A Long Time Beating: A Junior Design Student Conceptual Project by Hannah Craford (2015)

When you think about love, most people automatically think about hearts. They don't think about hearts which pump blood through our bodies. I chose the pork heart because I felt that it caused the same emotional reaction that a valentine heart would, but with an added uniqueness. I shot the heart from different angles, but I felt that at this particular angle the heart created the most raw emotion and universal recognition. I used newspaper because to me it is one of the best forms of preserving memories. If you look closely you can see that the specific section of the newspaper which I chose was the obituary page. To some this might seem depressing, but I think of it as another preservation of memory. Between the newspaper and the heart I placed a layer of plastic wrap to emphasize preservation. I liked the woman in the foreground, so I chose to filter it which added more raw emotion. The balance of light was tough to get because you had to get light for the heart color but not so much that a gleam covered up the newspaper. The three objects work well together in bringing the concept of love through the preservation of memories into a visual aspect.

This photo would not have been possible without Photoshop. Certain tools such as vignetting, filtering, boosting color, contrast, and exposure affected my image for the better. By vignetting the corners I was able push the viewer's focus to the center, to the heart. Changing the exposure and the contrast allowed me to fix lighting I wasn't pleased with. Most important was probably the pen tool which allowed me to select objects and filter them. All of these special tools led to the creation of my final product which looks better than if they hadn't been used at all.