I want to describe to all of you how I went about creating
the photo that I believe is my most interesting. What makes this photo more
unique than the other photos I took are the steps I took to achieve it. I feel
that a lot of my other photos weren’t as individualized in the creation process
as this one and I hope to make more improvements in this area! The photo that I
chose to describe received so much good attention from you guys, so thanks!
The photo here is my POW, this self-portrait received the
most votes quite possibly because of how much thought and effort I put into
creating it. This photo as well as my others were taken by my IPhone 5c iOS
7.1.2. To be honest, I was nervous about taking my self-portraits and I thought
a lot about how I could take a photo that wouldn’t reveal too much. (You might
guess that I am not one to open up quickly and you would be right.) And so, I
came up with the idea to silhouette my figure.
How did I do it? Well, one night when I was driving home
when the idea struck me. I parked in my drive way and set up my phone for the
photo. I left the headlights on and sat down with my back to the car. Luckily I
had downloaded a self-timer app called TimerCam Version 1.3.4 so I could be
hands free. However I did have to use trial and error in order to get the photo
how I wanted it. Sit down, snap a picture, check it, and try again. Finally I was
centered and the headlights weren’t obvious. In the original photo you can see
the car, recognize the headlights, the driveway and grassy surrounding but what
I wanted was just to focus on the effect of the lights.
In order to do this I
had to play with adjustment tools and filters. So I went to an app that I had
been experimenting with called Afterlight Version 2.5. This app has a wide variety
of adjustment tools, filters, textures, and frames. It is truly great, I
suggest trying it out! I started with basic adjustments, first I dialed down
the saturation completely for B&W effect. Then I moved to contrast and
increased it as high as possible in order to reduce a lot of the glare created
by the headlights. After that I turned the exposure all the way down – this is
what created the silhouette look. The last adjustment I made was increasing
shadow which is what gives this photo a kind of softer matte black appeal.
Although at this point the photo was doing exactly what I
wanted it to I still felt something was missing. Looking back I feel that
without these last additions the photo would have been boring and lacking in
keeping your attention. So I played around and decided on a light leak effect,
where the light sneaks in on the edges. The light came in and faded into the
photo on the top and bottom horizontal edges of the photo with the addition of
some dust or light specks. I dialed it to a respectable amount so I didn’t take
away from the content and subject matter. This light addition helped keep the viewer’s
eyes in the frame and balance the use of light from just the central focal
point of light flooding over my shoulder.
So many steps were involved but now you get the picture!
Thanks again for all the comments, you guys helped me see my
highpoints but also where I need improvement!
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