It has been a while since I last posted, so I thought I’d ease myself in by talking about a throwback photo I had taken a few years ago, and the real issues and thoughts that went through my head when creating the photo and posting the photo on Instagram.
I’m never normally unsure or nervous about posting a photo, however, I was with this picture. Those of you who have seen my photos know that doing a creative edit, like changing the background, is not normally something that I do, especially when the background is a surreal one. This photo taken was with a Panasonic TZ-60 9.6 mm, I don’t often use this camera, actually it is very rare that I take this camera out of the house, it does come in handy from time to time though for travel and when I don’t feel like carrying a bunch of different lenses around with me.
The photo had originally been taken on an overcast day where the sun kept making an appearance every once in a while. However, it was still warm outside by lunchtime, which is why you can see a number of people sat outside enjoying the warm weather with a few drinks and a bite to eat. “I digress though”
The reason why I was nervous about posting this photo was because of the amount of time and effort it took in creating this piece. I really wanted more than anything for it to be a picture that people enjoyed. It was hard picking a background that was dark yet still fit with the original atmosphere, while also having a surreal look was a challenge. Not to mention adding light to the photo where the sun had hit the rooftop in the original photo.
I had no idea how long doing an edit like this would take, the attention to detail needed, I guess it was my fault for being so naive. One of the things that I found difficult to do but was actually a simple task, was selecting the trees. Even though the trees in the photo are full with leaves, it didn’t mean that you couldn’t see through the little gaps to the original background. Therefore I had to make sure I had perfectly selected each tree, this was time consuming, I kept on feeling like I had missed something, or made some type of error. It was hard for this type of feeling to disappear, in fact every moment I got closer to completing the photo the feeling grew and grew.
I don’t think there was a time where I wasn’t nervous or unsure about posting the picture, but I wanted people to see how I express my creative side, I wanted people to like the photo and be inspired. Because that’s the reason why I do all of this, I want people to get inspired and have the confidence to express their creativity be that in dance, art, music, theatre, photography or anything.
I don’t regret picking this background as it made for a more striking photo due to it being unusual, nor do I regret the time and stress I had to go through replacing the overcast dull sky with this colourful other worldly one. I like how the colours of the background sky match in the light and dark areas of the foreground, and personally like the effect of the buildings not looking like they’re real.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
ExpressCreativity0121 