Photography Project: Photographing through window shades

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I spend a lot of time in airports, after awhile it is hard to see any beauty, especially after you’ve battled with TSA over something stupid and then muscled your way onto the airplane.  During my last airport experience, I was able to find something beautiful by looking, really looking at the mundane.

There is something special about the light coming through a sunshade, and something even more magical when viewing an object on the other side of a sunshade.  It almost hints at something you shouldn’t be looking at…..but can.  I like the additional texture sunshades at, almost like “in-camera texturizing”

A few hints:

  • Shoot straight through the sunshade – not an an angle to it.  In my image of the airplane you will notice the lines are darker on the left, and are distracting.
  • Pay attention to highlights – they can still blow out.
  • Pick subjects with strong geometric patterns or shapes.
  • Less contrast is more.  I tended to increase the blacks and the whites to add a more dreamy quality.
  • Use post-processing techniques to even out the color scheme if necessary – sometimes just the texture is enough.  I used OnOne to process 3 of these images, and Alien Skin Exposure to process the image with the lounge chair.

Next time you’re in an airport, try plastering yourself up against the window and maybe the rest of the chaos will start to melt away.

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