Creative Process

I don't usually write about the process of how I did my photos. But I feel this is quite special and if I saw another person doing this, I would ask the same thing: How the hell did she do this?

Conceptualizing

Before I do my photographs, I always think of a concept first. Some take months, some take weeks, some take days... Doesn't matter. The process is the same when I do a painting.

I would say this step is the hardest part. Part of that 'thinking' is also stressing on how am I going to make a concept work.

For this photo, I immediately drew the idea in my cute sketchpad so I won't forget about it. :P
The original idea was me holding a lamp but I realized I don't have a lamp so I used a candle instead. Well, I think that the candle is a better idea though. For the composition, I haven't decided the number of figures at that time yet, that's why there are four figures in the sketch. But while editing, I decided to just use the Rule of Odds composition.

Capturing the Image

This is another challenge too. I do self portraits. That is, shooting this all by myself.

After planning, I prepared the things needed for this image. Then I set the camera on a tripod. Since I am used with doing self portraits, focusing the camera and imagining myself in a certain spot to remain being in 'focused' is not that hard for me anymore. Yeah, I don't have a remote yet. Might have to buy that soon. lol.

I took the shots of the figures holding the string first because it is easier than shooting yourself while having a blindfold and holding a candle, right?
For the string, I put it right in front of me (on an easel) then I let it hang onto something at my back to give the illusion that someone was holding it.

After shooting those figures, I then put the blindfold on my forehead and clicked the shutter and positioned myself at that certain spot. The self timer was set to take 9 shots in 10 seconds. So while it was counting down, I took the time to hold the candle and position the blindfold to completely cover my eyes. It required patience and faith that I won't burn the house down while blindfolded. Well, luckily I didn't. :D

Editing

This is the very challenging but the fun part. I almost quit because of this lol. (Not gonna be technical here though, just gonna show how it was done)

The first thing I did was I chose the photos to use and combined the three on Photoshop. Combining it is easy. Sure. But making it look realistic is not.

_{Uhmm. Yeah, I treat it like a painting. :D}

Next thing I did was manually painted the background. So it looks a bit okay now.

Then I connected the strings.

Then I cleaned the background and corrected the colors a bit.

Then I did the changed the colors one last time for the final look that I was aiming for. A vintageish feels.

---

That's it! I don't think there's a need for me to explain the concept since the poetry is self explanatory and besides I don't really want to explain like this. I just let you find out what it means. It makes the photo more interesting than spoonfeeding the audience with information, right? Go think!