In this photograph, i shot a folded and ripped piece of paper.

Originally in the raw image the paper was only on the right hand side of the image, with unused, black space to the right of the image. In Photoshop i cut out the paper, duplicated it and flipped it over to create an upside down mirror image overlapping the original on the other side of the image to fill up the empty space. This also adds more layers and depth to the image.

I made the image black and white to further show the black and white tones and shadows.

I decreased to the exposure of the image and increased the shadows to even out the whites and the darks, and to emphasize the shadows created by the creases and folds in the paper. I changed the curves to darken the overall image without losing quality and details. These changes also bring out the rough texture of where the paper has been ripped.

The edges of the image have more shadows and darkness than the rest of the image, drawing the viewer to the center of the image where the pieces of paper are no longer overlapping and there is black negative space, which contrasts to the busy outer parts of the image.

In this image i shot multiple small ripped up pieces of paper.

The original composition of this image was a small pile of strips of ripped paper. In Photoshop i cut out this group of paper and duplicated it multiple times behind the original pile, at different sizes and orientations. This is to add depth to the image and to take up negative space.

I also converted the photo to black and white to focus on the shadows and textures created by the multiple layers of paper.

I decreased the exposure, increased the darks and decreased the lights to make sure there was no over exposed parts of the photo. The darkened shadows also add depth as well as give emphasis to the rough textures where the paper had been ripped.

There is repetition of the same shapes and shadows where i have duplicated the paper to add depth and layers.

I used the curves feature in Photoshop to further bring out the darks and shadows whilst retaining detail and texture of the paper.