Image Production - Image Manipulation Project Complete

Kyle Wright
Apr 13, 2021
8 min read

Updated: Apr 25, 2021

This blog post is the updated project proposal, having changed my idea to better reflect my current abilities with Photoshop. My initial idea unfortunately proved to be too ambitious, but will revisit the subject later down the line.

This blog post will outline my research and concept ideas for our upcoming Image Manipulation project.

Project Summary

This project will be a product line advertisement for Huawei. It will feature a range of Huawei products that will be merged together in the same final image, and represent an ecosystem of products that can be used to create seamless operation between different products.

What

The base image will be of a Huawei P30 Pro, in two colorways. The final image will be edited to show the accompanying products such as the Huawei Smart Band, Watch Fit, FreeBuds 3 wireless earbuds, and Huawei Wireless Charger all seemingly floated around the devices.

Why

When looking for inspiration for my new theme, I came to realise that both myself and girlfriend have the same phone, the Huawei P30 Pro, as well as a range of Huawei products and accessories. I felt this was a good chance to practice my product photography as well as challenge myself to create a convincing advertisement using the Photoshop tools I had learned about this semester.

Where

The shoot will take place in the living room of my apartment, where I have my makeshift product photography set up, consisting of a spare mattress, and coffee table. I will use a softbox for lighting as I unfortunately have no other lighting apparatus.

Who

There will be no people in this image.

Concept Research

My concept research consisted of reviewing product line shots from manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung and Huawei, as well as tech YouTube personalities such as MKBHD, Linus Tech Tips and Unbox Therapy, who review such products as well as utilise basic and advanced Photoshop to create their shots and video thumbnails.

The following images are what I hope to base my work on for this assignment.

Huawei's official 5G product line up. This image features a digitally designed background image with product shots of each device pasted on top, with light reflections under each to give a realistic effect. Ref: huawei.com

Linus Tech Tips' thumbnail for their recent ASUS ROG Phone 5 review, the thumbnail features simple photoshop elements, adding some border flair to the phone and person in the image.

Ref: youtube.com/linustechtips

MKBHD's thumbnail for his Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review also incorporates simple yet effective photoshop techniques to create this minimal thumbnail.

Ref: youtube.com/mkbhd

By looking at these images I hope to take inspiration and create a similarly effective and aesthetic image.

Develop Stage - Personal Ideas and Concepts

When developing my concept, I thought of how I wanted this image to look. Did I want to follow the traditional product line shot and follow the usual style smartphone companies do? Or should I go outside the box and create something that doesn't follow the trend.

When assessing what Huawei products I had at hand I realised that I only had 3 products that I could physically photograph for the final image; the P30 Pro phone, FreeBuds 3 earphones and the Band 4 Pro smartwatch. As a result I decided that I would pull product images for each device from online retail listings in order to have a number of similar elements, such as clarity and most importantly a shared lighting balance.

Bringing these images into Photoshop, and using a colour fill background I began to piece my concept image together.

Having done product photography recently I used tin foil on the surface of the table I used in the set up, to create a water reflection effect, which turned out to be very successful for that assignment. However for this assignment I wanted to display such skills in Photoshop. I created duplicates of each product, flipped them vertically and adjusted the layer opacity to 50%. Then, using the eraser tool with a soft brush selected I brushed out a portion of each duplicate, leaving an even reflection across all items in the image.

In order to make these items appear to be on a surface I added a subtle grey rectangle along the horizontal axis of the image where the product meets its reflection, and blended this rectangle in with the background gradient to get rid of the contrast in colour.

I am overall happy with how this concept image came out. Although, after consultation with classmates, module lecturer and upon reading the assignment brief, I came to realise that the image follows suit with what Huawei and other technology manufacturers already do, which is promote their line up.

I will try to develop this idea further, and look at how I can showcase these products from a different angle, whether that is highlighting the security risks of having products that are so easily accessible between each other or the environmental and consumer cost to have such products at hand.

Re-researching

Consumer Cost

Following much needed feedback from the initial concept, I decided to explore the consumer cost to enter the 'ecosystem' of a mobile manufacturer. As of 2019, the top 3 mobile manufacturers were Apple, Samsung and Huawei. All 3 companies manufacture mobile phones, tablets, PCs, audio and wearable smart devices, that can all be used together through software integration and hardware features. For instance, the Huawei MateBook laptop series feature a tap to transfer feature that allow you to transfer files from only your Huawei mobile to your PC by simply tapping the trackpad. Apple, in all of their iPhones, iPads and Mac devices feature AirDrop, that allows you to transfer files 'over the air', which only works between these devices. Samsung devices also feature similar features.

These features would give consumers a compelling reason to purchase not only say the laptop, the phone or the tablet, but all three due to the ease of use and productivity benefits of using all 3 products that excel in different areas of use and productivity. However, what is the cost possess this ecosystem?

