When presenting my final images once printed I decided to experiment with a variety of different ways in which I could do so. To do this I would use Photoshop to manipulate my images and develop them into the style of presentation I wanted before the actual thing, however when doing this I would need to come up with a mood board first to see if I could develop any ideas.

After looking over these ideas, I decided on presenting all of my shoots in selections of three, each three images would be presented in descending size order on a black or white foam board. The biggest image would be the picture I thought was the most successful from that specific shoot, with the other two being close runners-up. If done on black card I would include a white border to add emphasis and bring out the piece to make it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. To do this I would need to firstly use Photoshop to gather frames and edit them into this order, whilst imposing my pictures into each one. These are the outcomes:This is a diagram of the general layout of how I wish to stack the white and black card on top of each other to create a white border around the image as seen below, I am also going to experiment with a variety of different coloured backgrounds to see which presentation I liked overall: In the end I settled on using a white backdrop because I think it contrasted best with my mainly dark images, allow them to be more the center of focus. When stitching the images to the frames I found that keeping the images in descending order with the worst image as the smallest was the most effective method to use, this enabled the main focus point to be the best image and the worst the least. For the biggest image I will print that in A3 size, with the other two in A4 and A5, these sizes are the best for me to frame them in the desired style.

For this shoot I will be looking at the idea of recently abandoned areas where evidence of humans are most evident. I intend to go to abandoned areas to capture the aftermath and the lighting created by untouched places. This hopefully would allow me to capture deterioration of the building which would emphasize aspects associated to the topic. Composition wise I would like to especially focus on the food and drink present within the rows of seats around me as this it what I want to be the main point of the shoot. Inspired by Roman Robroek, an urban photographer who specializes in recent abandonment of buildings, and the presence of humans and memories left behind, I intend to take ideas from him to put into my own workings.

Here are some examples of his work:After researching some of his pictures I wanted to make a mind-map consisting of various ideas I had for the shoot, such as lighting, angles and objects. This would make the shoot more efficient as I would know what to do when there and not waste time trying to figure something out. These are some of my ideas:

After finishing my mind-map on ideas that I could use to compose images when taking them I decided it was time to move onto the actual shoot itself. When doing the shoot I would take into account these ideas and use them as inspiration for the results wanted, whilst stopping me wasting anytime trying to think of ways to take each picture. Here are my results:

After completing this I decided to whittle down the shoot to a top ten images from the shoot. By doing this it would make it easier to figure out which is the best picture from the entire shoot, and why I chose that image. These were my top ten pictures:

Once I had selected the top ten images of the shoot, I decided to narrow them down again to only five. By doing this it would allow me to analyze each image and what I liked about them individually, whilst making it all the easier to find the best photo of the shoot. Here are the images I have chosen to analyze:

I chose this image as one of my top five because of the clear contrast between the darkness of the curtains and the light present through the window. Due to this lighting on the curtain it creates a feeling of neglect and emptiness from how the curtain seems almost forgotten, this also contributes to the aestheticism of the picture as the dark and the light half balance each other stopping it being too overpowering. This relates to the topic of conventions from how the curtain has obviously been left for a while and is now forgotten and unused, this is also evident through the dusty window opposite which looks neglected. One of the reasons I chose this image as one of my finals was because of the silhouette creates from the outline of the flower, this instantly become the focal point of the entire image from how it is the most heavily contrasted object against the light. I found that the yellow lighting from the window matched my theme in shoots where abandoned areas are illuminated by eerie lights, casting an uncomfortable feel to them. The picture was taken at a low exposure to emphasise certain features like the flower and floor boards, this really help to home in on the details like dirt and other features found in places like this. What I liked about this image was the symmetry of the overall piece. This was down to how the green walls contrasted the ripping and tearing of the paint, and alongside with the window casting a bright light in the middle really emphasized this. I found that the clarity in the image really defined the detail of the ripped paint, along with a relatively low exposure really balanced the photo as not to be too overpowered by the window. I used this image as it really related to the idea of conventions and the hidden story of what happened in the room, due to it not being common to see this in homes.  The reason I chose this as one of my top fives was because it is a typical scene associated with abandoned areas, rubbish on the floor, dirty walls, and a generally creepy light cast onto the objects highlighting this sense of rejection. The contrast in the image creates a great focus point within the center of the piece from how it makes a dark border, boxing what I intend for the viewer to mainly look at in the middle. The cracks and overall dark tones of the picture really emphasize a lack of human activity, as can be seen through dark shadows cast on nearly everything. This relates to conventions from how the bathroom is not being used for its original design and rather has been left to rot.What I loved about this image was overall the clarity, this really defined the individual pattern of the curtain, removing your attention from the rest of the picture which is surrounded by darkness. This contrast created by the black border on either side really shrouds the image in mystery from how it makes you wonder where it was taken, what the room is used for etc. The slight highlights of red and orange either side of the light source adds more depth to the picture as it removes certain aspects of the overall really dull colour scheme.

