justin
This image and the rest in the series symbolises the force and struggles or a war. my subjects tried to rid themselves of the powder as i took pictures even t...
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This image and the rest in the series symbolises the force and struggles or a war. my subjects tried to rid themselves of the powder as i took pictures even though they knew more would come.
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Feb, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my grimy backyard, but I put up a black backdrop in a shady area to create this specific lighting. I am a self-taught photographer so I am continuously learning and everything I do is an experiment, which I hope will turn out well.Time
This photo was taken around midday during a classic New Zealand Summer's day, when I gathered some of my closest friends throwing cornflour on themselves from about 11am until 2pm. A combination of the piercing heat of the sun and frosty winds, allowed for the powder to act in different ways to create interesting photographs. I knew that throughout the day that the lighting and the wind would change, which created the different looks with the powder in each photograph.Lighting
When planning this shoot, I wanted the sunlight to pick up the powder effectively without having a strong directional light, which is why I photographed it in an area in which there were many trees and covered areas. This allowed for specific rays to shine through the foliage and the shadows to be very soft.Equipment
I photographed this image with a Canon 1100D, with a normal 18-55 kit lens. I set my camera on a second-hand tripod in front of a makeshift black fabric backdrop, using whichever equipment I could find as I was fifteen and unemployed at the time.Inspiration
Approximately two years before I initiated with this photoshoot, "Holi powder photography" interested me a lot. In 2014, I did two photoshoots where I experimented with the holi powder and portraiture but I found that I was lacking emotion in my photographs. So skip to early 2015 I wanted to use the contrast of white and black to initially create an intense atmosphere. It was only in post when I realised that playing around with flour create my best photographs.Editing
Initially, when looking at my photographs I knew I needed a lot of adjustment changes. I darkened and contrasted the images quite a bit and created a subtle purple which somehow defined more detail in the images.I am also self-taught with photoshop so most of the time I am playing around, hoping it will turn out good. From pre to post, it was all experimental and very happy mistake.In my camera bag
Nowadays I keep my 16 and 8 gig sd cards, my handy Canon 1100D, my 50 mm prime lens, and a new tripod. Most of them I've had for years but I always rely on them to get the shot.Feedback
Just keep photographing. It took me three photoshoots and many hours to get the final image I want. Just keep experimenting because it those happy mistakes can create your best images. And get amazing people and models that help you to do so "it was so much fun having to scrub out all that cornflour" - quote from the model in the image.
