Danny Darko - Head Joys
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7p8YQHwJhkOOCHQ8WVsZoY?si=gYTehTCUT2SN9bvNdoL0zQ
How I got this experience:
The way that I got to design this Ep cover for Danny Darko - head joys was by me actually knowing him for a while. The real name of the person is Daniel Sturt and he got in contact with me over Facebook asking could I create him a cover for an album a front cover as well as a back one. He told me that this is a big breakthrough for him as this going to be placed onto social media and music apps such as Spotify and the app store, they ep cover would also be printed onto shirts and sold he said so the quality has to be good and the image is very important for him as this would be his first release, that he has done on his own.
He also told me that the album cover would be printed onto the cd so I would have to think about compassion on the image that I would create.
One thing he said and expressed was “But night time shots, kind of edgy”, I’m guessing he used and said these words as he wanted something out there and different to anything that has been created so far. The theme he has given me in sort was to capture things of red/sunset colours and shoot at night to create a feeling of emptiness.
Progress:
So Daniel sent me a message to me on the 15 of march and the release was on the 2nd of April but the image was needed to be sent and given to the rerecord company by the 25th of march so I had a short 10 days of trying to figure out what kind of style he likes and wants and complete the editing and image at the end of the 10 days which for something this important is very short and last second for me as I like to think about things and how it all turns out. But with this short date I needed to communicate with him over Facebook rather than meeting face to face and discussing as I had no time to travel to Torquay to meet him in person.
At the start he said he was looking for a polaroid type style image with a cool filter of the sunset or at night to be taken. This just reminded me of the album cover that Taylor swift used on her 1989 album cover.
So, after some encouragement speaking to him I said and settled to create something different and nothing like that as what I said what I will make is a long-exposed image on something that is different but also has some forum of link to his album.
Idea, communication and time:
The time he gave me as said was around 10 days to figure everything out and get it complete. The easiest part I would say is creating the images. As the editing needed a lot of commutation to what font and style he wanted on the image was very hard to try to figure out over text. But over time I started seeing what he wanted and then we started agreeing upon things that should be done to the image.
The idea that I came up with was to take out the Nikon 610 and shoot on a 50mm lens at night shooting things that are run down or great for compassion, I had no intention of a specific subject but the first stop I took was about 10mins away from where I live with a phone box and I took a couple of shots in the image, at a long exposure with light trails in the image of he phone box. Then I had the idea of trying a longer exposure using bulb mode for 5mins to not capture any light trials or people in the image so that the only thing in the image would be the road, phone box and the wall.
After I took that shot, I decided to wonder around Plymouth a bit further and try to crate and make more of these styled images in more the centre of Plymouth.
The settings I used on the final image was, Bulb (8mins), f-5.6, ISO-100. That’s the front cover sorted.
For the back of the album I used one of my images the I shot on my Pentax and the film that I have red scaled and shot as this fitted the red/sunset theme that he also wanted. Using the image, he chose and liked out of that shoot I placed the music names onto that image.
Contact sheet:
| DSC_9578- Don’t like this image as it looks and seems completely over exposed to what I would like the image to have, and you see too much detail also out of the image, such as the drive the house. | DSC_9579- Don’t really like this image as it feels over exposed to what I would want, but also the hair line light trails on the left side above the red lines just ruin the image I would say. | DSC_9580- I like this image as its silent and has no movement which is good, the issue is that its not in full focus to what I would want in this image to be used. | DSC_9581- Don’t like the image for the white light trails within the image and being in the image in general. | DSC_9582- This image I would say works and looks really good but I would say it would need to be cropped as of the white light trail within the image I don’t like it in there. |
| DSC_9583- Really don’t like this image as it seems and looks like its all over the place because of the light trails. | DSC_9584- This image is good but there’s improvements that I would say to make it better as there’s things I don’t like about it, they are mainly on the right side which are the faint and soft white light trails in the image. | DSC_9585- I like this image even though there’s no movement the image is still and controlled which just makes it that more interesting and you see and feel the loneliness and silence within this image. | DSC_9586- Not a fan of this image as the road is really over exposed and then on top the light trail isn’t smooth nor straight its all over the place and the white light trail is also over bearing within this image. | DSC_9587- I like the image as its dark smooth and discrete which is something that suits what was asked but also makes the image different as you have no lighting around except the phone box which is really sharp also within this image. |