FINAL IMAGE:

The reason I chose this image as the final piece was due to the depth of field and composition of it overall. I found that the depth of field allowed for the silhouette of the actual flower to pop out more due to any sharp details being removed as a distraction, it also created more emphasis on the dirt in the doorway and how it looks neglected with background graffiti backing this. The dark border that envelops the piece in my opinion ties the image together from how it draws specific attention once again to the flower, doorway and backdrop, and allows a smooth transition for the light to emerge from. It relation to the topic of secrets, codes and conventions I found that the flower adds mystery the image, creating thoughts of why is it there etc. This it also helped through the dirty walls illuminated by the windows creating an unnaturally quiet feeling as a room is not conventionally seen in this state and so removes all elements of comfort that usually would be present at home.

PHOTO-SHOOT PLAN

Based on my initial ideas (2 posts previous) for this project, I have made a plan for an initial photo-shoot that will get me started on composing my desired images.

Who is he?

Robroek is a 31-year-old urban photographer born in the South of the Netherlands, who as a child was surrounded by empty, abandoned and decaying buildings. Further into his life curiosity struck him and he wanted to know the story behind the reason for the state of each building, who used to live there? This led him to travel the world looking for places like these, allowing him to witness areas closed to the public eye. His aim is to create the memories and images that may once have been provided by these rooms, and wants to improve the perspective of those who look at the images.

Robroek specializes in uniquely capturing interiors and exteriors of a wide variety of buildings, cultural heritage sites and monuments, working only with the natural light provided. It is evident in his work that he wishes to highlight what is not usually seen to the public, and how there is a beauty in the untouched nature of it all. His photos range from a variety of locations, from tombs to churches, to mansions, each image showing as little human intervention as possible, creating eerie but beautiful landscapes through the use of natural lighting from the deteriorating landscape.

After researching the background of the photographer I decided to make a mood board and then analyze one of his images, this would help me in my next shoot to be inspired by composition and lighting in location. Here are some examples of his work:One of his images I decided to analyze was ‘Sitting in a church’, I chose this because of its relevance to the topic of chairs that most of my shoots have within them. Technical: Within the image Robroek uses a low exposure to capture a contrast between the lights and darks illuminated through the windows of the chapel. The idea of abandonment is portrayed drastically by how Robroek has used people covered in old blankets to bring together the time when the church was and wasn’t used by people, this as a result creates eeriness to the piece as the hidden bodies and faces creates a haunted uneasiness to the overall picture.

Visual: Visually the photo is well composed, this is mainly brought about through the implementation of symmetry which highlights the ghostly figures sat in the furthest corners of the church whilst also creating aestheticism as well. The center window is used as the focal point of the entire image which puts emphasis on not just the light sources but also the figures illuminated by them, from this it allows a more uplifted perspective of the entire image as it does not cast the figures in a dark light, rather than just a forgotten one.

Conceptual: Conceptually the image is meant to focus on the contrast between the building before and after it was abandoned, by doing this it creates an image from two different time frames and almost freezes it capturing the past in a modern image. This highlights hidden beauty that would not usually be seen in a church being used or just an abandoned one, rather instead a contemporary one.

Here I will be exploring the use of blur effects on Photoshop, by doing this it will allow me to further develop my images and editing process when doing future shoots. Here I intend to use iris and tilt blur to create a focus on any part of the image I want so that it becomes the focal point of the image. To do this I will be going to the cinema to photograph empty chairs, to which I will be attempting to make the center of focus the scattered food or drink. My inspiration for this comes from a general use of depth of field used in my camera, I found that this when taking other imagery really helped pinpoint certain aspects, and so wanted to incorporate this into my topic of secrets, codes and conventions. Here are my outcomes:

Here is my editing process for how each image was done: I used Photoshop because it allowed me a variety of different blurs which could be used to change the perspective of how each image would be viewed, by giving me more choice it really allowed me to try with different method to find what I wanted. By controlling the depth of blur and what I wanted blurred, it gave me full control over everything as it made it possible to pin-point certain details in the image I wanted to remove or be unnoticed, whilst giving me the outcome desired.

