For this shoot I shot three more minor inconveniences. They were all set up by me in order to create the effect I wanted.
These three things are empty shower gel (redone), gum on the bottom of a shoe and broken glasses.
I used the same techniques as with shoot 2, however it was a little more difficult as I didn't have help holding the phone torch up, so I had to hold the phone torch with one hand and shoot with my DSLR in the other.
This image feels quite sinister because of the textures and tones in the image; we have a highly contrasted image but the textures of the tile coming away and the dried water droplets on the actual bottle makes the location of the image feel almost abandoned, dirty and unloved.
I think at first you don't see the point of the image, however when accompanied by the other inconveniences I believe it will become more clear that this was shot because it's empty. The small amount of product at the bottom serves as a reminder of what once was.
I think that the childlike design on the packaging of the bottle contrasts greatly to the style of the image, further creating that sinister feeling. It feels wrong to put such a playful and happy design in a dark and lonely scenario.
I chose to do this as it was one of my first objects to shoot in my first shoot and I wasn't happy with the outcome. I decided to redo that same concept using the new techniques and I prefer this a lot because of how much more dramatised it appears.
This image is a new idea for me. It shows gum on the bottom of a shoe, an inconvenience we all experience in one way or another. Gum on the shoe isn't just an inconvenience for those who stand in it, but for the environment and the street cleaners too.
According to 'Earth911'
"The British Government spends 150 million British Pounds (approx. $230 million USD) annually to remove an average of 7,000 tons of chewing gum from UK streets."
7,000 tonnes of shewing gum on the floor is a lot, and it doesn't help that the main ingredient of most gums is a silicone and not biodegradable, meaning it stays with us on earth forever.
Because of this I feel that this image is perhaps a little more deep than the others. You could say that the first image of this shoot has something to do with one use plastics however it is recyclable. I don't necessarily want to turn this series to be about the environment but more about inconveniences to all types of people.
This image appears to be rather crime scene like, which I will look into more because of this.
The gum is in the centre of the image, meaning the first thing you look at is the gum on the shoe and hopefully showing clearly what the point of the image is.
I decided to have the torch coming from the left of the shoe because it highlighted the gum the best as well as the curve of the sole to show what is actually being photographed. Because of this curve showing the whole of the sole isn't necessary and so having the right side fading into blackness doesn't take away from the purpose of the image and is able to create a larger sense of mystery.
This is the last of this shoot, and my least favourite. This is because it's not completely sharp, there's a small amount of motion blur which can be seen in the glass part of the image.
This was because I had the camera shutter speed at 1/100 so I could let in a good amount of light to reduce grain, while also holding the torch.
I would like to reshoot this while being able to hold the camera with both hands for more stabilisation. Luckily my family keep all their old pairs of glasses so I should be able to redo this.
Even without the motion blur, this still wouldn't be my favourite image because of the light. I did of course experiment with different light angles but this was the best out of all the images I look because it highlights the cracked glass the best, which is the inconvenience in this image.
However, i'm not sure if there's too much space that is lit by the torch but is empty. It seems to be a direct spotlight whereas in other images such as the shoe I did it from the side, yet when I did this with this shot the glass wasn't lit as I would have liked it to be.
This isn't a scenario I can directly relate to but broken sunglasses are, and i'm the only one in my family who doesn't need glasses. My brother has had glasses since he was 3 so I have been exposed to a lot of glasses being broken in one way or another and so I thought this could be very relevant, especially as glasses are often rather expensive making the inconvenience even bigger.
Cinematic Editing
I then edited the images in lightroom (the above images had only been edited in photoshop using curves masks to lighlight and darken certain areas). I chose lightroom for the cinematic editing as I prefer lighroom for colour filters and overall tones due to the use of pre-existing filters I can download and make.
At first I copied and pasted the filters I had adjusted for the second shoot with the macaroni cheese however that didn't work at all as you can see below.
The image has been far too processed and the copy and paste didn't work for the image at all. It's too constrasty and doesn't fit in with the rest of the images in the series, so I reverted back to the original image and redid the editing by hand.
The colour grading in this is far more appropriate to how I want the image to appear and feel. I made the temperature of the image far cooler by adding more green and blue. The textures appear more prominent in this image, perhaps because of the added contrast. The blue and green tones again remind me of the work of Melanie Pullen as these are often prominent in her own work. They help make the image feel more clinical and lonesome, as if you don't want these things. It makes the image more undesirable, much like the scenarios I'm creating. I think the green tones in contrast with the pink gel at the bottom allow for the gel to stand out more and therefore enhance the image as I wish to make the audience realise the bottle has been used to the end.
This extra dramatisation allows for me to project my own feelings more on the image, while also allowing for some humour to remain because of just ridiculous such an everyday occurrence has been made to look so dramatic.
I then copied and pasted the same filters from the first image on to the next two which did work luckily, as I want them to flow from one image to another.
I did some minor adjustments from the filter I had already placed over it and ended up with this.
It came out looking like a crime scene photo even more than without the filter, and a very undesirable, dark and mysterious setting is enhanced by the use of sterile colours. Although the content of the image is far from sterile we as humans are attracted to warm colours because of the connotations, whereas the connotations of these colder colours are much less attractive.
This final image has definitely been enhanced by the filters in the same way that the others have. The clinical, undesirable yet stylistic look that the others gained from the filters has worked on this image.
I'm really happy with these images from this shoot and will continue to shoot in the same way. It will certainly be easier to have an assistant to hold the torch which I shoot using both hands on the camera to steady myself and be able to use shutter speeds under 1/200 to allow more light to enter the lens.
I am happy with the first two images the most and don't feel as if they need much more work. I will however try to reshoot the broken glasses image with help to hold the torch so I don't have motion blur in the shot.
