Nisha Haq Photography > The Kiss 0.2

It's been a while since I did a post on my work. This piece of work is a GIF and I've only experimented with creating these only on a few occasions. Though they look rather simple there is quite a lot of work involved! I made 'The Kiss 0.2' for a short project at uni (BA Photography at Southampton Solent University) to do with time. I was thinking of a few ideas and thought I'd revisit a shoot I did this Jan. 'Kiss Me Kay' (Jan 2011) are stills from a video I made. I was experimenting with time lapse and the subtle differences in each frame in a kiss, a simple act with so  many expressions. For my current time project I wanted to have a slightly different twist but fundamentally have the same basis for the idea. This time I shot outside against a fountain background which was also on a time loop for when the water would shoot out. I also used a tripod so all the shots can be level. Thinking about when to shoot and wait for the fountain all involved calculating correct timing and using a very fast shutter. I shot on continuous shoot mode and as it was outside I could shoot at a fast shutter at a low ISO so more detail. 

To create the image I first resized all the images to 600 pixel width and saved the images again using Fastzone Photo Resizer software I downloaded for free from the internet. This meant I had low risk of Photoshop CS2 crashing due to uploading a lot large images. I then edited the first photo and saved the actions I did to it to apply the action to other photos easily. I added contrast, a few colour filters, soft Gaussian blur and used the sharpen image filter. I opened all the photos I wanted to use one by one and replayed my 'The Kiss' action 26 times. Now all my images were ready to use. I then created a Photoshop document to create my gif. This involved opening all the edited images and simple placing the images on top of each other. I opened the 'animation' window, the tool to use to create gifs. I then selected all the layers and chose the option 'Make frames from layers' from the small arrow on the right of the 'animation' window. I then selected all the frames and chose 0.2 second delay from each frame to the next. To save as a gif I selected 'Save for Web' and chose GIF format, not JPEG.

Here's the image I created: Tell me what you think? Being relatively new at creating GIFs I'm quite happy how it turned out.

Kiss Me Kay (January 2011)

M.A.S.H

'Buy Your Own Burka Barbie' Graphic Design Posters

Hey Guys

It's been a while since I've posted my work on here and being a person who likes things in chronological order I couldn't post recent works until I posted my old ones (I really should get a hold on things!) So I traced through my Flickr photostream to see what the last piece of work I posted on my blog and realized I haven't blogged these pieces.

Burkas, Barbies & Banning

'Buy Your Own Burka Barbie' was created for my A2 Graphic Design final piece 1 coursework for college (there are 2 final piece coursework modules.) I created these in January 2011 (photo was taken Nov 2010).

Burkas
This piece was submitted for my Identity/Feminism project where I looked at aspects in my life, how I identify with them and my strong views & beliefs. I wanted to look into my Islamic roots (my grandparents are very religious), self-portraiture and what that meant to me. I had intended to just do a self-portrait (see below) but was lacking inspiration on how to go about it. I had submitted this as my first final piece until I realized I really didn't like it and had a typical general message that didn't really identify with me.
I was surfing the internet looking for inspiration and came across Shadi Ghadirian's 'Like Everyday' photo series which looks at the role of Islamic housewives in many Arab countries. Some may say this is stereotypical, I say it's realistic. So 'Like Everyday' and looking at burka Barbie dolls on Trendhunter.com inspired my final piece coursework. I do think Islamic women are oppressed especially in the Middle East (though this is just a generalisation, not all women!) and their voices are left unheard.

Barbie
I decided to create these posters linking in with Barbie, a Westernized concept of beauty and the perfect woman; also Barbie represents global corporate branding. I wanted to look at how women in Islam, in particular housewives are seen as dolls in the sense that they are the 'property' of their husband and are told what to do without a say in the matter including sexual demands. I wanted to portray these themes in this poster with a stereotypical 50's Western housewife advertising style including the catchphrase 'I'm your Real Life Housewife!'. The tagline 'Available in all men's stores for only £1.99' meaning how cheap, easy & accessible it is to get a wife like 'me'.
Whilst creating this design (both posters took a whole weekend of work) I heavily airbrushed and 'Photoshopped' my face to make myself look 'doll-ish' but still human. I wanted the surface to be bright and colourful but with a sarcastic note to it, addressing heavy concepts with a flavour of dark humour. I didn't want to be too provocative, just enough skin showing to communicate my concepts clearly and of course the burka relating to Islam.
(FYI, no copyright infringement intended on Barbie!)

