White Wall Wednesday: Episode 5

White Wall Wednesday: Episode 5

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Oh my friends, what a week since the last White Wall Wednesday! I was a little under the weather over the weekend, did some amazing hiking, had my 8 year anniversary, and totally forgot that I wasn’t ahead of the game with filming these weekly videos! So last night, at about 6:30pm, with 20 minutes of light to spare, I swooped up my equipment and ran (dress ripping as I tripped over myself) to my bedroom to shoot. I was in a literal sweat when I finished, I was moving so fast.

But alas, it has been produced! Apologies for some out of focus and poor quality of video, the light was basically non-existent. I love moments like that though, it was funny and entertaining to be sure.

This week I decided I’d do something slightly different – instead of shooting on a white wall, I’d take the concept of White Wall Wednesday (shooting with the most basic and boring spaces) and shoot from above, thus looking down at the subject. I utilized my boring bedroom carpet as my backdrop, but composited myself into a new background so that it was much more entertaining of an image.

The process of shooting was quite simple.

Step 1: Set my camera on the tripod and make my tripod as tall as possible.
Step 2: Point my camera straight down at the floor, or nearly.
Step 3: Focus on either the floor, or where your subject will be (if you’re not doing a self-portrait, you can simply focus on your model!).
Step 4: Shoot the images and don’t worry too much about the tripod legs being in the shot. If you have wardrobe that can cover them, go for it.

The final step I took was to photograph a clock from the same angle. You’ll see in the video that I photographed it up close instead of from far away like I shot myself. If I had used the same setup for the clock it would have been much smaller in the image, and I would have lost quality trying to stretch the image to make it bigger when editing. Next week I’ll go through some of the editing for this image, such as cutting and blending myself into the new background, working with a close-up shot of the clock to look realistic, and changing colors of the dress quite drastically.

Until then, I hope you have a magical week!

Share your White Wall Wednesday (top down, wahoo!) shots and remember to encourage others you see posting. Share the love and light!

11 thoughts on “White Wall Wednesday: Episode 5”

  1. I am the one that just commented on the YouTube Comments. I would like to say thank you again! You have reignited my creative juices.
    Here my first White Wall picture I did yesterday.
    https://www.instagram.com/p/BI6KM6KjC-h/?taken-by=oremoose

    Question about this latest image, does it bother you that some of the edges of the dress are transparent (like at the 11) showing that the image was photoshopped rather than making it seem like an in camera shot?

    Reply

    1. Awesome work for your WWW! I love it! Thank you for sharing!

      Actually quite the opposite is true for me with this image, and part of my answer is knowing what the dress looked like in camera – it is a see-through dress unless the fabric is bunched up together, so many of the edges were see-through (I could see the carpet through it) and I decided, after I did a hard cut out, to go over the edges with less opacity so that you could see the clock through wherever you could see carpet before. I hope that makes sense! In the end, it adds believability for me personally since I only erased where it was naturally see-through. Always a learning curve though and I’ll definitely take a fresh look at the previous edit I did without that to compare <3

      Reply

  2. Beautiful and evocative. In particular, I love the rust/patina tones in combination with the old world clock face. I think I love props as much or more than photography, especially antiques. Random creative question, but did you set the time (8:08) with intention?

    Reply

    1. I agree! Props are amazing, my office is covered in them (a moon mask, lanterns, a ladder, vintage cameras, clocks, sea shells, a saw, buttons, and more). I keep that clock set at 8:08 at all times because that is when I got married (08-08-08) and 8s, or infinity signs, are very important to us as a symbol. 🙂

      Reply

  3. I love time pieces in images. They always make me think of my father, which is very special and emotional for me. Love how you changed the colours in the final image. It gives the image a warm and antique glow.
    Strangely enough, the first image I ever did for my fine art conceptual portfolio was from the top down… It is the only time I ever shot for my portfolio from this angle (although I’ve used that angle a lot for nude work) and for a long time, it was also one of the very few “indoor” images in my portfolio…
    https://web.facebook.com/MargheritaIntronaPhotography/photos/a.165320056962586.1073741828.165302450297680/167444103416848/?type=3&theater
    I took this quite simply lying down on my bed with a piece of sheer fabric cover me. I love the eerie and forgotten feeling of this image. Many still say this is their favourite from my portfolio 😉
    xx

    Reply

  5. I’ve never taken a photo from above like this, so even if it doesn’t work out, it should be fun.
    Is under the weather code for Addicted to the Olympics? That has been my problem lately! 😉 Hope you are feeling better. 🙂
    I love that photo!

    Reply

  7. Thank you so much for this series!!! I have this horrible yellow walls (not even white. Bleh.) and I’ve always felt like there’s nothing I can do at home. Your WWW series has shown me that just isn’t true! This image is more inspired by the series as a whole, not this week’s “top down” prompt, but I wanted to stop by to share and say thank you. =)

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/natashalh/28320418824/

    Reply

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