the mirror and diffused using a

white t-shirt. I chose this angle so

that I could successfully get close

to the model, who is staring

directly at the camera, appearing to give full attention to it, whilst still showing the full torso of

the contrasting image in the mirror. Something I would’ve done differently here is remove my

makeup props. When initially taking this photo, I thought that they would add to the idea of my

getting ready to go out, but after thinking about it, I feel that they are somewhat distracting.

Focal Length: 18mm


Krysten Shaw


The natural light in this photo

worked in my favor since it was

pretty consistent the entire time

I was shooting. I positioned

myself close to the windows to

ensure everything was well lit

and I used trial and error to

position myself in a way that

would not overlap unnaturally. I

am not one for sharing, but I like

when others share with me. This

image captures the usual look I

give someone reaching for my

food as well as the reverse—how

I look when wanting others to

share with me. The hardest part of editing this was in

the area closest to the food, I had a hard time cutting

out the forks and ensuring that everything looked

normal, since I was actually eating it during the

shoot. I have also shared the Layers panel for this

composition, to show how I layered this.

Focal Length: 25mm


Krysten Shaw


I often spend hours in the

library looking for books and

reading comfortably. The hands

coming out of the bookshelf is

representative of how the

books are all pulling me into

their individual worlds when I

go read. The lighting was a mix

of the fluorescent lighting in

the library and natural light

from a nearby window. I chose

to frame the shot with the

edges of the bookcase in order

to pull the viewer in to the

reading space and make them

feel a part of the experience. This is the only photo in which I changed the size of the aperture

opening for the individual photos. This was important so that everything from foreground to

background would be in focus. For the images of the hands and model in the foreground I used

a large aperture opening of f/5.0 and for the image in the background I used a much smaller

opening, at f/32 to get the background in clear focus.

Focal Length: 41mm

Foreground Exposure: 1/25 sec, f/5.0, ISO 800, Manual

Background Exposure: 1.6 sec, f/32, ISO 800, Manual

This image showcases my

competitive nature, I love to

win. The natural lighting behind

me was difficult to work with

because it kept shifting and

creating shadows that

distracted from the scene. I

managed to remove the

shadows and heal areas such as

the table and the board game.

Focal Length: 21mm

Krysten Shaw



I was really interested in trying

this concept, but in my opinion,

this was my least successful

photo. It is because the illusion is

lost with the placement of my

hand coming out of the laptop.

Professor Shillea also mentioned

that the trick was given away

here, as opposed to the other

photos. I intended for my hand

to appear in a beckoning

gesture, but my hand is flat and

appears to be pointing instead.

The idea behind this was to

represent the pull that I feel

from the internet. I enjoy my time spent online and I’ve always been naturally drawn to

technology. However, I do wish that I executed it a little differently. The lighting was an

overhead artificial light which I diffused by covering it with a sheet to give the image a softer

light. I framed the photo with the colorful bowl of fruit and the dark curtains to draw the eye

inward along with the directional movement of my hand. The colors were carefully chosen to

complement my outfit and the background. I shot at this angle to keep the wall in the

background free of distraction and bring me into direct focus.

Focal Length: 25mm


Shaw Final Portfolio Critique

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