Banning
I had this work exhibited in one of my college's corridors and stayed there for a few days until it was suddenly taken down! At first I thought it was because the college was clearing the space for more work to be exhibited but was unusual that only my work was taken down and my friends work in my graphics class still remained on the walls. I lead myself to believe that the technicians got tired and hadn't gotten round to taken the other work down... but of course that wasn't the case! I had to enquire myself (unfortunately the college didn't have the decency to tell me themselves) why my work was taken down. It later came to my knowledge that my work was TOO CONTROVERSIAL!! The principal had apparently voiced concerned that it wasn't 'family friendly' and subsequently was taken down for open evening where all ages were welcomed to attend. At first that seemed shocking for the bad reasons that I couldn't exhibit my work any more, then I realized to some extent is a weird sort of compliment that my work was too controversial (meaning my message obviously came across!) and as a graphic designer is a good sign to cause such a reaction (I hadn't considered these posters to be controversial or using shock tactics as such until now). The only problem I had about this incident was that I wasn't notified (especially as my work was exhibited in an educational establishment, not a public place which is understandable) and the poorly explained reasons behind it. I think people should hear about these issues and if 16+ year olds are going to study at college should know what they're getting themselves into! (sorry for all this banter.. sometimes the blogging takes over me!)

Anyways... here are my posters! Tell me what you think!



I really liked the background typography and the effect of the texture so decided to make a typographic version with an outburst of bright colours. I also used the 'Barbie' logo font to make my posters more realistic. I particularly like the use of lens glare on this poster, it's such a handy tool to use in Photoshop! I think these posters look really effective A2 plus. When I printed it out on glossy on A2 size paper I was shocked looking at my own face! haha, Never seen it so big before!

Please note that I do not intend to hurt, target or upset anyone, only simply to communicate my views in an artistic form. I do not wish to spread hate or anger just bring to light issues in today's world. Hope you can respect that.

M.A.S.H

Is Airbrushing Worth It?

I posted these photos below of Lauhren on Facebook to see what my friends' reactions were to an airbrushed photo or non-airbrushed of her hips and legs. I found that people thought the airbrushed photo was over-edited and that the 'real' body was better and natural. One said that ' It looks like her boobs are about to pull her down. A bit too much editing'. After reviewing these comments I realized that airbrushing is a big 'no-no' and it's best to keep to natural beauty of the human body. So why is airbrushing still acceptable in magazines especially 'Lad's Mags' ?

Airbrushed                               Non-airbrushed

One reason is that the fashion/beauty/glamour industry is all about looking good and and selling something; whether it be clothes (eg. Vogue), make-up (eg. Allure) or someone's body image (eg. Zoo magazine). Manipulation of images is always seen in these glossy magazines to make the photo more appealing and attractive however to what extend is the public willing to allow?

There has been many debates over models and celebrities looking super human and unnatural and that magazines have gone too far to sell their 'product'. Photo-manipulation has been accepted for many years since the technology has been around to create beautiful, eye-catching images such as the programme Photoshop however airbrushing seems to be a particular problem especially if someone has been manipulated so much that they are unrecognisable.

This was in the case of Kate Winslet for GQ magazine in Feb 2003 and Vanity Fair Dec 2008 shot by Steven Miesel.

Vanity Fair

Kate Winslet, now 33 years-old and mother of two, poses seductively and naked except from stockings and stilettos. When she was first digitally enhanced she was outraged and upset that women have to be airbrushed and retouched to make them look more appealing. Shouldn't the womanly figure be sexy enough without enhanced 'boobs and butt'?

The Daily Mail Online, Tv & Showbiz asked professional airbrush artist, Chris Bickmore what work has been done on the images of Kate Winslet. 

"The face: 'There is no real detail in her face. Any detail or wrinkles have been removed. There are no eye bags, contours and smile lines.

'The whites of her eyes have been cleaned up and are now a really clean, crisp white. I'd say her lips have possibly been made slightly fuller as well.'

The skin: 'Her skin has generally been retouched all over so she has no lines or blemishes at all. Her skin is completely perfect.'

The hands and feet: 'There are no wrinkles or lines or veins on her hands and feet and this just is not natural.'

The figure: 'Her back and lower body have been pinched in to make her look thinner and to give her some curves.

'Her bottom has been rounded off so it looks nice and pert. I would be very surprised if her bottom was like that naturally. Her thigh appears to have been made slimmer so it appears more toned.

'And in the shot of her sitting down on the front cover, it's possible her legs were made slightly thinner so they also appear more toned.' "

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1082764/Barely-recognisable-vampish-Kate-Winslet-strips-Vanity-Fair.html#ixzz0uLQ3IRf 

In my opinion the image looks beautiful however Kate Winslet looks glamorous and sophisticated in real life anyway and doesn't need to be excessively retouched and airbrushed.

Left: Kate Winslet airbrushed & retouched, Right: natural beauty without make-up 

Airbrushing can be heavily seen in 'Lads mags' such as Playboy, Zoo, Loaded, Maxim, Nuts etc. Female bodies look a thousand times sexier with the flawless skin, big boobs and small waists however this isn't the average female body. This is another factor that has affected people's perception on beauty and it is no wonder that plastic surgery has been in such high demand due to images such as these:

Many people think that celebrities are exquisitely beautiful however they're just human like the rest of us and the strive for perfection can be partly blamed on airbrushed flawless images of models. Shouldn't magazines show people we can relate to in some way rather than alienating the general public and almost making us feel inferior in looks. Yes, magazines aren't magazines without appealing images however when it distorts the body until it is beyond recognition we're demoralizing the beauty of the natural human body.

What are your views on airbrushing and retouching?