Stargazing: A Junior Design Student Conceptual Project by Simone Clements Leedeman (2017)

I am exploring the feeling of shock/surprise through stargazing.

For this conceptual photo assignment, I chose to take a photo of a marble on a blue blanket in a dark room, with only a flashlight as the main source of light, and camera angle level to the marble. The main reasons why I chose the placement of the marble, the lighting, and angle in this photo was because I wanted to represent stargazing, while also being able to convey shock in the photo. I used the angle of the photo and the placement of the lone marble with a dark background to demonstrate space, and utilized the lighting to create a large shadow which worked together to add to the feeling of shock.

This photo exemplifies my concept statement in many different ways. The marble in my photo represents both stargazing and shock because it resembles a planet, however the surprising bright orange color of the marble and angle of the photo shows how something as large as a planet, is still so small compared to space. Additionally, the bright light and dramatic shadows in this photo helps portray shock and resembles a professional photo of an actual planet and truly depicts my concept statement.

After taking the photo, I edited using Adobe Photoshop to create my final product. For this assignment, I learned a lot about Photoshop including how much the cropping tool can help change the focus of a photo, and though there are many different options for editing, it is important to get the best shot possible in camera first. Applying this knowledge helped my final composition because I focused on taking a quality photo, which resulted in minimal editing overall. Additionally, my understanding helped benefit and enhance my image overall because when I cropped the photo, I was able to focus more on the Rule of Thirds and get rid of any unnecessary space that could distract from the subject.