DNA

Hello everyone, welcome to my week three blog post called DNA! This week I had a very hard time figuring out what to photograph as I had a major creative block like every artist has from time to time. But I searched and finally got my creative groove again. Before scrolling down, study the image and try to guess how I created it as a little challenge for you.

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Kaila Hicks, DNA, 2021

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THE SET-UP

Here is the set-up that I created for DNA! If you didn’t guess it already, the little sticks with pink blocks on the ends are actually star-shaped sponge stamps. I found so many of them in my basement and decided to create an interesting contraption out of them.

I scrounged up two styrofoam pieces in my basement that I stuck the sponge stamps into to create something photogenic. The styrofoam pieces really didn’t want to stand up on their own so I had to put a clip on one and a wooden block against the other to stabilize them.

In this picture, you can see how I stuck the sponge stamps into the styrofoam pieces. I didn’t measure out where to stick them, I just did my best to make sure they were even. This was difficult to do as some of the sticks did not want to cooperate and stay straight.

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EDITING

DNA before and after

With the chosen image, I first cropped it down to fill in the composition. I was going to make the subject in the image horizontal, but it was a little boring to me. So I played around a little bit and got the diagonal position that became the finished piece.

The color editing process for this project was a little more challenging, as the styrofoam pieces weren’t the same color. I tried very hard to find matching pieces in my basement but had no luck. So I had to manually make them the same color in Lightroom.

Since one of the pieces was green, I decided to go to the cooler temperature route. I knew it would be easier to make the white the same color as the green piece because you can edit white into basically any color you want. 

Using the brush tool, I colored the green piece first into a color blue that I was satisfied with. I did this by making the temperature blue and the tint purple. Then all I had to do was simply match the white piece with that exact same blue. I used the brush tool to color the white piece and adjusted its temperature to the blue that matched. 

With the same brush strokes to adjust their temperature, I decreased the styrofoam pieces’ texture to make them appear smoother. I then boosted the saturation on the little sponges for more vibrancy and to contrast them with the blue styrofoam.

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SUMMARY

While I had a hard time in the beginning of this project, the results made it worth the challenge. I had to sacrifice my time and push through a tough creative block to get what I wanted. I was so determined to do something out of my usual photography style that it got the best of me.

But I am pleased with the finished photograph and can’t wait for the next one. I already have an idea cooking for the upcoming project and can’t wait for you guys to see — come back and check it out next week!