ivangatt
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Awards
Contender in the Photography Awards
Action Award
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Creative Winter Award
Top Shot Award 21
Legendary Award
Contest Finalist in Black And White Compositions Photo Contest vol2
Contest Finalist in Once Upon A Time Photo Contest
Peer Choice Award
Contest Finalist in Black And White Compositions Photo Contest vol1
Outstanding Composition
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Superior Skill
Virtuoso
Genius
Top Ranks
WhiteLilyImagery
August 01, 2017
Wow. This one really touches something in me...Good job at capturing emotion!
halinanowak
September 10, 2017
This photo shows me! Neither way up nor down seems to be right... Stillness - I would call it ????
speterson6
April 19, 2018
Extraordinary scene. The perspective and location is excellent. Nice work Ivan.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I have taken the photo at my house in Hamrun, Malta. I started photography two years ago, and this photo was one of a set of photos I presented from the final panel for the photography course I have been doing.Time
The photo was taking sometime early evening round about May 2017.Lighting
The only lighting used was natural light coming from a large window on the landing (then cropped out of the photo). The window is north-facing, so there was no direct sunlight (which comes from the south).Equipment
The photo was shot with Nikon D5500. For the perspective, I set up a ladder in the landing above the model, to have a higher point of view. I used a tamron 18-270mm lens without a tripod, but stabilized it with the help of gravity by pointing it downwards (due to the perspective). I resorted to a shutter speed of 1/100, to get as much as possible light in without having camera shake. Aperture was set at f/3.5 with focus on the model. Due to the soft natural light, I increased the ISO to 640Inspiration
Since I started photography two years ago, I always thought of taking a photo of my home stairs. When I started the photography course I had to present a panel of photos. For this panel, I chose to shoots humanity's horrors, and part of the panel centered on the horrors we face inside us... solitude, depression, despair, self-loathing, helplessness. The photo represents the slow regression that many people fall into when suffering from depression, which is represented by the stairs going down into the darkness.Editing
For post processing, I first used lightshop to do some small modification and converting the photo into black and white, increasing the clarity to bring out the texture of the clothes and the stairs. Then I moved to photoshop where I worked with the cropping and re-adjusting, darkening of the stairs and lighting of the clothes, slightly increasing the contrasts.In my camera bag
When I travel abroad, apart from my camera, I usually have my tamron 18-270mm lens, which I find as a 'jack-of-all-trades' lens, having a decent wide angle and a good zoom. For studio shots, I use a Nikon 35mm. My equipment is all basic and relatively non-expensive.Feedback
Whilst the photo looks fairly simple, it actually involved a lot of planning. So my advice is to plan well. I took photos of the stairs (without the model) over a number of different periods of the day, to understand the lighting. I also checked different perspectives. When the model came for the shot, all we had to do is to try different postures and shoot on a number of different steps, then deciding on the best. Working from home permitted me to go quickly on the computer and discuss the photos with the model, and then we reshot the final photo presented here. Being quite inexperienced, I found it very helpful to show the models the photos and discuss with them, especially when they are experienced. Apart from learning much quicker, this helped me achieve better results.