If we look at Apple, the base iPhone 12 will set you back $699 and the top of the line 12 Pro Max can cost $1,499 at max configuration. The iPad Air costs $599 and the top spec iPad Pro costs $1,299, and if you add the Apple keyboard case that's a further $299. The MacBook Air costs $999, and the highest end MacBook Pro costs $2,799. When accessories are taken into account, you can pay $129 for AirPods or $279 for the AirPods Pro, and if you want the best audio experience the AirPods Max will cost you $499. Add in the Apple Watch for $499 and you are officially in the Apple Ecoystem, and seamless file transfers and effortless productivity is at your fingertips. However, be prepared to pay between $2,825 and $6,595 to be apart of it, whether that's from the entry level products to the top of the line models. Is such large sums of money worth it? Do these companies attempt to lock you in to the ecosystem by advertising such cross-device compatibility?

Environmental Impact

The environmental impact of the technology industry has always been spoken of in modern times. E-Waste as its known is rapidly increasing. Battery-containing products such as phones, laptops amongst others have lithium batteries, which degrade over time and not necessarily with use. Only in recent months have these manufacturers s began to use recycled materials for their devices, as well as remove unnecessary accessories from product boxes. Is there an idea to be explored here? Perhaps.

Shady Practices

In first world countries, these companies have a far different image than those in which the products are manufactured. In the past and today, companies such as Apple and Samsung have come under fire for employing child workers in their manufacturing plants in countries such as China and India. These child workers are often forced to do so, and those that are paid are paid a decimal percentage of the products they sell, often not enough to buy a carton of milk. These practices are not spoken about in mainstream media, and it's up to independent news sources to report such things. Is there a concept here? The idea that the content you consume on the product you buy deters you from the practices and methods behind its assembly?

Inspiring Images

The following images were found on adbusters.org. The images were very inspiring for me when thinking of my concept idea. After viewing these images, I am now leaning towards creating a spoof advertisement. I will be the subject of the image, with a smartphone blocking my eyes, and behind me will be a child labour setting. I hope the image will highlight that the product blocks what we don't see behind the scenes. I will experiment with different slogans to emphasise the message.

This is one of the main images that inspired my idea. I love the concept and minimal image.

Ref: adbusters.org

This spoof iPad advertisement is what gave me the idea of blocking what we see with the product. I think this is a really effective piece of media.

Ref: adbusters.org

Although similar to the first image, I feel this image sends a different message. The 'Head in the Screen' idea is evident here and I really like the final result of this image.

Ref: adbusters.org

Quick Concepts

These quick concept images were put together in Photoshop to demonstrate the idea.

With some further experimentation, I hope to develop and evolve the concept into a more successful image.

I experimented with different background images, adding a grain filter to each image to give a nice emotional feel. I wasn't a fan of the landscape orientated iPhone, and wanted to see how it would look should the phone completely cover the model's head, so I grabbed a portrait from Google images. I prefer the portrait phone orientation but preferred the close up shot of the subject and reverted back to the image of my partner.

Final Concept Iterations

When beginning work on the final image, I had to think about what I could do to develop from the concept images and send a powerful message. This led to a few iterations with subtle changes to develop the concept. I wasn't wholly satisfied with the slogan from the concept images and decided I would change it for the final piece.

Version 1

This is the first version of the final piece. Using the outer glow blend I added shading to all overlay elements to add depth, as well as bringing in my own image for the mobile device and added the accompanying logo for the brand. Using the healing tool I removed the heads from each person in the background images to create a sort of anonymous vibe to the image, driving home the idea that we don't know that these things are happening, or who they are happening too.

Version 2

For the second iteration, I wanted to source images that represented different issues that is often overlooked by mainstream media. Although graphic, I believe these images drive home a harder and more powerful message.

Version 3

Still unhappy with the ad slogan, I decided to use a thought provoking slogan. I believe it fits more line with what is the reality with how filtered media and ads work within media and technology.

Version 4

I felt that there was too much clash of colours and applied a monochrome filter to each backing image. I feel this works well and adds to the emotion of each image, but I felt something was missing.

Final Image

The final image differs very little from the 4th iteration. Using the healing brush tool, I blended the faces of each person in the background images. I feel this sends the message that because we are often blocked from these events and tragedies that happen in day to day life, we have no idea who these people are. As well as that, I feel the slogan also sends a message; You are free to choose what content you want to see, but only the content that we choose for you.

Overall I'm really happy with how this image turned out, I feel it is a successful, thought provoking image.

Artist Statement

This assignment has proved to be a huge learning curve. What started with a rather obscure and challenging idea led to a disappointing realisation that an over ambitious initial concept would be too difficult to successfully create. After reflection and thought another concept was born, only to end up falling in line with what has already been done. This led to a period of reflection and thought, and along with research stemmed a simple but powerful idea. Many skills and techniques in Photoshop during this assignment and should bode well for future projects. I believe there are many positives to take from this project despite the uncertain start and late idea conception.

References

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/31/tiananmen-square-protests-crackdown-intensifies-as-30th-anniversary-nears

http://todofarma.com/photos

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-army-recruit-soldiers-gcse-results-facebook-twitter-child-soliders-international-a8390961.html

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