Self Portrait Experiments

To begin with these set of experiments, I took a series of self portraits and these were the 5 I concidered the best to begin experimenting. I decided to add ones with the smoking in as its adds an extra layer and I wondered how the smoke would look using the glitch effect.
To begin I wanted to start with the first photo as its the simplest, I wanted to use GIMP to edit as I'm a fan of the use of layers and wanted to experiment more with that.

For this edit, I used the layer tool to create 2 layers, one red and one blue, but used the darken only feature so it only darkened the photo, giving it a more creepy and dark look. I then moved the top layer to expose the red and blue layers between.

I then created a layer from visable and brought that to the top to add the distortion. I used the curve bend tool as I've used it before and know how its works. I wanted most the distortion on the face across the eyes, giving a dehumanising effect. I liked how the left eye is more distorted then the right, so to still look human but just slightly warped. I then added a few more curves further down below the shoulders to break it up a bit and continue the theme of glitching.

I originally wanted to stop there, but then decided to experiment with another tool called wind. It drags colours from the photo cross in different directions and adds another layer of movement and depth. After playing with the sliders I came out with a piece I liked.

Overall I'm pleased with how this piece turned out, the background of the leaves stands out and the way the colours are dragged down give it the illusion they're melting.

Moving on from this, the third photo peaks my interest due to the way the smokes leaving the mouth. It looks rather fluid and I want to incorporate that into this next edit.
For this one I used 2 coloured layers, red and green, before adding the curve bend distortion. I increased the saturation of this also to make the red and green more vibrant against the background leaves, I also added a Pattern on top of this which is the small bars across the piece, giving it a more retro feel. I feel my intentions were to focus on the smoke, but I feel it looks a little washed out and doesnt stand out as much as I would of liked it to.

Moving forward from this, I want to take some more photos of different people and work into those too, I might also try printing out my photos and working onto them, giving me the oppotunity to used different materials and meduims.

Photo Editing Apps Initial Experiments

Drawing inspiration from glitch art, I found I needed some form on photoediting software in order to edit photos. I wanted to experiment with a few different apps and softwares to see that different effects I can get.


I began with phone apps. VSCO was the first app I came across and downloaded. This app lets you edit levels and add filters over photos taken on your phone. I found the app easy to use, at this point I haven't taken any portraits so I'll be using a photo I took at Glastonbury Festival as my first experiment, just to play around with the apps, before I work on photos I feel fit the concept of Identity better.
For the photo below, I did the following things:

• Exposure -1.0
• Saturation +1.0
• Temperature +0.6
• Grain +6.0
• Shadow Tint (red) +2.5

I found it easy to use the sliders to edit the levels and see instantly how it changed my photo. My favourite part of this app is the 'grain' option which gives the photo a grainy filter, which reminds me of old 35mm photos, giving the photo a vintage feel.
However, there are limitations with this app as you're working on one layer, so this app mainy edits the colours and can add a grainy effect, I feel I could use this app along side another app to layer up effects and give the photo more depth.



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Next I wanted to look and see if I could find any software for my Macbook to use, I came across a software called GIMP, its a free software for macOS and windows. I found it after looking for photoshop alternatives, and the reviews seem positive.
Theres a lot more possailities with this app and one thing I see is possible is creating more ;glitch' style art. So I did some research and found this post which gives a detailed tutorial on how to do it so gave it a go on the same photo.

This below was the final photo after playing around with the software for a few hours. To create this I followed the tutorial step by step, creating 2 layers of the photo, but colouring one photo green and one pink, insted of the classic red and blue 3D effect, as I wanted to move away from that and go for something that would stand out more. I then set the colours to only colourise lighen only, meaning only the light tones were colourised. Then used the move tool to move the top layer a few pixels left then the bottom layer right, this created the pink and green areas, and the yellow if where they overlap. This created the 3D effect for the first step, then to add the distort over the top.

To do this, I selected filters > distort > curve bend. Using this tool I added some distorted marks using the free tool to make them look more raw and organic. Doing this also left some gaps in the photo at the sides which I like as it gives it a destressed look, like broken film.
As a final touch, I took the photo I edited on VCSO and scaled it up and cropped it just to have the crane structure in the corner then add it ontop and make it very transparent, just to see the crane in the corner, I found this added more depth to the piece, and the grain filter I liked on the first piece came through on this one too.
Overall I found this software okay to use, it took some time getting used to the controlls and where everything is, but with some more practice I feel I'll be more confident to try other things with this software too.

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Next I wanted to go back to phone apps. I searched for glitch art and I came across an app called Glitch Studio, another free app which just adds premade filters on top of photos. Although the app itself is free, theres only 4 free filters, theres many more but you have to pay to unlock them.

This app is easy to use as you just upload the photo you want to edit a press on which filter you want to use.

The first filter (left) is called Old TV. Its very simple in the fact it alters the colours and adds a grid layer over the top to mimic how old televisions look. The next filter (right) is called Vaporwave. Its name not being so obvious, but its going with the same purple theme as the last filter, but has a halo blur around it, which splits the layers into the different colours of light, which is similar to what I did using the software GIMP.

Next below are the two other filters which are free to use on the app. The one on the left is called Distortion 1. It reminds me also of what can be done using GIMP, using the 3D colours where the layers stand out and black and white where they overlap. This gives a great contrast and adds depth. The filter on the right is called Distortion 2. I feel this is because it uses the same idea as the previous, but is more expreme in the sence of the layers are more spread out and brighter colours are used to help separate between the layers.
Overall, I find the Glitch studio app very simple to use but I found theres not much control over the filters, and look very simple. However, it is  a good app to get inspiratin on different ways to edit photos, and might be handy in the future.

Initial Ideas

For this summer project, the task is to investigate the umbrella term 'Identity". Being such a broad term, I began with a mind map of some ideas and themes which link into the idea of identity.

One thing I want to work on next year is photography and photo editing, so when considering ideas, the concept of investigating online personalities grabbed my attention as a great opportunity to work with some new mediums. When looking further into the online theme, the idea of catfishing came to mind. A catfish is someone who uses a social media account pretending to be someone their not.

MTV does a show called catfish where they follow people who have fallen in love with people online who turn out to be 'catfishing' them. Meaning the person thinks their talking to someone else, and their profile uses fake photos of other people. So I could use this as research for more information on catfishing and how it affects people.

Linking this back to art and artists, I've been interested in glitch art and distorting photos and paintings to give them a warped and glitched effect.

Following on from this I plan to do some research into artists who create glitch art or artists who distort their work to give it a warped look.