These three things are empty shower gel (redone), gum on the bottom of a shoe and broken glasses.
I used the same techniques as with shoot 2, however it was a little more difficult as I didn't have help holding the phone torch up, so I had to hold the phone torch with one hand and shoot with my DSLR in the other.
This image feels quite sinister because of the textures and tones in the image; we have a highly contrasted image but the textures of the tile coming away and the dried water droplets on the actual bottle makes the location of the image feel almost abandoned, dirty and unloved.
I think at first you don't see the point of the image, however when accompanied by the other inconveniences I believe it will become more clear that this was shot because it's empty. The small amount of product at the bottom serves as a reminder of what once was.
I think that the childlike design on the packaging of the bottle contrasts greatly to the style of the image, further creating that sinister feeling. It feels wrong to put such a playful and happy design in a dark and lonely scenario.
I chose to do this as it was one of my first objects to shoot in my first shoot and I wasn't happy with the outcome. I decided to redo that same concept using the new techniques and I prefer this a lot because of how much more dramatised it appears.
This image is a new idea for me. It shows gum on the bottom of a shoe, an inconvenience we all experience in one way or another. Gum on the shoe isn't just an inconvenience for those who stand in it, but for the environment and the street cleaners too.
According to 'Earth911'
"The British Government spends 150 million British Pounds (approx. $230 million USD) annually to remove an average of 7,000 tons of chewing gum from UK streets."
7,000 tonnes of shewing gum on the floor is a lot, and it doesn't help that the main ingredient of most gums is a silicone and not biodegradable, meaning it stays with us on earth forever.
Because of this I feel that this image is perhaps a little more deep than the others. You could say that the first image of this shoot has something to do with one use plastics however it is recyclable. I don't necessarily want to turn this series to be about the environment but more about inconveniences to all types of people.
This image appears to be rather crime scene like, which I will look into more because of this.
The gum is in the centre of the image, meaning the first thing you look at is the gum on the shoe and hopefully showing clearly what the point of the image is.
I decided to have the torch coming from the left of the shoe because it highlighted the gum the best as well as the curve of the sole to show what is actually being photographed. Because of this curve showing the whole of the sole isn't necessary and so having the right side fading into blackness doesn't take away from the purpose of the image and is able to create a larger sense of mystery.
This is the last of this shoot, and my least favourite. This is because it's not completely sharp, there's a small amount of motion blur which can be seen in the glass part of the image.
This was because I had the camera shutter speed at 1/100 so I could let in a good amount of light to reduce grain, while also holding the torch.
I would like to reshoot this while being able to hold the camera with both hands for more stabilisation. Luckily my family keep all their old pairs of glasses so I should be able to redo this.
Even without the motion blur, this still wouldn't be my favourite image because of the light. I did of course experiment with different light angles but this was the best out of all the images I look because it highlights the cracked glass the best, which is the inconvenience in this image.
However, i'm not sure if there's too much space that is lit by the torch but is empty. It seems to be a direct spotlight whereas in other images such as the shoe I did it from the side, yet when I did this with this shot the glass wasn't lit as I would have liked it to be.
This isn't a scenario I can directly relate to but broken sunglasses are, and i'm the only one in my family who doesn't need glasses. My brother has had glasses since he was 3 so I have been exposed to a lot of glasses being broken in one way or another and so I thought this could be very relevant, especially as glasses are often rather expensive making the inconvenience even bigger.
Cinematic Editing
I then edited the images in lightroom (the above images had only been edited in photoshop using curves masks to lighlight and darken certain areas). I chose lightroom for the cinematic editing as I prefer lighroom for colour filters and overall tones due to the use of pre-existing filters I can download and make.
At first I copied and pasted the filters I had adjusted for the second shoot with the macaroni cheese however that didn't work at all as you can see below.
The image has been far too processed and the copy and paste didn't work for the image at all. It's too constrasty and doesn't fit in with the rest of the images in the series, so I reverted back to the original image and redid the editing by hand.
The colour grading in this is far more appropriate to how I want the image to appear and feel. I made the temperature of the image far cooler by adding more green and blue. The textures appear more prominent in this image, perhaps because of the added contrast. The blue and green tones again remind me of the work of Melanie Pullen as these are often prominent in her own work. They help make the image feel more clinical and lonesome, as if you don't want these things. It makes the image more undesirable, much like the scenarios I'm creating. I think the green tones in contrast with the pink gel at the bottom allow for the gel to stand out more and therefore enhance the image as I wish to make the audience realise the bottle has been used to the end.This extra dramatisation allows for me to project my own feelings more on the image, while also allowing for some humour to remain because of just ridiculous such an everyday occurrence has been made to look so dramatic.
I then copied and pasted the same filters from the first image on to the next two which did work luckily, as I want them to flow from one image to another.
I did some minor adjustments from the filter I had already placed over it and ended up with this.
It came out looking like a crime scene photo even more than without the filter, and a very undesirable, dark and mysterious setting is enhanced by the use of sterile colours. Although the content of the image is far from sterile we as humans are attracted to warm colours because of the connotations, whereas the connotations of these colder colours are much less attractive.
This final image has definitely been enhanced by the filters in the same way that the others have. The clinical, undesirable yet stylistic look that the others gained from the filters has worked on this image.
I'm really happy with these images from this shoot and will continue to shoot in the same way. It will certainly be easier to have an assistant to hold the torch which I shoot using both hands on the camera to steady myself and be able to use shutter speeds under 1/200 to allow more light to enter the lens.
I am happy with the first two images the most and don't feel as if they need much more work. I will however try to reshoot the broken glasses image with help to hold the torch so I don't have motion blur in the shot.
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