| DSC_9588- This image has the correct exposure and detail I would like to use for the image but I don’t like the 1 hair line light trail above and away from the other light trails within the image. | DSC_9589- Don’t like this image as there is a lot of blur as of camera shake in this image. | DSC_9590- Don’t like this image as I have a car captured in the image which I don’t like. | DSC_9591- This image is ok but I don’t like the style and shape of the light trails as its confusing and not what I would like on the way that it looks. | DSC_9592- Don’t like this image as its really blurry as of the camera shake in this image. |
| DSC_9593- Not too sure about this image as there is a few hair line light trail which you can see, its only on the left side which you could crop out of the image. | DSC_9594- I like the style and look of the image and I will say it works well the way it has turned out. | DSC_9595- I really like the road within this image as you can see the moment and it looks more of a flowing river rather than a road which I still like, the light trail are visible but are subtle to the point the phone box is visible. | DSC_9596- Don’t like this image as the image isn’t complete and only has a part light trail within the image, and it also shows too much of the image to the left to what I would want to show within this image. | DSC_9597- I don’t like this image as it has a white filled streak with the light trails and this just distorts the whole image and how it looks overall. |
| DSC_9598- Don’t like this image as of the hair line light trails in the image and also how over exposed the light trail is within the image. | DSC_9599- This image is good but some of the hair line light trails just makes it look average as an image, to fix this image and make it a strong one I would crop the image to remove the left side of the image and so that the buildings won’t be visible and then rub out the hair line light trail. | DSC_9600 – Don’t like the image as you see too much of the image which I wouldn’t want to show and the left part of the image is too exposed to what would like to have and use. | DSC_9601 – Don’t like this image for one specific reason and the reason is that it is a square format, which I will need to use, but the fact it changed the format without me controlling it is very frustrating. Personally the image is very strong and good and I like the look of it and the style of the image. | DSC_9602- This image is good but a way to improve I would say is I would possibly edit and crop the top par to the image to remove the roofing of the house out of the image so that its not a distraction within the image. |
| DSC_9603- Don’t like the image as there’s a lot of movement and confusing lines going around the whole image because of the light trails I have tried to capture. | DSC_9604- Don’t like the image as mostly of the light trail is cut out of the image and the ratio doesn’t look nor fell correct within the image of how much sky to subject there is. | DSC_9605- Really like this image as the image is dark, and the light trails are smooth and powerful. | DSC_9606- This image is good but to improve it I would crop the right side so that you don’t see the end of the light trail and also on the left side remove the hair line light trail in the image. | DSC_9607- Really like the singular light trail in this image and how the exposure within the image is perfect. |
| DSC_9608- The image is really good and I like the concept of the image, a way to improve the image I would like to have the light trail a lot smoother and a lot more subtle if possible. | DSC_9609- The image looks really good and the shadows and highlights are goo in this image, a way to improve that I would say is remove the hair thin line of the light trail on the left side that you can see. | DSC_9610- Really like how simple and subtle the image is and seems very good and easy to use. | DSC_9610c- Not sure why the camera has pre-loaded and created a square format of this image as week as a normal image along beside it. It’s a good image but I’m not happy the fact it’s just pre-loaded and gone into a square format without my act Knowlagent. | DSC_9611- The image is good but I would say it’s not fully sharp, and it would have been nicer if the light trail was much more seamless. |
| DSC_9612- The image is good and looks really good, but I would say as an improvement I wouldn’t like to have that one light trail that ends 1/3 of the way in the image. | DSC_9613- This image is perfect and really good, I personally like how smooth the light trail is within the image and that it goes threw and threw the whole image rather than you sing the starting points. I also lime that you see the reflection on the phone boxes to of the light trial. | DSC_9614- This image is really good and smooth but I don’t like the hair line light trail on the left side, one way to remove this would be to edit and crop that whole part out of the image. | DSC_9615- I like the red flair and marks within only the centre of the image, the issue I have is there is a white streak going across the pone box and the brick wall that you can see and I don’t like that about the image. | DSC_9616- Don’t like the left side of the image as if the hair line parts of the light trail going off, but the light trail is really smooth and clean, so an option would be to crop that part off the image which would make this a really good and strong image. |
