During the night, light is very limited and the moon is mainly the source that creates the shadows of the ruined homes. At the first location where our character dropped in, I saw this house with a second floor but only one wall was left standing. It looked about 87% destroyed likely due to the nuclear war. Despite that, soldiers still manage to use the stairs of the house and use the remaining wall as cover during gunfights. They also use the window to spot and shoot at their targets. But for me, I used the window to take a shot (a photograph) of the only tower with a light in the area. My target subject.

       I searched the name of the tower, “Dr. Vega,” on the internet to learn its backstory. Although I couldn’t find an accurate result about what it used to be, its height, industrial appearance, and the presence of a business name (probably) suggested to me that it might have been a more progressive structure, especially compared to the broken houses scattered around that small area. That’s why I see the tower “Dr. Vega” as a dominant figure in the scene.

    To communicate that idea, I used a “frame within a frame” composition by using the window of the broken, old, abandoned house. This emphasized my subject, gave a clearer idea of the tower’s actual scale, and highlighted the contrast between what survives and what doesn’t. I also tilted the view slightly to enhance the sense of height and create a more dynamic, diagonal composition. Actually I wanted to lower my camera position even more to make the tower appear taller, but a single press down in the game moved the camera too much, ruining the composition by cutting off the upper part of the window which I found to be one of the challenges in capturing this scene.

To avoid cutting off the window while still keeping a strong composition, I stepped back slightly and later did a bit of cropping during post-processing to also apply the rule of thirds. I used Lightroom for editing. Here are the adjustments I made.

• Vibrance – I increased it as the original photo felt a bit pale. I wanted to make the blue tones and the yellow light of the tower more vibrant.

• Shadows – I lowered it to deepen the shadows of the broken roof making them appear more dramatic on the wall.

• Whites – I slightly increased it to brighten the yellow light of the tower, further emphasizing my subject.

• Vignette – I added a vignette to exclude unnecessary visual artifacts and help focus the viewer’s attention on the subject.

          At first, seeing it from afar made me ignore this species as I thought it was just a normal cow. Nothing that sparked a story worth sharing in my mind. But when I got closer, dang, I was surprised by how creepy they looked with their two heads and rough, almost wrinkled skin. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of milk would come out from them.

        That’s when I remembered the Fallout series on Netflix, where people -- mostly scientists -- loved to experiment on animals and even humans for the sake of survival (though some could definitely be considered mad scientists).

       Animal experimentation presents an ethical dilemma. Is it justifiable to do it for the sake of "humans first"? I find this issue quite subjective and the debate is still relevant today. It’s a matter of values, desperation, priorities, and limitations. As for limitations, I personally believe the line should always be drawn when something becomes excessive.

      For this subject, I imagined the golden ratio composition on the screen to highlight and balance the two heads of the cow within the frame. Since the cow’s heads were moving, I waited patiently for the perfect moment when the heads were looking in different directions. This is to show clearly that both heads were attached to just one body. This avoided an overlapping composition which could have made it look like two separate cows.

      One challenge I faced was trying to correctly imagine the golden ratio grid on the screen, especially since my subject was moving and the game didn’t have any built-in camera feature. I used my hand as a guide to frame the composition. Still, if I wanted to adjust my position, one press of the movement key would shift the camera too much often ruining the intended composition.

I didn’t crop the photo for this one, but I did use Lightroom and Photoshop for post-processing. Here’s what I adjusted.

Lightroom:

• Balancing Temperature and Tint – I set both to +32 to create a warm, balanced tone that brought out the dark and pinkish skin of the species. The original photo looked too pale to me.

• Vibrance – As I mentioned, the original image was a bit pale, so I increased the vibrance to make it clearer and brighter.

• Shadows and Blacks – I lowered these to emphasize the details of the species’ wrinkled skin.

• Texture – I raised this to enhance the details of both the subject and the background.
  
  

Photoshop:

• Masking – I added a subtle dark mask on the left side to balance it with the natural darkness of the dried plants on the right, and to emphasize the species in the middle. Using a black vignette would’ve created uneven darkness over the background plants, so I avoided that.

Danger. Aggression. The symbols of red. But don’t get me wrong, red also symbolizes passion and courage.

      My subject here is a city guard. He plays a crucial role in the survival and stability of settlements in a hostile world. He and his kind are the first line of defense against external threats and the enforcers of law and order within their communities. With both the negative and positive meanings tied to the color red, one thing clearly overlaps. The color represents power, and so does my subject.

      This is, for me, the best photo I’ve taken that represents a dominant figure. Just look at how he holds the gun, his masculine stride, and of course, the red light cast on the textured wall coming from the cloth above. The color of the lighting and the curtain-like roof cloth were the main reasons I stayed in that position waiting for someone to walk by. The wait was worth it as this city guard passed by during his night patrol.

P.S. I like how his right leg coincidentally connects with the diagonal line of the white moonlight on the wall. It gives off an Abbey Road (The Beatles) vibe at the same time.

     As a non-gamer, I initially thought this was an enemy. But my brother told me they weren’t. Thinking about it, it’s interesting how perception can shift once you look beyond the surface. The red light, the gun, the serious movement, all those visual cues triggered a sense of threat in my mind but in reality, this man was walking there to ensure safety, not to cause harm.

      It’s interesting how something as simple as color and posture can shape a story in your head. How context can completely rewrite that story. In the world of photography, especially when capturing human subjects, these details matter and we need to be careful not to unintentionally create misinformation.

        My initial plan for this composition was to aim for symmetry with the curtain roof, but I struggled to position myself for a great shot since what really caught my attention here was the red lighting. Then, as I noticed people walking through the scene, I decided to switch to a normal eye-level perspective while still trying to balance the curtain for a symmetric feel in the composition. When the city guard finally walked into the frame, me pressing the screenshot button was just perfect timing. It even created a slight motion blur on his left leg. His right leg, head, and the diagonal lighting on the wall lined up beautifully creating a sense of movement and a subtle diagonal composition.

