poster practice

1. Mini Project: Pet Sematary
Photoshoot

2. Introduction:
Planned for experimenting and advancing my use of
Photoshop/Photopea before beginning the final product, basing off of a
chosen film/series a poster will be created from scratch. That including
doing my own photoshoot, using my own images and going from there
with the editing.
Having a huge selection to choose from, there was only a few I had an
idea for with only one I could move forward with. Hardest part about
this was going with something I could realistically work with.

3. Ideas:
Sketching out the ones I believed I could work with, the
inspirations for these few came from the titles: 'Childs
play', 'Orphan', 'War of the Worlds', and the one I decided
to go with, 'Pet Sematary'.
The 'Childs Play' one was the first to come to mind, to do
this I imagined using my baby sister for the Chucky
character with my dog at the other side of her looking as if
she was ready to creep up on the dog with a knife in her
hand showing the intentions. Although this would have
been fun and possible to work on, it wouldn’t have been
the easiest trying to control both a dog who isn't trained to
act as well as a baby who doesn’t like to listen.
'Orphan', seemed slightly more difficult but only for the
idea of gathering the props. Mainly because I would have
to find both a doll house and UV paint which I didn't really
want to spend too much time on.
'War of the Worlds' was my runner-up choice as I imagine
that one being the easiest to do photoshoot-wise. The only
thing that stopped me here was not having another person
to be the character in shock. Also, I wasn't sure if I would
be able to work around photoshopping the Martian into
place.
Then with 'Pet Sematary', as difficult as I imagined it would
be to get this done, the result in my head seemed worth it.
The only thing that will come with this is the make-up and
prop use as well as getting my dog to do as I hope.

4. Equipment and props:
Working with all that I had, a lot of research had to be complete
before beginning the photoshoot as using a certain material could
risk a lot. Looking into such items including fake blood, temporary
coloured hair spray, Vaporub and plenty more, it was difficult
finding an item I could use that wouldn’t harm the one they were
for.
I even attempted finding what it was the creators used to get
Church the Cat the way he looks throughout the 2019 reboot title.
Coming across such ingredients as mashed up coffee beans, egg
yolk, food colouring and Vaseline, in the end I had to settle upon
the coffee granules and dog shampoo, as well as dried up leaves
and twigs for the wanted messy design on the star of the shoot.
Luckily, she was in need of a bath the day of getting this done so
there wasn't any harm in dirtying her up.

5. Another thing, not having many materials to actually
work with, a cheapish camera was used to take the
photos which doesn’t have the greatest quality but is
still handy. For experimental purposes, whilst taking a
few photos to test the camera before heading out,
deodorant and coloured hairspray had been carefully
sprayed around the lens of the camera. Curious for
the result, I had imagined it would help add that
mysterious, foggy tone to the background.
With the camera I only had two
quality options, one being automatic
with the other programmed
automatic. Testing out both, I had
found that the PA didn't result as
good being shakier and blurrier
whilst with the fully automatic, you
can see the result much clearer as
well as it looks much nicer.

6. With some results not looking the
greatest due to how obvious the red
is..
The excess would have to be smudged
in some spots and wiped off from
others hoping to create a better-
looking image.
Having it more on either side portarit-wise, and
fully clear in the middle, I believe the result of
the pictures actually look quite intriguing with
the additional detail. Followed by some editing
later on, it could help create a foggy/spooky
poster.

7. Exploring the area to find the perfect location, it didn’t take
long till the road shown along the right had been
discovered. Heading further down, a small cut was found
where we could sit and get ready whilst also hide away
when oncoming traffic wanted to get by.
Location scouting:

8. Starting off with the dog
shampoo, splashing it all along
Mitzie's fur I hoped to create a
greasy look. By the photos you
can tell my attempt was luckily a
success.
Adding in the coffee
now, I was able to make
her fur look much
dirtier. With more
it could have worked out
better, but the result did
well enough with the
amount used.
Character design:

9. Not done yet, using what was found in my surroundings, small handfuls
of mud and stones had been included in the look followed by dried up
leaves as mentioned sprinkled onto her fur with skinny twigs being
placed amongst. And with the coffee, the leaves and twigs were
sticking very easily to her fur without the issue of them getting stuck.

10. Set design:
Not really needing to do too much hear, more
dried up leaves had been gathered and spread
along the road for where Mitzie would be sat.
The process of this did have to be repeated as the
set would get ruined every time a car passed by.
Luckily, it wasn't difficult to get on with and there
wasn't too many vehicles going along the road.

11. The Photoshoot:
Playing around with the cameras
position quite a bit, it would have been
handy having access to a tripod giving
a steadier image. But unfortunately, I
had to do without for this shoot. And
when it has come to looking back
through the gallery where the pictures
are easier to see clearly, there isn't
many with that steady focus.
Trying to find what I was after, the
main aim was to have a full view of the
dog, not too close but close enough
with a view of the road behind without
leaving too much space.

