Embark Challenge #1: Colorific

For our first challenge, we were tasked with finding bold color and using it as a backdrop for a portrait. This sounds super easy, but it didn't end up being easy! To make this super complicated and/or interesting, it decided to rain most of the 2 weeks, and I don't shoot in the rain. I originally had a silhouette in my mind, from the very first I saw the brief. I have always loved sunsets and silhouettes, since I was a kid and made crepe paper ones in elementary school art class. I'd never photographed a silhouette, let alone a dog one, so I was determined! BUT, with the rain, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pull it off. I had to think of some back up plans just in case.

Bulldogs and cameras don't mix

In the Embark chat and tips, Craig and Charlotte talked about color wheels and harmony etc. This is my dog, Lulu. We were outside playing with Leo on an icky, but not downpouring day. I knew I had a white shed in my yard that would be harmonious with Lulu's colors, so decided to try and get her in front of it and match the horizon line with her shoulders where the color changes. She is SO HARD to photograph, especially when "her baby" is right there playing. She will not sit still to save her life. So I tried for a good hour and gave up in frustration. Lulu does have an amazing head tilt, and her lips get stuck on her teeth when she's confused. I managed to capture them, but I did not like the photo at all. It's gross and dingy outside and I can feel it in the editing and color scheme. It also isn't BOLD, which is what the challenge asks for.

Soooo, time for the next attempt!

Pug in the rain

I needed bold color, without going into a city and using a mural, as that's not really ME I don't think. So, I asked my neighbor Lindsey if she'd be willing to come over on the gray day and have a little session with Fiona, a yellow rain coat and a rainbow umbrella. If raincoats and umbrellas don't scream bold color, I'm not sure what does! Fiona is SO DANG cute here. I loved her little squishy face and her expression in the last one is too much. You can almost FEEL the toddler sass (she is still very young). She did so dang well and was not scared of the umbrella at all, which I was half expecting. But, even with how cute she is, and how cute these photos turned out, there didn't feel like there was a pop or wow factor to the photos. I felt like if I was going to do well in a challenge, I had to stand out.

Sadie and the silhouette

One of the days cleared up in the evening and I text another neighbor to grab his dog, Sadie and we met up at one of my very favorite locations, where I knew I could get the perfect angle for a silhouette photo. It went so well, it felt very easy and I was done in maybe 10 minutes. Editing these however, was NOT easy. I could not decide if I wanted a full blackout silhouette or just a dark photo that still had some details and such in it. I asked my followers to choose and they picked the one below. I edited it to be mostly all of the way dark, but if you zoomed in, you could still see a little bit of detail. Craig and Charlotte in their feedback said to fully black it out and then to crop out the grass in front. They said it felt cinematic, so use a 16:9 crop. I've never used a cinematic crop before, I generally stick to 3:2 for everything. Charlotte also said if I could, to maybe bring the dog closer to the tree in photoshop. So, below is what I submitted and then after editing it with feedback.

I missed the mark on the challenge this time, but I'm so thrilled with what I learned. I'm definitely noticing myself pay more attention to color during sessions, which is exactly the goal!

What do you think? Do you like the re-edit?