I’ve chosen four photos to talk about in this post because each of these photos have helped me to grow and develop my skills, not just in how to take photographs but also with using software like adobe photoshop.
The first two pictures, one of a Mitsubishi EVO engine and the other of a MK2 golf, both from the early stages of using photoshop, experimenting with my creative mind while also working to the restrictions of the skill capacity I had at the time.
This is genuinely a real engine, it really did have this galaxy theme to it, I didn’t want to change that, instead just emphasise it, therefore I left the inside practically unchanged only making certain parts standout , in this case all the blue parts. I felt that by having just the front of the car and nothing else, when combined with the bright green grass as the background it did give the appearance of being entirely fake. Questioning whether the car was really there or if it was even real. This was done intentionally as I wanted people to question the picture as the engine is not like one that you would see in a car, so there had to be a bit of mystery to the picture.
The Mark 2 golf and the Mitsubishi EVO both have something in common. Both of them were taken on a Panasonic TZ-60 5.8mm which was given to me as a birthday present.
There was many different approaches that I was considering in regard to how I should edit this photo, one being, having the photo completely black & white, however, the decision was made to edit the picture in this way. I took the picture from a side on position to show that ,based on the frame of the car, it was an old model, however, I also wanted to show the rims on the car, these rims show that the car has had modifications done to it. For those of you that like cars know already that this particular model is around 30 years old. I wanted to have the top of the picture in black & white and the grass at the bottom left in colour, to show the juxtaposition of an old car design at the top with new modifications at the bottom. I believe that this was the best way to edit this picture, any other approach would have either not focused on the car as much, or not covey the contrast, so just wouldn’t have had any real direction.
It is however still important to note that this was done when unfortunately I hadn’t really had much experience in using photoshop, so was limited with what I thought of creating and what I could actually do.
This landscape photo that has the Royal Bank of Scotland building in it, was one of my very first landscape photos. At the time I had mostly been taking photos of flowers and cars, this wasn’t because I had never come across a photographic landscape, it’s more, if I do take a landscape picture, I prefer one of nature, and living in a city that’s hard to come by.
Taking this photo did come with some issues, because behind me was a cafe that had its tables and chairs outside which couldn’t be moved, so I was having to squeeze past them and try and get back as far as possible to fit in as much of the image as possible. Normally this is a very busy place, due to the bars, cafes and restaurants in the area so waiting for it to be clear like this took a lot of patients. It paid off however, taken with a 18-55mm f/3.5 -5.6 III lens, the entire RBS building stands in the centre towering over the path of beautifully blossomed trees that line up in front of it. Usual this is area is a busy place for both work and nightlife, however this picture shows that just like most things it can be a place of peace and beauty when caught at just the right time.
This next picture was taken the same day as the previous photo, however this picture was taken with a different lens a 75-300mm, to try and focus more on the flower that is hanging on its own from the branch of a tree.
The purpose of this photo was to be able to pick out an individual subject amongst a busy background and have it as the main focus. This flower was perfect to do just that, blurring the background of the flowers behind and having this individual flower as the main focus meant that the detail of the flower could be seen clearly and truly appreciated. I can be reluctant to make changes to photos that have either animals or are nature based, therefore the decision was made to keep it the picture natural and not enhance the colour that would potentially tone down the photos naturalness the process. I felt that the photo wasn’t lacking in colour and preferred the natural soft tones.
Thank you for reading my posts, I hope you continue to follow my blog.
ExpressCreativity0121 