Nancy Sea Shoot.
This image was actually inspired by two of Zavialov’s image (I’ll add below) I wanted to combine the aspect of the sky and the clouds, yet also include the use of the rule of thirds with the sea line. For this shoot, I went to the top of the hill which separates ‘Old Leigh’ (the seafront) and ‘Leigh Broadway’ so I had a vivd view of not just the sea, but the clouds and sky as well. I planned to take the image using the rule of thirds, which I believe I executed in my shoot. I will experiment with the different photos I took, at different distances from the Polaroid and it will be interesting to find out which is compositionally the best image. I used a ‘Fujifilm Instax SQUARE SQ1’ for the Polaroid-style image. I used an iPhone XR to take the final image, with the ‘grid’ setting turned on.
(Inspiration).
Original Image.
With this image, I like the use of line. I took the Polaroid image of the model from a slightly low angle to allow for more sky to be seen in the frame. I also did this when taking my overall image on my iPhone and I took the image with the clouds and the sky filling up two whole rows on the rule of thirds grid lines to replicate Zavialov’s style in one of his images, where he takes the photo from a very low angle so only clouds and the sky are seen in the shot. I also wanted to take inspiration from another one of Zavialov’s images of the model sat on the beach, lining up the sea with the bottom rule of thirds line. Despite the tide being out (and there being no physical water) I still believe that I achieved Zavialov’s style of image.
I like the use of line in this image, because I think that it emphasises the beautiful colours and patterns that clouds produce. Despite there being no waves or sea, the natural lines of clouds in the sky look like waves which I find interesting because I expected the sea to be beautiful, blue with wave patterns and I expected the sky to be boring and plain with no particularly beautiful patterns - yet what I came across, when I took this shoot, was in fact the opposite. This could represent how unexpected nature is, yet it is always beautiful at the end. I think that this is one of Zavialov’s main messages in his concept of ‘Instant Moments’ because the majority of his shoots are taken outside, in nature, because I believe that he wanted to highlight the beauty and power of nature and how humans take “The World Around Us” for granted.
Developments:
Editing Time-lapse:
Hand Adjustments.
Final Adjustments.
Final Image.
For the developments of this image, when taking the shoot I noticed that the glare from the sunlight was hitting the Polaroid image from behind, causing an unattractive reflection. I couldn’t avoid the reflection, despite my best efforts, i wanted to take the shoot of the sea so if I turned in another direction to avoid the glare, then the sea line wouldn’t be in the shot. Instead, I took one image of the model (in the style of Zavialov’s cloud photograph) and then used Photoshop to edit it into the Polaroid frame, which had the glare on it.
I lined up the image inside of the Polaroid frame, with the outside sea line. This method actually allowed for a more defined and natural rule of thirds because I could line both up - which I found looked very pleasing. After combining both images into one, I opened Adobe Lightroom and made some adjustments. I cropped the image to fit the 1x1 Instagram style frame and I adjusted the lighting on my hand. Before adjusting the lighting on my hand, my fingers looked a very prominent pink and cold colour. This image has a summery atmosphere, due to the waves and the ‘golden hour’ lighting so I wanted every element in the photograph to match this atmosphere. I then edited the rest of the image, subtly adjusting all aspects to highlight the beautiful lighting and maximise the summery atmosphere. Finally, I applied the same grain and texture as my other images - to keep all of my images the same, with the same Zavialov-style texture.