How Did They Do That?! Photo Episode 1

How Did They Do That?! Episode 1

It takes a lot to create a great photo, and sometimes the process seems like a mystery to the casual observer. In each episode of How Did They Do That?!, I interview a photographer about the creative process behind one of his or her recent popular photos. This time, I talk to jonjacobsen about what went into creating The forgotten arrival.

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:1: Can you tell me some of the technical details about this photo?

Well, I took this picture with a Canon 350D. 1/400, F/5.0 at 27mm (I use the 18-55mm lenses) and a 100 ISO speed.

The post editing was done in Photoshop CS: Levels, colors, curves, channel mixer and selective correction.

:2: What are you trying to say with this photo?

The concept of this series was "World as reverse". This picture talks about a very well-known princess who arrived, but no one came to greet her, due unknown reasons. So, she's lying on the grass, inside the box she was, waiting for someone to see her.

The day isn't the best: Cloudy, almost raining (again the concept of the series, greetings used to be sunny and very bright!).

I don't define this shot as "Melancholic", it's just the reverse version of something happy

:3: What kind of preparation went into making this photo?

I planned this photoshoot with chofita for many many days (two weeks I guess). In our conversations we sketched some ideas and objects to go with.

The place of the picture is about 15 minutes (by car) from my house and 30 from chofita's house.

So, I took the bus at 9am with a huge bag and two boxes when chofita called me she said, "Hey I'm near your house!" And I said, "What?!¿?¿?"

Fortunately the bus was going to the same place chofita's car was parked!

I told the driver to stop, paid the ticket and got out

It was funny

:4: Did you have a purpose in mind, or a goal for this shoot?

Yes, the first concept of this photo was "Angles and Perspectives". We had many many ideas for a "sunny day", but it was cloudy and none of the ideas we wanted resulted.

:5: Did you have any problems or challenges with the shoot?

Yup, I had! The big one was the weather. We expected a summer day: sunny, hot and bright, full of color, yet a winter one came

For that reason, we were a bit unmotivated until we went back to the place (Because we forgot some stuff there ) and ideas came to my mind



What impresses me most about this, other than the beautiful photo that jonjacobsen and chofita created, was that they kept working and developing their idea, despite the conditions being less than perfect. By just looking at the photo, you would have never guessed that there were any problems at all.

Thanks jonjacobsen for sharing some insight into your creative process. Until next time, superkev out!