For my A-Level, I needed to complete various portfolios covering different topics in order to get a good grade. For my 'Personal Study', I chose to photograph still life objects which can be used to represent love. To be honest, I chose this because I knew that it would be quick and simple, as I was behind on the other portfolios haha; not good. But I was pleased with how these photos came out, considering I did this in a bit of a rush! I have posted a couple of these photography posts, which you can read here: Photography Portfolio 1 - Dance, Photography Portfolio 2 - Big Cats. Considering that it was Valentine's Day a few days ago, I thought it would make sense to post this now haha :)
One way of using objects to represent love is obviously with words. The first way to use words that I could think of was by using Scrabble letters. All I did was set them up on my floor, focused my camera on the letters so that the background was blurred, and then used Photoshop to make the image brighter! I like how the letters were reflected onto the wooden floor; it makes the photo stand out more and just makes it look more interesting than just for letter tiles haha.
I thought a bit more about this photo, as I pictured a typical Valentine's Day date and what things are normally included. At first I thought of roses, but I didn't have the time or the money to go out and buy a bouquet, so the second idea was candles, and I definitely had enough of those to use haha. So again, I set these up on my floor so that they spelt out 'Love', and took the photo. I then played around more with Photoshop so that the background was black, therefore the candles were more in focus. I mainly used the Brightness, Curves and Exposure tools to do this. Again, I like how the light is reflected on the floor; just makes the images have more depth; making them look more 3D.
This photo was a pain to edit because I used the 7, Q, A and 3 playing cards to spell out 'Love', but then had to erase parts of the letters or numbers so that they actually looked like L, O, V and E. I also used the brightening and Exposure tools to make the cards stand out more. I do like this photo though as it isn't what you would normally think of to represent love; I just had to be creative with the objects that I had at home! I obviously used the Hearts suit, because you know, it just made sense.
Hearts are another main representation of love, so I tried to find ways of creating hearts in the unconventional way, and came up with this. The pages were annoying and would not stay in this position, so I ended up having to hold them down and use take the photo with one hand. But it came out okay so it's all good :) I just use the brightness tool to put more focus on the heart, and then the exposure tool to make the shadow in the heart darker, so that it stands out more.
This is probably my favourite photo. As part of all portfolios, we needed to respond to another photographer's work, so I found an image where someone had done this and used light to create a heart with a book and ring. It is all about the angle and then using Photoshop to create more contrast and then blur out the rest of the image. But my gosh did this take some time to do! Firstly, the ring wouldn't stand up for what ever reason, so I just had to lay it down, which did't really make a difference. Then the pages of the book wouldn't stay open, so i had to tape them down because I needed to hold my torch and angle the light with my other hand. But hay, I got there in the end and I like it :) Rings represent weddings, the declaration of love, and then hearts are just what comes to mind when we think of love.
That's another portfolio of mine; probably not one of the best ones as you can see haha, but I was in a rush to finish this portfolio a week before it was due.....which is exactly why I suggest to do work when you get it haha. But I did make do with what I had so it was alright :)
Hope you all enjoyed Valentine's Day, whether you were spending it with a loved one or just chilling at home watching Netflix!
xx
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