RAW Editing

When editing I didn't want to tamper with the still too much, I changed the contrast and brightness (keeping them both within 10 points to the other) to make the picture darker in order to highlight the white and red colours of the 'New Era' sign and also in aide of trying to hide the rich colours of the greenery in the background as I wanted the photo to be an ironically bleak outlook on a typical street corner. The black tab was also used to make the more vibrant primary colours in the still stand out. I didn't increase the red colours within the picture for fear of making the red in the picket fences stand out more than the sign, as I felt the sign is the main focus point from which to view everything else after. The 'New Era' red text didn't need to be bright, it connotes a bleak outlook within it's own fading red/pink colour.

I drew inspiration from Martin Parr and his efforts to make colour juxtapose the subject in a subtly quintessentially British (patriotic) way as well as the make the imagery within the picture contrast. Focus point one would be the sign in my opinion, with focus point 2 being the pale green container, both of which ironically placed side by side.

I wanted to bring out the almost fairy light look that can be seen in the background and juxtapose it against the hazard tape on the picket fence in the foreground. I first of all raised the brightness slightly and brought the contrast to within 10 points of it. I then went on the RGB tab to pick out the red and yellow colours in order to bring them out of the dark tones in the still a tiny bit more.

I kept Jeff Wall's 'The Invisible Man' in mind throughout editing as I thought the coloured lights created a very stylistic effect, like an industrial twilight. With this in mind the connotations within the image are again quite close to Martin Parr's photojournalism ideology of a British subject showing an ironic juxtaposition within an image. The image also shows elements of the yin and yang theory, the right of the picture is shrouded in darkness whereas the left has primary colours beaming out in patches.

I realised once opening this image in the camera RAW editing facility that it was a soft image but the imagery was spookily beautiful. I decided to try and capitalise on the pastel-like look that the picture had naturally developed in the low light at night through the trees. I firstly started by adjusting the brightness and contrast, again, keeping them within 10 of each other and increase the brightness. This brought out the noise within the still but that was expected, I then brought up the blue tab and gave the still a dark blue tone to define the rich black colour within the branches. To try and glaze the still I used the polarise function to give a more of a fine art painting look. Finally I used the blur tool to give the moon a glowing effect through the branches.

I personally thought that the image conjures up thoughts of Van Gogh's Starry night due to the overall thick texture to the pixels within the still. The yin and Yang theory can also be applied as the moon clearly conflicts against the other darker blue and black tones to become the more prominent colour.