12. Although it wasn't the easiest keeping her attention, it was more
difficult getting her to keep her mouth closed. For a few shots it worked
when I said to her to close it, mainly because she was noticeably
confused but it worked.

13. Out of all of the pictures taken, these selected few are the closest to
what I wanted...
This one is probably the winner,
just it would have been better if
she was looking at the
camera... and maybe the
camera was tilted up a tiny bit.
Same again really, but the
camera is actually higher up
with this one where it would
have been preferred for the first
image.
Shes actually facing the camera
this time, only bits putting me
off is how low the camera is,
you can't see much of the road
behind her. Plus, her position
with the way her legs are.
I quite like the little tilt with
the image itself. But also, her
face. The way she's looking
down slightly. But of course,
her tongue is out in the image.

14. Editing:
Going between these two, I
was going to have a go and
see if I could use the second
image, but replace the body
posture with the one in the
first. Not sure on whether or
not it'll work, I am currently
looking into removing certain
objects from a picture using
the software 'Photopea', that
way I can remove the tongue
and might not need to swap
bodies.

15. Removing Objects From Images in Photopea
Tutorial - YouTube
Using the video pasted above, three methods
in removing a certain object within a picture
were revealed in a tutorial. With 'fill', 'patch'
and 'clone', I believe the fill one is the method
I need. I may be wrong but that will be the
first I attempt to get this done.
Close-up, you can tell
that there is
something up with
the mouth area.
But further away, I
guess it looks... kinda
normal? Without the
redness? But the
redness does go well
with the theme of
the image. But I do
think it could look
better, so another
attempt will be
made.

16. Redoing the process, I do believe this one results better
compared. And although it looks darker still I think it could
work. But maybe because it's not done and I'm focusing on
this little part too much that it doesn't look right to me?
Linking the darkness that looks almost like blood, that part
works out greatly. But I'm not sure if its just me seeing that,
so I might need a second opinion before I am happy enough
to move on.
Back after getting a response, "It looks like she ate a rat".
Looks like it works.

17. Adding in a truck for the background now, it did take a
while to find the right image. Luckily though, 'Pexels'
was my Saviour here in order of having the perfect,
uncopyrighted picture for me to use.
With the opacity low at the moment, this is just so I can
double check the picture fits rather than going through
the trouble of editing it in just to find the angle isn't
right. Although, I'm not a 100% that the truck is coming
towards us, but as of now it will have to do.
Taking a while, the truck alone had been
snipped out of its original photograph
removing the background.
Placed where it will remain now, the result
does not look right at all. But saving that,
we aren't yet done.

18. Leaving the truck alone for a
second, focus is going into the
image itself with the colours and
shading.
First up, was the shadows and
hightlights. Compared to the
original tones the adjustments
made have worked in darkening
the whole image. Still more
changes are needed, but we've
made start.

19. Thinking again about the truck and its
placement, I was trying to figure out how to go
about that as I couldn't have it too close but
didn't want it too far. Till I thought, what if I
make it so it's behind the dog yet there's some
of her overlapping it... you'll see what I mean.
With a second layer, the
same image had been
duplicated in a way allowing
me to snip her out of the
image whilst still having that
image untouched.
And without showing the
full result as the truck
part looks horrible at the
moment, I succeeded in
what I aimed to do.

20. Wanting to fix it now, the truck. I am starting to believe though that the reason it
doesn't look right is because of it being blurry. I took an image where the truck is at
a distance and zoomed it in creating the pixelated result.
Going back onto 'pixabay' for a new image, a promising piece had been found.
And after repeating the same
process of cutting out the
needed object, the result does
seem better compared.
Once it was placed, a little off
the top had been cropped
down giving less to show.
Not saying it fits in perfectly as
it definitely doesn't, but what I
can imagine will help fix it is a
shadow drop followed by a few
adjustments in colour for the
whole image.

21. Duplicating the truck layer,
the colour had been
switched to a flat black (for
now) allowing me to create
the shadow out of the
objects silhouette.
Warping it into place, the
result is a lot better than the
first attempt. Only thing I'm
trying to figure out now is
how to make it look more
natural. So far, the opacity
has been switched to soft
light, but it isn't enough.
Giving the 'drop shadow' a go from the
layer options, it still doesn't really look
right.
More with the left side than the bottom of
the vehicle. Luckily, there is an alternative
way to get the look I am after.

22. Stumped by the attempt to edit the colours and filters for the whole image trying to get the truck to fit in better, the focus has
now been switched to the lights. Wanting a nighttime atmosphere, it wouldn't make sense for the headlights not to be on.
Taking far too many attempts to get
right, using the paint brush tool and a
very low percentage of opacity, white
has been placed along the road to
create light. There was struggle in
trying to make it look natural, but we
got there in the end. And before
finishing off, with a smaller brush the
dog had been outlined with the white
in some areas to help show that the
light is bouncing off of the creature.
Looking into adding a lens flare, for some
reason the selection doesn't seem to be
working for me so for now I will be moving on.