From the conquistadors seeking Eldorado, to Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to Indiana Jones, tales of adventurers seeking hidden treasure have long been a part of our culture. I wanted to capture this thought, so I made treasure map.
After drawing the map, I used an old wet tea bag to age it and then crumpled it up and left it to dry. Finally I set fire to the edges. The main light source was a coal fire - I staged the scene on the floor in front of the fireplace - additional light came from a small lamp in the corner of the room. Post production I used the graduated filter in Lightroom to darken the corners and then adding a layer in Photoshop to 'posterize' the image.
Postscript: A few days later Andy showed me some other techniques which I could have used and which would have improved the image. One of these was how to download and add a layer - we chose an old parchment style which Andy added and showed me how to blend using the opactity tool. This gives the image a more aged effect as well as removing some of the oversaturated red colour:
hi Ruth!
ReplyDeleteA lovely picture ! when you told me you made the map yourself ,I had to have a closer look ! I couldn't tell at first,so well done! you have put a lot of thought into it .I like the compositon and how the lamp is lit,really adds to the mood of the Photograph.
This is really good Ruth! I like how you've done the obvious, but pulled it off really well with the use of the props, it looks quite natually laid out aswell rather than 'posed' (if that makes sense??) - it's something i always have problems with when attempting things like this.. so well done! The only 'criticism' i have is that i think the colours are maybe a little off - the red and orange hues seem quite saturated, I think that if you used a sepia filter you could get a similar kind of feeling to what i think you were going for, but it would tone down the reds a little bit. just my opinion, i'm not trying to be mean! haha :)
ReplyDeleteI really like this piece of work, which works even better on the wooden floor, beacause it seems to be in context and maybe even on a pirate ship?! Nice use of props to create a scene, and I like the use of the lighting which further creates the atmosphere.....
ReplyDeleteyo ho ho
ReplyDeleteCaptures the mood of a dimly lit cabin
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