Old Knobbly Shoot 3

This shoot was very much inspired by Takihiro Sato, who uses flashflights aimed directly into the camera to create these bursts of light around a tree.
I did this with my boyfriend so we could get the most amount of bursts in one image. I used a 30 second timer and turned our phone torches on and off around the trunk of the tree.

I used two wide angle lenses, one FX and one DX lens. The DX lens allowed for the edge of the lens to be shown in the frame, recreating how some of Sato's images are made and appear.

I wanted to take more images but I was feeling ill and then it started to thunder and lightening, and I wasn't very comfortable with being in the middle of a forest while there was lightening.

I do really like how all of the images turned out, I wasn't expecting for it to actually work. I then combined the images to make the images have more of the bursts and feel more full and busy rather than sparse;

I decided to experiment with what layers would be visible because I wasn't sure of how busy or sparse I wanted the lights to be. I want to make an impact and make the lights the centre of attention but for the image to still be delicate and elegant.

I really like the way the lights illuminate the foreground and allows the image to be grounded and have context in terms of location. You can't see the trunk of the tree as well as in Sato's images, however you can certainly still tell that the lights are around a tree because of the branches reaching into the sky and drawing the viewers eye towards the trunk.

I then edited these merged images with lightroom filters to see how the mood and atmosphere could change with different settings.

 This image has a slight purple and green tone to it, which works well together because they're opposite on the colour wheel. The greens in the plants are brought out and has a very earthly feeling about it because of this, even despite the very otherworldy feel from the lights. In a way, this grounds the image and gives it the feeling of humanity.

 This image has a much more purple tone. Purple has connotations of luxury, but also mourning. Purple would therefore be a very relevant colour for this image. It also has a very cool tone which most people would associate with coldness and impersonal.

 This image has the blacks crushed a little to create a far less contrasted image. This makes the image a little more flat. Because of this i'm not so keen on it at as the other images and edits.

 This image has a much warmer feeling; the purple is much more pink and so this has a more romantic and alive vibe. The lights seem to represent life much more than those in the cooler photos, because we associate warmer shades with life.

 I then chose to make the image black and white as Sato did with his. This version has the crushed blacks giving a more 2d look and so i'm not so keen on it, as i'd like more spacial depth.

 I like this version of the black and white so much more than the image above because it has a lot more depth due to more tonal range. You can see the figure of the tree and the textures within the forest. The lights haven't got the colour tones as they did in the colour images which makes them more consistent.

 This image has less of the lights but with the same filter. I think I prefer this more than the image above because it feels less crowded and more dispersed in terms of the lights. Although I do also like how the image above has more of a lively feeling. This image feels more elegant and I really like how the textures are more apparent because the tree isn't as hidden.

 This is the same image with even less of the lights. While I do like the elegance of this I think I prefer the one above because it has a more lively feeling.

 This image is again with the same filter but with one of the photos with the lens in the frame. I really like how the bokeh is highlighted and the lights are clearly just around the trunk. It's perhaps a little dark.

 I think this image works better than the one above because the shape of the tree is more apparent and also the black and white makes the image look more surreal and creepy with the slow shutter speed capturing the trees moving and the sense of life that is unknown.

 While I really like how the foreground is visible and draws the eye into the image, I'm not sure I am keen on how the filter makes the lens so visible. Because it's all in black and white and the lens isn't as dark as the main image it does bring attention to it, however this can be fixed in photoshop.

 This image has a very purple and blue vibe. The lights themselves even have pink tones to it. The sky looks so foreign to the UK and I really like that, and it even reminds me of the settings of Vitor Schietti's images. As discussed before the purples are very relevant to the image and its history.

 This image has a much more natural and earthy feeling about it because the greens in the image are brought out and emphasised. It feels very grounded and makes the fact it's in a forest more apparent, allowing the viewer to be more immersed.

This image has a lot more contrast than the other images, which I quite like as it makes the subject less defined which gives the image a sense of mystery. The cool tones also add to this sense of mystery, and the darkness in it also emphasises this but also creates a quite creepy feeling. All of this is further emphasised by the bokeh obscuring the subject and hiding whats behind it.

I then decided to try and inverting the images as I had with the previous shoot to see how that would turn out;

I'm really not sure of how I feel about this. On one hand I really like how they appear as bursts of darkness and depth and evilness and remind me even of black holes. It's very mysterious and dark and I think that's so relevant to the images. However, I also really like how when they're not inverted the bursts are of light from the darkness. The vibes are completely changed when it's inverted. With the image inverted I do like how the tree is white which has connotations of purity, and as the tree was a sanctuary for women that would be appropriate. The black bursts in that sense would represent the women and their apparent dark souls.