I wasn’t entirely sure how these pictures were going to turn out when i headed to the beach with an industrial light. Overall they actually went so much better then i expected them to! I really loved in Toroptsov’s photographs how the light had a very eerie quality to it and i wasn’t entirely sure i would be able to create the same effect myself in my images. I decided to start with the umbrella den as the easiest and quickest to create in case the idea of photographing the dens at night wasn’t going to come together and really work. I think overall these images achieve exactly the same effect as Toroptsov’s work. The best images are the ones in which the light is behind the material which creates a soft glow to the light which makes it look a lot less industrial.  I photographed the den just as the sun was setting and then as the sky turned from blue to black. I think these images work really well overall.

To capture these images i had to use a very low shutter speed of 2 seconds and a tripod to avoid camera shake.

The above and below photographs are both very similar compositions just taken at different times of the night when the light was different. This difference in light interestingly creates completely different impressions of the photographs. I think i prefer the above image as the bluish sky highlights the colours in the umbrellas more. I composed the photographs so as to take the photograph of the den almost straight on. The den fills the entire frame as i was close enough to the den that the front umbrellas are out of the frame as it appears as if i am just walking into the den. I then composed the light to the left of the den so as to use to rule of thirds with the light. The light is the brightest point of the images and therefore your eyes begin at this point and then travel around the rest of the den. I quite like how by having the light source as it is it casts the outer areas of the den in shadow and only illuminates certain elements. This causes like in  Toroptsov’s photographs for your eyes to try and decipher the outer areas of the dens and adds mystery and intrigue. This works even better in the below image as the sky is so dark that the den could be anywhere. The lack of light in the background also causes the light to create straight lines, beams of light outwards from behind the den. I think i also prefer the composition of the above image as it is from slightly further away then the below image.

The above image is really interesting as it is one of the few images which i actually liked which had the light shinning directly onto the umbrellas rather then behind them. In most of the pictures the light from behind was softer and therefore more eerie but in this images the reflection of light on the umbrella in the foreground works really well. The light shines directly onto the umbrella in the foreground which is composed according to the rule of thirds to the right hand side of the frame. The light from this harsh bright point right in the center of the umbrella then spread outwards to the rest of the den so you can see the shadows and silhouettes of the rest of the composition. The sky in this image is also fairly early on in the night and so it is a blueish colour and this light in the background i think helps to soften the light in the foreground. I think the angles of the umbrella in the foreground also helps to guide your eyes around the frame as your eyes travel off the umbrella and into the rest of the frame. The beach and sand itself is fairly dark and therefore the umbrellas do stand out vividly against it.

The above photograph is a more abstract composition of the den, with the umbrellas composed to all be at odd angles pointing inwards within the frame. I composed the light source to be dead in the center of the frame shinning right through the windbreak rather then an umbrella. The light source looked brighter in shinning through the windbreak as the material was thinner then the umbrellas. I then haven’t included the entirety of any of the umbrellas, instead including elements of most of them in an abstract manner. I did however think about having my composition so that the handles of all the umbrellas pointed inwards at odd angles to create an interesting arrangement. This was one of the photographs that i took later on so the sky around the umbrellas is really dark and therefore conveys contrasts more between the intense colour of the light and the darkness around it.

The above photograph has exactly the same contrast, it may even be more intense as the light source in this image isn’t directly behind the umbrella.

 

The above and below photographs are then some of the images i took from further away from the dens so as to capture the whole structure. These ones worked really well the darker it got to have such a vivid contrast between the light behind the dens and the darkness surrounding them. Both images i used the rule of thirds to composed the dens at an angle within the frame. I really like in these mages how your eyes are drawn to the brightest point on the image in the center and then your eyes travel around the composition trying to work out the rest of the structure which is in partial darkness.

The above and below images are ones which were taken with the light shinning directly onto the structure rather then behind. Overall i defiantly prefer the other images for generating images with a softer and more eerie light.

These images are then more photographs which explore taking pictures of the dens at different angles and from a distance. I like how as the night got darker the beams of the light across the sand became more and more prominent, so that in these images the den is radiating light out into its surrounding.