Transport: A Junior Conceptual Transport Project by Nisha Malley (2017)

The object of my photo is an older, rusty metal wheelbarrow placed among some dead grass in my front yard. The focus is on the black, tire wheel sparingly covered in light brown dirt that adds some more texture and color to the wheel. The wheel is placed on the bottom left of the photo following the rule of thirds. To the left is visible a semi-blurred background of bushes and trees. The horizon line is about one third from the top of the photograph; so much of the ground is dirt and grass. In addition, I placed the wheel behind a bright green plant growing in the field, to make it seem like the plant was slowly crawling over the wheel as it grew. Only the bottom half of the wheelbarrow is shown; dents, scratches, and rust are apparent. The lighting looks like midday. I used a higher exposure to bring out the details on the wheelbarrow and blur out unnecessary details in the background. The light bounces of the wheel, creating a shiny-edge effect, and light also reflects against the dents of the wheelbarrow. However, the underbelly of the wheelbarrow is cast in shadow, which helps draw attention to the main focus of the photo.

In Photoshop, I made a few simple edits to my photo. First, I cropped it to set the wheel in the left corner, following the rule of thirds. I played around with the saturation, adjusting the color tone and really bringing out the greens. I also increased the contrast to accent the shadows more. I did not have to make many compositional changes, but I did have to erase a white object in the background, which I quickly did using the background tool.