Tag Archives: room
Boys vs Girls
It’s not too unusual to find a couple of interesting rooms side by side when out exploring different locations, but I loved this find simply because there was a wall separating them which makes it seem like you’re on the set of a TV show.
I think this may have originally been one room which had a dividing wall placed up the middle – where I stood to take the shot was a doorless doorway between the two. I loved the fact you could see this separation between the two rooms which, though bare and a little boring in that respect, were decorated in blue and pink – the classic boys and girls colours.
I really enjoyed the symmetry between the two, but at the same time the contrast in the colours. The blue wallpaper had certainly held up to time better than the pink had, the latter of which was very faded and didn’t come out quite as well as the ‘boys’ room did.
A Room Without A View
There was something missing with this bare room after I had first processed the image. Perhaps it was the lack of features; sure it had a sink, a heater and a nice round window – and I suppose the carpet came up okay; but there was still something not quite right with it and I thought it needed a little bit more.
And so I decided to use my first ever texture layer in an image to try and give it that little bit more detail.
In fact…I used two!
First up, I turned to Viveca Koh, who I have seem use textures many times before to great effect. In particular I read her post “Communication” – The Making of An Image.
This essentially showed me how to actually add a layer with a texture and use the different blending modes.
First of all I added this layer which was from the side of a train, an image I took on Sunday.
I set this layer to ‘overlay’ and reduced the opacity before erasing some of the content, especially on the carpet where I felt it wasn’t needed.
I then turned to Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse Creations and used the RaggedyAnd texture. This one I set to ‘soft light’ and again reduced the opacity and erased in places where it wasn’t needed.
These texture layers certainly add to the image, and I think I like the end result. I’m sure I’ll be repeating this process further down the line to try and add a little ‘oomph’ to an image that is otherwise a bit bare and bland.
Glimmer of Hope
Here’s another shot from the derelict girls school that I visited a couple of weeks ago; it’s really an old manor house with floors that are falling through and is in a bit of a state. To date I think it’s had the least stable floors of any location I’ve had the pleasure of visiting.
When I looked into this room the first thing that grabbed my attention was the black and white chequered floor. I hate to reference Harry Potter again but it did remind me of the scene towards the end of the first book where the trio had to get through the battle chess board and I imagined this scene to be the aftermath of that with parts of the broken chess pieces lying around.
Apart from the floor the room was pretty standard and nothing too special. As I was processing this shot I felt the window wasn’t quite enough as it was. If it had been a little more in view then I could have worked with it as a focal point but it wasn’t quite at the right angle for me to use it. Instead I opted to create a few light rays coming in through the window. I’m new to light rays, and feel the original source of light, the window itself, wasn’t quite enough to give me the beams that I wanted – however I’m reasonably happy with the effect it has given as a result.
Perhaps as I improve I will look back on this and think the rays are horrible, but then that’s natural when you look back at your work and find your skill set has improved.
I would love to know your thoughts on whether you feel the light rays are realistic or not, and of course any tips you may have on how to improve in this area. Thanks.
