Shoot Three Straight Images

In this shoot I captured a few images of a member of staff working outside in the rain. This was to show that work at the Centre has to be done in all weathers. One of the images, shown above, captures a worker collecting bowls from the back of the runs after the rain has stopped. She is laughing as she talks to a member of staff who is out of frame and this captures the spirit of the mood about working in the Centre regardless of the weather conditions.
  

 I also took images outside of staff burning rubbish in the large oil drums, which is how they get rid of the large amounts of torn/used bedding as waste disposal is expensive.




I took a number of images to illustrate the amount of water and disinfectant the staff work with in cleaning the kennel floors and walls. This is thrown onto the surfaces to kill off any bacteria or viruses and then they are scrubbed clean with brushes.

I took images of Daisy, the cat with the scar from her surgery clearly visible to the viewer. But in one of the images there is a member of staff is looking after her, in another Daisy is alert and staring at the camera and in the final one she is sleeping contentedly.

Some images illustrate the time the staff spend interacting with the dogs at the centre. These include giving the dogs treats, giving them a back scratch through the kennel door and sitting with nervous dogs to try to get them more comfortable and used to having people around them.




I took some of the images and adapted them in Photoshop.



I felt that this image could be improved by making the background less obvious so that it is less distracting from the task the worker is doing. I also wanted to make the smoke more prominent to again focus more on the task of the burning of the rubbish. In Photoshop I adjusted levels in the image to make it darker, then I used gradient map to make the smoke stand out more. Finally to involve the viewer more in the task being done I added a warming filter to help them to visually feel the warmth of the fire.
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In this image I felt that the top of the gate was a distraction and added nothing to the image so I cropped the image slightly to get the gate out of the frame. I also increased the brightness and the contrast in the image. This was to remove some of the shadowing that surrounds the worker and also it makes her face and the situation more easily seen. This allows the viewer to more easily see the humour in the image.



This image show a worker sitting with a very nervous dog called Zoya trying to make her feel more relaxed and less threatened around people. In Photoshop I simply changed the image to black and white. I felt that this was more appropriate to reflect the sincerity of the moment and the emotions involved. It also conveys to the viewer the important and serious work that is going on. Additionally I felt that the black and white images allow the viewer to focus more on the eye contact between the worker and the dog as there is less colour to distract them.