Within this shoot I will be particularly focusing on the idea of abandonment in areas such as opera houses which reveal the hidden beauty of the overall design. Inspired by Johnny Joo, I will be mainly focusing on composition to emphasize desertion through the use of symmetry and contrast which hopefully will produce dark seating but a high contrast of lighting, showing the lack of human activity usually seen in such areas and the uncomfortable feeling that is related to such imagery. Joo chooses particularly a technique of composition combined with an effective use of contrast especially on lighting to create dramatic photos centered around seating etc and areas people used.

Here are some example of Johnny Joo’s work:Once researching some of his work to draw inspiration from I decided I would make a mind-map from various ideas I had for the shoot, this would include things like angles, lighting and what to take. By doing this it would reduce the time needed on the shoot as I would know specifically what to do when there and how to take the images needed. Here are my drafted ideas for the shoot:After I had completed my mind-map I thought it would appropriate to go ahead with the actual shoot itself whilst taking into consideration the ideas I had planned in advance. For the shoot I had gotten access to the abandoned opera house in town, these were my results:

After this was done I started to whittle down the shoot to a top ten images, by doing this it would enable me to more easily find the overall best image of the shoot with in the process taking into consideration the aspects of each image that made it effective and how it could be related to the theme of secret, codes and conventions. These were my choices for my top ten best images of the shoot:

Once I had selected the top ten images I thought reflected the intention of the shoot and the were technically the best out of the rest I then wanted to drop that to only a top five. By doing this it would allow me to individually analyze each image to further know what photo would be the best result from the shoot. These were my results:

I chose this image because of how I really think it emphasized the ghostly effect created by the use empty seats. This is because of how the area it not usually seen without human interaction, and to see it devoid of anyone makes it feel unnaturally deserted, this is great for linking it to the topic of conventions as it’s not a place usually seen in this state. I found the composition great from the use of symmetry which I found particularly effective as it makes the picture aesthetically pleasing to view, with the seats having the lighting reflected and a depth of field used, it seems that the seats go on forever as if forgotten and unused. The orange lighting that surrounds the seats creates an even more ghostly effect from how it breaks the otherwise bland selection of colours present in the image. What I liked about this image was the use of a depth of field and the contrast of the shine on each seat. The use of a depth of field creates a sort of gradient that fades the lights away into the almost deserted distance, this is linked to conventions from how seats are usually linked to people sitting, and to see them abandoned in such a large-scale seems uncanny due to not usually perceived like this. The use of contrast between the lights of the shine on the chair and the darkness I found effective from how they provide enough light to define the objects but enough to make each chair into a silhouette.I loved how in this image there was a really clear contrast between the lightness of the stage and the darkness of the seats only defined by the shine on the wood. By doing this and through the use of symmetry I found it to be very aesthetically pleasing from how it the stage breaks the pattern that otherwise would only consist of dark chairs. The shine created from the chairs brings the image together from how it stops the stage from being too dominant in the picture and overpowering the rest of the image, this is helped by the black space between the stage and the chairs which stop the two different contrasts from colliding and ruining the symmetry and pattern. The image also reflects a ghost audience that is no longer there due everyone being long gone, thus creates an eerie effect of abandonment of the unusual. I chose this image purely because of the silhouettes and defined shine created by each of the chairs, this in my opinion combined with symmetry allows for an aesthetically pleasing result that is balances the darks with the top of each chair. This could be linked to conventions by how you could say each chair represents a former shell of what they use to be used for creating an atmosphere of desertion. The sheer darkness between each seat creates a symmetrical pattern with nothing displacing or ruining it to the eye making the piece as a result easy to look at. Finally the reason I chose this picture was because of angle and emphasis on abandonment from the amount of chairs present. I found that this image put particular emphasis on desertion from how the rows of chairs create an arc like formation throughout the image, with each one lacking people sitting in them. This conventionally is unusual, as seeing this amount of seats would usually indicate that people are present which is what the photo lacks. There is also a clear contrast present between the blues and browns of the seats which break up block colours to make the piece more visually appealing.

After analysing each image and how it related to the idea of conventions, whilst taking into account the technique each image used to create a visually pleasing result, I found it enabled me to decide the image I wanted to choose for my final and most successful image of the shoot. This was my decision:

Final Image:

The reason I chose this image as my final and most successful image of the shoot was because of the clear contrast and pattern present within it. The use of the stage’s white against the darkness of the chairs I thought really made the image pop and draw the eye to it, with the indents of the stage stopping the white from being too consistent. However this is contrasted by the patterned symmetry made by the rows of seats present, with the definition of the shine creating a ghostly and empty feel to the image, completely opposite to that of the clean and plain stage. It also I thought related well to the topic of conventions as the empty seats and stage are usually seen full, especially in theatre, and to see them abandoned creates an eerie and unnaturally spacious feel to the overall photo.