Portfolio Image Two – “Burst of Light”

Here is the second image that I am submitting as part of my portfolio.

My inspiration behind this photograph was the element of light and the different questions that can be raised through the different methods of photographing it.

To create this image it was very simple yet effective. I took a pair of white bulb fairy lights and hung them from my bedroom wall. I then continued to turn off my bedroom lights and then set my camera on a very slow shutter speed (8 seconds) meaning that my image would be exposed for 8 seconds. While I was exposing my image to the fairy lights I slowly moved my zoom inwards and then back out again, creating an image which looked like this.

The reason this photograph appealed to me the most was because it has created a certain three dimensional feeling, meaning that it seems as if the light is bursting out of the photograph and towards the audience. The use of the three dimensional light also gives the image a sci- fi feeling where it feels as if a unknown source has been captured and this makes the audience question “what exactly is creating this source of light?” and leaves them in a sense of mystery. This sci-fi route was something I enjoyed trying to capture as it is completely the opposite to anything I have photographed before, with my previous images focusing on the beauty of nature, and it gave me a different insight to how photography can change the perspective of someone but also tell a variety of stories.

I did edit this photograph in Photoshop by cropping the image ( the original image can be seen below) and also by changing the brightness and contrast of the image.

I decided to crop the image as I wanted the main focus to be on the light source and not on the black background that surrounds the light. I also changed the contrast to create a sharper look for the image and also to have more of an effect on the audience. This effect is created through the use of the bright light, it hypnotizes the audience in a sense where they cannot take their eyes off the light, but also by not showing the light source it continuously is making them question “what has been used to create this vision of light?”