These images use the natural elements (water, earth, air and fire) to advertise a range of products. Subliminal messaging within the images uses creative thinking to raise enigma around what clients are being advertised. 

My work could be published on billboards in urban areas. These are near shops, that sell the products I am advertising and could influence a purchase. Billboards would also make the images large and clear and would be viewed by hundreds of people each day.

Magazine companies such as Nuts or OK may also be interested in my images. Adverts are common in texts and these often provide funding for the magazine. This would promote my work to the people who purchase magazines, which are often teenagers.

The general public is the intended audience for my photographs. Consumers of commercial everyday products, such as families and teenagers will view my images and receive awareness around the products they are advertising. Hopefully they will be persuaded to purchase the products.

My images do not have a strict target audience. Products such as LYNX shower gel and branded clothes like Firetrap Jeans are associated with people of younger ages whereas products such as Heinz Soup and some aftershaves, can have connotations of an older audience.

I would like to think that this means I am not restricted to one style or audience of photography

For my water image I looked into photographing LYNX shower gel. This is because it is used in the shower where there is a dominant presence of the natural element “water”.

In this draft shoot I decided to experiment with slower than normal shutter speeds that, in order to capture trails of water falling down the bottle. This is visible on the right curve of the bottle where a trail follows the contours. On the lid of the bottle trails can also be visible. When water from the shower head hits the top of the bottle it splashes off and the slow shutter speed has captured this as trails travelling in multiple directions.

The drops of water on the bottle are sharp and I like how they are suspended on the surface. I could try to reverse the shutter speed technique in my final photograph in order to capture individual drops of water, falling from the shower head, onto the shower gel bottle. This could potentially look really effective and having clear water droplets would directly associate the image with the natural element.

The lighting in this image also needs improving. The tiled background appears cream, due to the yellow lighting. This could be improved by using a flash to light the bottle and background. This would give a crisp white backdrop.

This is an image from my Firetrap draft shoot. I feel this is one of the stronger images out of the selection as the flames have merged to form a shape similar to the letter “F”. This strengthens the image as it gives a direct link between the company and the image. This means that the subliminal message is easier to identify.

I think the flames look striking in this image, and the fairly fast shutter speed has captured their shape, without too much blur. I feel this looks effective and would like to photograph direct flames in my final image.

Another way in which this image could be improved, is to position the mousetrap on a jean texture. This is another way to relate the image to the Firetrap company it is advertising. I could also increase the lighting on the right side of the mousetrap as this image is only lit using the flames.

For my first draft shoot, I tried to replicate the Baxter’s Soup image. I attempted taking this image on location but the lighting was poor and I feel the spoon’s handle was too long. This meant the photograph was a poor standard but I felt with improvements it could be visually strong enough for submission.

This advert for Baxter’s Soup is also related to the “Earth” theme. It is similar to the ketchup advert due to it being simple with easily accessable props. This could easily be done in a photography studio.

I have tried to take photographs similar to this during my first draft shoot.

This advert for tomato ketchup is extremely simple. It is easily achieveable in the photography studio and requires props which i have access to. This displays how a standard image can look effective and promote a product or company well.

There is a sense of the “Earth” element with the natural tomato fruit so this would support my assessment brief.

This image is not a direct advert of a product but captured my attention due to its strong sense of the element “fire”.

I think the fire looks bold in this image. I like how the curves in the flames are visible. This suggests to me that i would rather photograph direct flames than an image related to heat for my “fire” element image.

Earlier in my research i came across this image. I particularly liked how it uses close-up photographs to advertise the clothes. The top right image particularly stood out to me as i have branded clothes which have their emblems on the chest. This gave me the idea to take a close-up image of a clothing item, so the brand was clear. I struggled however to find a way on incorporating a natural element into this image.

The image of the toaster made me think i could photograph an image of the clothing brand “Firetrap”. For this I could take an image of a mousetrap or hunting trap on fire and use it to promote the brand firetrap. This would be a non-literal photograph and would have shown some creativity in advertising the product.

This idea is similar to this advertising photo for “Silk Cut” cigarettes. This also uses a play on words to create a subliminal image.

One element which has been hard to research has been “air”. This image simply contains a feather but this still associates it with birds and the natural eleemnt “air”. This raises the idea of how much of the element has to be visible and if the theme or the product will be predominant in my photographs.

This advert, also for “Earth” uses natural objects like wood to project its style. This wood matches the brown colours of the ties and links to the product nicely. I like how the wire is wrapped around the product, binding the product to the element. This advertises the products in a more creative way, than just displaying them rolled out.

This image also has a strong sense of the element “Earth”. I particularly like how the product is layed out in a structured way. This displays it in a way similar to a shop. The leaves in top of the image match the green colour of the canvas to stylise the jewelry so it can be placed in a publication.

The light is also reflecting off the metal surface making the jewelry look more striking.

This photograph is a simple advert for a razor. It incorporates the element of “Earth” by positioning the razor on a rock. The stone texture is also wet which links in to the wet conditions of a bathroom, a common storage place for razors.

This is an effective image and the light reflecting of the water on the stone compliments the product nicely. I also like how their are a few water droplets on the handle of the razor, giving the sense it has just been used.

I would like to try and imitate this image. It is a simple photograph but is easily achievable and looks effective. The image could be used to advertise Róse wine produced from various companies and would relate to the theme of “Earth” as flowers are natural organisms.

The image also uses glass, which i would ideally like to photograph within my project.