| DSC_9617- As an improvement I would crop the left side off so that image and then I would lower the brightness, the image works well the way it looks if I did edit the image, but as the way it stands I don’t like this image. | DSC_9618- Image would need cropping like the last image. | DSC_9619- Don’t like the dotted light trail throughout this whole image so I would use this image. | DSC_9620- This image would need cropping from the left side, other than that the image looks good. | DSC_9621- Don’t like this image as its way too blurry and out of focus of the image. |
| DSC_9622- The tunnel is just a distraction within the image and it doesn’t work well in this image. | DSC_9623- You can see the car light trails which look good but the tunnel once again is the lighting distraction within the image and it doesn’t work well because of this. | DSC_9624- The concept of the image looks cool, but its not what I’m going for nor looking to use. | DSC_9625- Don’t like this image as of all the distractions within this 1 image. | DSC_9626- This image is good but a way to improve it I would say is too have the light trail and possibly darken the right side of the image. |
| DSC_9627- The light trail in this image is very powerful and completely over bearing to what it could be, there’s a lot of improvement in this image that could be done, especially darkening the image and having a longer exposure. | DSC_9628- The image is too bright to what I would like to achieve for this image and how to get it to turn out. | DSC_9629- Its completely over exposed to what I want the image to look like and it just doesn’t work and look good the way it looks. | DSC_9630- This image is too dark but I would of liked if the now the phone box was that more exposed as I would feel that this would work really good. | DSC_9631- This image is better than the one previous as its more visible but the bus stop being slightly more exposed would make this image that more interesting and better I would say. |
| DSC_9632- This image isn’t fully complete as of the eight trail is only captured on the start of the road in this image and not fully, but I wouldn’t even like this image as the image is still too bright to what I like, I would like to see this image darker. | DSC_9633- The image is ok and good to what I’m trying to achieve but what I wanted to achieve a darker image so it would have been better if this image was darker and the light trail was much more subtle and smooth. | DSC_9634- Don’t like this image as the light trail is completely over exposed and just ruins the aesthetic that I’m trying to go for. | DSC_9635- the image is ok but there’s not a lot of things going on within the image which I would like something to make it more interesting or possibly make the whole image darker and then have he bus stop more lit up to stand out. | DSC_9636- Not happy with this image as it’s a horrible angle and is way to bright in exposure to what I wanted it to turn out as. |
| DSC_9637- this image has good highlights and works very nicely only would say to improve it would be to have the light trail go all the way over the hill. | DSC_9637- this image has good highlights and works very nicely only would say to improve it would be to have the light trail go all the way over the hill. | DSC_9639- Not too happy with this image as at the last second it caught a care up on top of the hill which I didn’t want within this scene that I was trying to create. | DSC_9640- I really like the flair from the right sided lamp and the sharpness and aesthetic of the overall image but I would love to have soothing within the image as I feel like there’s something missing in this image. | DSC_9641- Not too happy about this image as the image before has a better angle and style compared to this image, the reason I don’t like it is the left side showing to much distraction to the whole image itself. |
| DSC_9642- I would say I feel the same still about the image as the one before as I would say the little turning box is just a light distraction. | DSC_9643- Don’t like this image as of the right bottom corner as of the over exposed light, the reason for this was that the vehicle was moving very slow at the start. | DSC_9644- Really dislike this image as of the shake, this was a mistake image and not meant to be taken. | DSC_9645- Really dislike this image as of the shake, this was a mistake image and not meant to be taken. | DSC_9646- The image is good but I just don’t like the aesthetic within the image and I don’t think it would work well for the image that is wanted, to improve it I would say possibly add some lighting, movement or even adding a person into the image to present more life into the image. |
| DSC_9647- The same as the image before. | DSC_9648- Don’t like the bus stop billboard as it over powers the rest of the image and the scene that I’m trying to create. | DSC_9649- I really like this image as the image is very sharp and clean, if I would have to improve the image I would crop it so that the left side has no light from a window as that will remove any distraction within the image. | DSC_9650- Not to fond of this image as much as the single lined light trail is really strange and I would say more of a distraction rather than improving the image. | DSC_9651- Like this the same as image dsc_9649. |
