Transport: A Junior Conceptual Transport Project by Robyn Watson (2017)

The assignment was to find a vehicle that transports people and/or objects with at least one wheel and is not motorized, shoot it from an unusual angle, and edit it in Adobe Photoshop. The object in my photograph is a rollerblade which is tipped up so that the wheels are vertically aligned. I placed it so that it created movement with leading lines, guiding your eyes to highlights on the mesh part of the back of the boot up to the wheel. Additionally, I placed it so that it invoked curiosity as to why it was shot the way it was, allowing the viewer to engage more with the photograph. The background I chose is simplistic but related, as I shot the photo on cement. Also, I chose the lighting to create a highlight on the boot as well as a softer highlight on the wheel, whereas the background is fairly dark in order to create contrast between light and dark values. I chose the rollerblade because I like the difference between the texture of the meshy boot and the smooth wheel and the variety that can be explored through using a photo of a less common object shot from an interesting angle.

In Adobe Photoshop, I learned how to use tools in the program to improve my photograph. Before even opening the photo, I adjusted different aspects of it including saturation and highlights. I increased the saturation in order to improve the focus on the mesh part of the boot to make the texture stand out. In addition, I created more shadows to soften the background but more highlights to place slightly more emphasis on the focal point. Then I added a vignette and started using the many tools available. One tool I used was creating new layers to help prevent destructive editing. I did this through creating a new layer from the start and later adding a new layer to increase the brightness through the function of an S curve. This helped brighten my photograph because previously it had been too dark. Although I have know how to use the lasso tool to make selections and others to edit them, I decided to leave the little blemishes on the plastic visible because they make the photo more unique. All in all, I edited my picture in Adobe Photoshop to create a simple yet engaging photograph.