Nicola Kilgallon created experimental double exposure photographs with a focus on discovery. Their final image features hands with a river and bridge in the background, made with a clipping mask for a mysterious effect. They were influenced by Christoffer Relander's double exposure portraits with nature backgrounds. Technically, the magic wand tool created a rough edge on the hands that could be improved. Overall the final image fulfills the brief of being suitable for an exhibition on discovery, as the outdoor scenery leaves the location unknown and adventurous to interpret.

1. Experimental Photography
Nicola Kilgallon
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2. 1.
Double Exposure
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3. Use this slide to annotate your final image
The hands in a
faint opacity of
36 makes
them just
viewable with
the
background
image being in
a similar
opacity,
creating a
discovery
experimental
photograph.
The background
image is of the
river and bridge
in Stamford
Bridge.
This white space
is effective as
you can see the
image outline is
just hands.

4. My ideas and intentions of making double exposure images was to make some with a
clipping mask and white space around them. My main ideas were to have someone’s face
with trees in the background as I saw it on the internet and I wanted to try something different
with hands and make it more of a discovery photograph by having some form of scenery in
the background. The results I got were better than I expected yet there could still be
improvements.
The bottom of the hands in my final image could have been cropped down better as the edge
isn’t very smooth, in comparison to the face in image 3, which was cropped perfectly. My final
image is toned down however I would have liked the trees to be more noticeable, like in
image 4. My final image contrasts most with image 5. Image 5 is a face with city lights in the
background and my final image is hands with a bridge and river in them. They are very
different images yet still double exposure and I like them because they are different but I think
my final image is more effective and fits the theme discovery more.
My influence on this type of double exposure with a clipping mask is Christoffer Relander.
http://www.christofferrelander.com/
His images are of people with woodland and trees within them and I thought it looked creative when I researched it. Image 4 was
the best outcome of the influence of Relander as I decided to have a picture of someone on their side with the trees in the
background, similar to the image he created.
I think that the aesthetic qualities of my work are good and effective. I think that my final image looks creative and can be
perceived in many ways. It can be seen as someone wanting to know where this river leads, someone thinking that they own it
and have it to themselves and someone who has the world in their hands. I like that my image has a clipping mask, it gives the
hands a lot more awareness in the image as there isn’t too much going on. I think that the strongest element in my final image is
the river image as it makes it mysterious, I think that the weakest element is I think that the hands could have had a less opacity
to make them more faded so the other image stands out more. I think that my images look good and imaginative, just like the
ones I did my research on which have me the ideas. Image 1 and my final image are very similar however image 1 looks very
dark compared to the other. I like that it is dark because it looks almost frightening when actually the picture of the tree was taken
in day light, I just edited it very dark for a different feel.
The technical qualities of my work are okay but could have been better. I used the magic wand tool to get rid of the image
outside of the hand image, yet it managed to make a rough edge at the bottom of the hands without me realising therefore that is
the weakest technical part of my image. I think that the best is the opacity of the river a you can see the water flowing inside the
hands as it wasn’t very clear at first. I had to put an effect on the river and up the saturation so it was more clear. I also put
effects from Photoshop onto my image such as soft light and pin light. The effects completely changed some of the images by
making it very dark with red colours or blue, or making it very light, so much that it was nearly all faded. I preferred it when they
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were more viewable with facial features.

5. I could improve my work by trying to put more than two images into the final image. I could have taken more care when
creating the clipping mask to make it more professional. I could take my work further by doing this as I can improve my
technical skills and make my images more creative and discovery themed with the help of more images. By doing this, I
would be trying to achieve a better and more creative final image. I could undertake further experiments of different ideas like
different shaped clipping masks other than a face or hands, I could do things like flowers and bigger objects like cars to make
it different.
Overall, my final image is clear yet faint. The colours are limited, but still enough to see what it is and what colour it
naturally should be. When I put the contrast up on the colours, the image became too complicated and lost the effect it
had before. The hands were too dark and the river wasn’t very viewable and the trees over the river stood out too much.
I made the colours faint on purpose so that it didn’t stand out too much but still managed to keep its effectiveness. I like
the shape of the image because the clipping mask helps it keep its originality. The patterns of the fingers one after the
other help give the image a realistic and 3D look. My images could be developed by trying different images behind the
clipping mask, for example I could have a city behind the hands giving a ‘which road to take’ effect which would fit greatly
with the theme of discovery. I could swap some images round and see what works best. I could move the same image
that is already in the image around to see if a different part of it works better than the one I chose.
The images I produced do fulfill the brief as I have extended my creative and technical skills of photography and I
managed to understand how to manipulate photographs. I think my photographs are suitable for Nunnington Hall’s
photography exhibition with the theme of discovery. My images do fit the theme of discovery as I did outdoor scenery
which when put into my final images it created a mysterious look to my images. The outdoors scenery could lead to
anywhere and could be anywhere, the images don’t give away where it is, keeping the images adventurous and making
the mind wonder. Image 3 in particular is a discovery image as the river in the image could be anywhere and there
could be a meaning to it but the people who view it will decide that reason for themselves.
My images are experimental as they are all versions of double exposure images of either two or more images. The
settings on the origional settings are all edited and faded, some with colour contrasts and some with blue effects in
places. I think this makes my photography experimental, especially as I couldn’t do any of it before this project. The
colouring on image 5 has the hue and saturation on very high to make the millennium bridge and the lights on the water
very bright for more of an effect against the black and white image. The rest of the image that remains black and white
has a slight blur on the inside to keep it from catching the eye rather than the city lights.
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