The Postcard

After having taken a trip down to Union Street during the night I decided to use 1 of the images i had captured with a van driving past, causing the lights from the vehicle to be distorted and give an effect i was looking for. Another reason I chose this particular photo is because to the left the Dance Academy is clearly visible and I wanted to make it appear as though this wasted place was reaching out to passes by for help. Due to the great potential I have already researched in I definitely wanted to involve this area in my postcard.
Like I have previously discussed I wasn't happy with the lack of stretched car lights I managed to capture due to the excess street lighting. To achieve the look I wanted I simply opened the photo into Photoshop and drew lines in suitable colours that matched the colours that would have been produced by traffic passing had there been less street lighting.
To modify the picture more, I used different shades of reds and whites to give the effect of time that the traffic had passed. The light bright reds and whites shows vehicles that have recently passed and the light left behind is still fresh. The dark and dull reds and whites show the light that is fading due to it getting old and soon becoming nothing.
I make the Dance Academy stand out, and look as though it was reaching out to passers by, almost for help or to be saved of being a mess. I wasn't sure how to achieve this, but decided to use the idea of light coming off of the building. And the rays of the light pointing to the traffic and the pavement along side it. This would act like arms trying to connect with the drivers of vehicles passing, as well as pedestrians walking past. I also made the rays coming off of the Dance Academy fairly strong, this was to exaggerate the fact that the building is reaching out and desperate for help.

The Postcard: