this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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Photography
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A place to politely discuss the tools, technique and culture of photography.
This is not a good place to simply share cool photos/videos or promote your own work and projects, but rather a place to discuss photography as an art and post things that would be of interest to other photographers.
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Food coloring and glycerin works.
That said, just some general advice as someone who's spent a lot of times in critiques from high school students, to community college, to big art schools:
People early in their careers (and no disrespect to your age, but if you're in high school I'm guessing you haven't been doing photography for 30 years) sometimes will lean into images with blood, guns, knives, etc. to create striking images and convey emotions. However those symbols and images can be a pretty blunt instrument without much nuance. They're "edgy" but don't drive the viewer to think much more. I don't know what images you are planning on creating but 9 times out of 10 when I've seen someone go to those visuals, the images they create often are "one layer" images without as much depth. If you have time, I'd suggest maybe writing a little bit about what ideas you want to convey and the visuals you want to get across. Perhaps you can hint at things, create a few layers so the viewer has to spend a little more time with the image and think about what's going on... things like that help elevate a photo to the next level. Spend as much time on the "why" and what you want the viewer to think as you are about the how you're going to photograph it.
Again, I don't know what you're planning and I'm not specifically saying whatever you're planning is bad, but from what I've seen over the past 30 years of doing this I'm just going off of spidey-sense.
This is excellent advice for photographers at any stage of their artistic journey. It is very difficult to find the right balance between hitting your viewer over the head with an image concept versus the image saying nothing at all. Having said that, the fake blood could still be effective, depending on what you want to say, this is key, make sure you have something to say. Work on your artist statement, perhaps even running the statement through ChatGPT to help clarify your artistic intentions. In the film industry they use corn syrup and food colouring, just make sure the food colouring doesn’t stain, it would be wise to test it first.
Skip ChatGPT.
This is pretty cool advice from a learning photography standpoint. Those aren't themes I use in photography but I find your advice helpful, thanks.
If OP is in the USA I'd also consider that with the social climate of violence in schools, creating images themed around violence as a student might attract more attention than you intend from your school administration. If OP has trouble getting past an initial shock value layer and creating more of a story to defend their artistic vision it could lead to some amount of trouble. All it'll take is one student, parent, or teacher becoming uncomfortable.
I actually never thought about that…. My topic was going to be SA, I really hope thats not too controversial?
SA=Self Abuse? Suicide attempt? South Africa? I did a bit about attempted suicide when I was young but I learned it was more impactful if you hint at it, make the viewer come slowly to it. The question you should aways ask "is what are you trying to say with your image?"
SA is not a topic I'm qualified to have much opinion on. I haven't experienced it and am unlikely to deal with it first hand in my life.
I think u/ApatheticAbsurdist has solid advice here. Consider the story you're trying to tell first. I don't think controversial topics should be avoided out of hand just because they might make someone uncomfortable. If you focus on the story you want to tell and the feelings you want to evoke you'll create better images, and have a much easier time defending your art. They had more specific suggestions too that you should try out.