Otto Berkeley
Helix
The London School of Economics Library recently invited me back to photograph their interior, and having visited twice over the past year, most recently last December, it was fun to come back for a third time and try to capture the location from a different vantage point.
Even late in the evening and outside of university term time, the library was filled with visitors. While I waited for the place to quieten down, I selected a spot on one of the middle levels, looking towards the spiral ramp that circles the lift shaft throughout the atrium. My aim when shooting this scene was to try to convey the elegance of the lines, curves and complementing patterns, and at the same time a sense of the scene’s energy and creativity. As people gradually made their way down the ramp, two people caught my eye: one lady wearing a red head scarf, and another who was one level higher, leaning on the balcony and absorbed in an intense conversation on her phone. I was torn over which one to keep in the final image, and in the end settled on both, as I felt this reflected the depth and scale of the location, and perhaps more importantly how much was going on in the library at the same time.
The final image is a mixture of exposures: two sets of nine bracketed exposures, blended in Photoshop using luminosity masks to balance the highlights and shadows, and then combined to mask out lifts as they moved up and down the lift shaft. I then captured an additional exposure for the lady walking down the ramp, which required a much faster shutter speed and therefore a higher ISO and a wider aperture.
With the exposures blended and the emphasis on a high-key finish, I shifted the colour balance towards a palette with hints of cyan and green in order to complement the pristine surfaces and brilliant-white tones across the building. While the image was already bright and airy, I wanted to play this up even more, so I added a low-opacity Gradient Map and set the blend mode to screen, excluding the highlights while further brightening the midtones and shadows. Finally, using Nik plugins, I gently amplified the whites and added a Pro Contrast filter, which helped to give the details a little more definition and made the image pop.
The library wanted images without people so I’m unlikely to be able to supply this take to them, but it was a fun exercise and a joy to photograph, and also an interesting exploration of how people visiting a location can interact with their surroundings and complete the scene.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.
Helix
The London School of Economics Library recently invited me back to photograph their interior, and having visited twice over the past year, most recently last December, it was fun to come back for a third time and try to capture the location from a different vantage point.
Even late in the evening and outside of university term time, the library was filled with visitors. While I waited for the place to quieten down, I selected a spot on one of the middle levels, looking towards the spiral ramp that circles the lift shaft throughout the atrium. My aim when shooting this scene was to try to convey the elegance of the lines, curves and complementing patterns, and at the same time a sense of the scene’s energy and creativity. As people gradually made their way down the ramp, two people caught my eye: one lady wearing a red head scarf, and another who was one level higher, leaning on the balcony and absorbed in an intense conversation on her phone. I was torn over which one to keep in the final image, and in the end settled on both, as I felt this reflected the depth and scale of the location, and perhaps more importantly how much was going on in the library at the same time.
The final image is a mixture of exposures: two sets of nine bracketed exposures, blended in Photoshop using luminosity masks to balance the highlights and shadows, and then combined to mask out lifts as they moved up and down the lift shaft. I then captured an additional exposure for the lady walking down the ramp, which required a much faster shutter speed and therefore a higher ISO and a wider aperture.
With the exposures blended and the emphasis on a high-key finish, I shifted the colour balance towards a palette with hints of cyan and green in order to complement the pristine surfaces and brilliant-white tones across the building. While the image was already bright and airy, I wanted to play this up even more, so I added a low-opacity Gradient Map and set the blend mode to screen, excluding the highlights while further brightening the midtones and shadows. Finally, using Nik plugins, I gently amplified the whites and added a Pro Contrast filter, which helped to give the details a little more definition and made the image pop.
The library wanted images without people so I’m unlikely to be able to supply this take to them, but it was a fun exercise and a joy to photograph, and also an interesting exploration of how people visiting a location can interact with their surroundings and complete the scene.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.