I rated, flagged and colour-coded each image in my photoshoot as it would give me a better perspective on which ones were the best and which were worse. It also let me see how much detail was in each image compared to the similar ones.
I flagged these images as red because a lot of them had an exposure that was too high/too low and didn’t give a lot of focus onto the actual object. However, in some of the images, they were blurred and lacked the detail that I wanted to resemble from Walker Evans’ work.
Then I edited my favourite images in Lightroom:
In my first image, I really liked the way the scissors reflected the light off of the metal. This gave it highlights to stand out more and catch attention. This also meant that the detail in the scissors was more visible. I increased the temperature to give the photograph more life, to then also increase the vibrancy and saturation.
In this image, I increased the sharpness slightly so that the chips and marks in the tool were more visible. Then, I made it warmer and used the adjustment brush to make the highlights pop. I really like how this made the image come to life more. I think this worked well because the parts of the tool which have been used are able to tell a story, just like Walker Evans did.
Finally, in this last image I used the auto button as a quick fix. This brightened the image as it slightly raised the exposure which meant that the details on the tool could be seen more. Then, I warmed up the image again to give the same effect that Walker Evans intended.
In these three images, I angled the lighting to be right above the tool and took a birds eye image. I think that this worked extremely well because it gives a glowing effect around the object which draws to the viewers eye more. I also thinks it draws the details out more where you can see how the tool has been used over a long period of time. I feel that the images look best with a warmer tone rather than a cooler, as it makes the image resemble Walker Evans more. Alongside that, I also feel that it makes the image look brighter and stand out more, otherwise it may blend in as it is just a single object.
In this photo I have used the adjustment brush to emphasize the highlights on the tool. Then, I increased the temperature as Walker Evans has a slightly warmer tone to his images which I wanted to recreate. I feel that the way I have angled this tool makes the image more interesting as it includes formalism elements – line. I photographed it in a different way to the three images above so that this would be more visible as I feel that it makes the viewers eyes look around more and follow the curved lines.
In this image, all I needed to do was enhance the lighting so it was more warm toned and lighter. This made the details and old markings more visible, showing its age. I liked the way this object has curved lines alongside straight because it makes the image more dynamic and allows me to include formalism elements- line. I think that this angle of lighting worked well because it captured the depth of the marks too alongside any dust or debris.
