I chose to use myself as the subject to portray how my emotions might look personified. I used a tripod and put my camera on a timer to make sure I shot the images from exactly the same spot. To mimic the windows from the original image, I shot my photos in front of a window. While I originally had the blinds open, I ultimately decided to close them to minimize back lighting. I set up additional lights to brighten the space as much as possible. However, I still needed to adjust lighting in Photoshop afterward. The lighting and background were one of the more challenging aspects of this project.

To create each character, I paid close attention to their clothing and matched the color and type of clothing as best as possible. I adjusted my hair to be similar to the originals as well. I knelt, crouched, slouched, and stood on a stepstool to vary my height as needed. These characters are standing fairly close to each other, so while I did change position and depth, I didn’t need to move too much from one spot to the next. The most important part of the photoshoot was to match body language and expression as much as possible because that is what makes the original image so powerful.

My other challenge stemmed from working with an animated photo. It was somewhat difficult to arrange the figures in a way that matched the original without being  proportionally shaped like the characters.