| DSC_9652- I don’t like this image as it has a really faint but noticeable light trail going only the road which I find is a slight distraction. | DSC_9653- Like it the same as image dsc_9649. | DSC_9654- Like it the same as image dsc_9649. | DSC_9655- Not to much of my liking as an image and the reason for that is the light trail in the bus stop which I don’t like. | DSC_9656- I really like this image with the colour ratio of red and blue light trails in the background of the phones boxes also this just makes the images that more interesting. |
| DSC_9657- I’m not too overlay please with this image as of the excess light in the foreground and how strong the light trail itself is in the image. | DSC_9658- The light trail finishes and ends too early to where I would like it to end, so I either time it more accurately or increase the exposure length. | DSC_9659- I don’t like this image as you can see I took the image late and the light trail doesn’t start until 1/3 of the image and then at the end of the light trail its very strong and over powering. | DSC_9660- Took this exposer image way too late as the light trails are only visible at the very end of the image. | DSC_9661- Don’t really like the image as it has 1 singular line in the image as it doesn’t really go across the image, then the bus stops are over exposed as well. |
| DSC_9662-The light trails are very nice and the angle and aesthetic of the image is good but the issue is that the light trail joins done in the foreground and this creates a really over exposed and strong light trail which is too much for this image I would say. | DSC_9663- Don’t like this image as of the right side of the railing having a strong amount of light and effect the rest of the atmosphere of the image, but if this was out of the image it would be a sharp image. | DSC_9664- The image is very sharp and what I am trying to achieve and this is the exact exposure I would want to use, the light trail is exactly the same and perfect to what I want also as its low and in line with the road. | DSC_9665- The light trail being lower would be much better and a lot more subtle. | DSC_9666- Not a horrible image but I would of preferred if the light trail would of gone throughout the whole road and so that it doesn’t go along the top of the bus stop also, so that it only is on the road. |
| DSC_9667 – This image is ok as I personally like the single moving LED lines in the image, but the issue I have is the bus stop as they are all over exposed and look really bright, and the closest one Is looking very burry. | DSC_9668 – Not happy with the image only as there’s no light trails in the image but also the centred bus stop is also still very bright in the image. | DSC_9669 – This image is at a completely horrible angle and you can’t really make out what the image is as of this angle that’s the image is in. | DSC_9670 – This image has turned out very nice and well this exposer on this image is 45 secs and you get very sharp and smooth finishes, but to improve this image I would like to possibly add a feel of movement into the images. | DSC_9671 – This image is the same as before. |
| DSC_9672 – I'm not happy with the out come of the image as its very dark and under exposed to what you saw in the other images, all you can see is the lights and light coming form the windows other than that you can work out the road and buildings around this image. | DSC_9673 – This image is much better than the previous image as you can see much more, what I did was increase the ISO and exposed the image for a further 5 secs than the image before, the improvement could be to have and add movement into the image. | DSC_9674 – This image is the same as before but this time you have a thing and small line of the following trail of a car, but I don’t like how low it is and how it looks like its part of the road rather than a moving part of the image, so I would like to improve this, but other than that the image has turned out looked very good. | DSC_9675 - Would of preferred If the light trail was much more noticeable rather than a subtle blue and possibly much sharper rather than the soft look as you see. | DSC_9676 – This is the style of lighting and colour range I would like in the image but I would prefer if it was much stronger in colour and much more noticeable rather than the way it looks. |
More Visible Option of the Images:
FOLLOW THE LINK TO LOOK AT THE SHOOT
https://spark.adobe.com/page/KgDVYFWD0mml8/
Editing:
The editing of the images was possibly the most difficult as I had to communicate with him what he wanted me to do to the image 1st of all, And also I wanted the image to look very clear for the front and back cover so I spent a lot of time clearing out any imperfections from the image such as dust and marks on both images.
After creating a lot of mock ups of what the images should look like I created the 1st sets to see how they would turn out and what he wanted me to add or change in the image.
Front cover:
https://spark.adobe.com/page/tyurEMLwcJOdC/
Back cover:
https://spark.adobe.com/page/a3z5tcUBDLwig/
What Daniel Sturt had to say:
"I really like what jan has done for the ep cover. He offered me lots of different pictures that I could choose from. They were all professional and original. It was easy to work with jan as he was able to understand what I was looking for in terms of artwork. This is good because I was not too sure on the artwork I wanted, but with jan’s creativity, I now have a cover that I’m very happy with. I would definitely work with jan again because I like his photography style. I would recommend Jan as a photographer as he is professional and very easy to work with."