After being satisfied with the shot, the next exciting part for me was post-processing. I cropped the image to a 4:3 landscape format to remove excess space and make the curtain roof look more symmetrical. I also used Lightroom to enhance the aesthetic quality of the photo.

Here’s what I adjusted:

• Vibrance – I increased it to make the red lighting stand out more strongly enhancing both the atmosphere and the city guard’s appearance, and to connect more clearly to the concept of the photograph. Here's the original photo.

• Shadows and Blacks – I lowered both to emphasize the sense of nighttime as the city guard was on patrol. It also helped highlight the details of the textured wall which I really wanted to showcase. To ensure the quality of the details, I also adjusted the Texture slider.

• Whites – I raised it slightly to emphasize the diagonal moonlight on the wall, which is a small but important visual detail in the shot.

• Vignette – I added a vignette to strongly emphasize the city guard and darken the night sky, drawing the viewer's focus.

Remember what I mentioned in my pre-production about planning to capture the theme of survivors? Well, here’s one of the best shots I’ve taken that fits that theme.

        If I’m not mistaken, the boy is selling those barely working products displayed on the rusty shelf. What I really like about this scene are the elements of texture. I can almost feel the roughness of the wooden placard, the faded paint on it, the rusty roof serving as their wall, and the worn-out shelf. Though the boy’s clothes don’t have a realistic texture yet, I understand that it’s probably challenging for the game developers but I’m looking forward to seeing improvements on that in the future.

       This scene gives me the feeling that the kid’s sideline, selling these products, is kind of hopeless. His little shop is so far from the main plaza. A plaza filled with food stalls where robots run the businesses. It’s as if people and soldiers would rather buy from robots than from this boy who obviously needs the money. It actually relates to real life, right? 

#NoToUnethicalUseOfAI.

      But I wonder if the game developers programmed anyone to actually buy from this kid. Or maybe even the character I’m using can. I just didn’t try it since I was more focused on capturing this photo. When I was capturing this shot, I felt a bit unsatisfied with how the kid was positioned. I wanted him to take one step back so the lamp behind his head would be fully visible. Do you see it? Wouldn’t it be better if the lamp was included in the frame? I also tried to capture this scene at 10 PM so even if the lamp itself couldn’t be seen, its light would create a soft glow around the boy’s head. Something I wanted to play around with in terms of lighting.

     But funny enough, when I came back at 10 PM the boy wasn’t there anymore. Probably because he had gone to sleep. So I settled for capturing the scene at 8 PM even though the lighting wasn’t as dark as I wanted for the effect.

      If you check the original, the uncropped version of this photo, you’ll probably understand why I chose a 1:1 crop. Honestly, there were too many unnecessary artifacts on both sides of the frame. Adding a vignette to hide those distractions only created black spaces that didn’t add anything meaningful to the story. On the other hand, cropping it to a 3:4 ratio didn’t give the composition the balance I wanted for the subjects.

At least with a 1:1 crop, I was able to apply the rule of thirds. Balancing the boy, the placard, and the shelf perfectly in the frame.

As usual, I used both Lightroom and Photoshop to improve the aesthetic quality of this photograph.

Lightroom:

• Temperature – Since there was a yellow light shining on the boy from the front, I adjusted the temperature to be a bit warmer, adding a nice touch of yellow-orange lighting.

• Vibrance – To enhance the overall color and make the photo more clearly.

• Shadows and Blacks – I lowered both to emphasize the details of the rusty and rough surfaces and to give more of a nighttime feel.

• Texture – I raised this setting to further highlight the details of both the subject and the background.
  
  

Photoshop:

• Masking – If you look at the original photo, you’ll notice the blue bottle had an overpowering glowing effect which could easily distract the viewer’s attention from the main subject. So I masked the bottle and lowered its exposure.

       Who would imagine that despite a nuclear war having destroyed 87% of this house, this little nuclear bomb toy is still standing perfectly fine? It sounds impossible but it’s a great creative choice by the game designers to include this element. Not only for deeper storytelling about the past but also for a connection to the present.

        This toy is actually sitting right beside the window featured in my "Dr. Vega's Stand", so I also took some time to find a great angle for this shot. And I’m really happy with the result especially after post-processing. Actually, I had already finished collecting my in-game photos when I suddenly remembered I hadn’t yet played around with this toy. So yes, this became the last picture I took and I’m glad I still had the motivation to open the game again. That just shows how much I enjoyed the activity.

       Once I locked in the composition I wanted, the image really got me thinking about how people often justify violence in the name of peace. Just look at this photo, I see no peace here. I see a broken, abandoned wall and it’s even possible that people were buried underneath it. And if you’ve watched the Fallout series on Netflix, you’ll know that war isn’t really about peace at all. It’s about greed.

     Sure, this is just a video game but it’s clearly inspired by real-world history. The game’s artists were no doubt moved by how war has shaped and continues to shape people’s lives. Art is political. It helps us reflect and understand the times we live in.

    For this photo, I applied the Golden Ratio in the composition to balance the main subject with its background and to create visual harmony. It also leans toward overlapping composition as I intentionally positioned the nuclear bomb toy in front of the screen with the broken house behind it. I’m also really satisfied with how the lines of the broken house almost form a cross -- perhaps you see it too? It’s true that lines are one of the most basic yet most powerful elements to strengthen a photograph.

     I even tried moving to the left side to better balance the horizontal line of the “cross” and center the toy in the frame, but every time I moved left, the wall would block the view. It felt like I was clipping into the wall if you know what I mean. In the end, I realized moving left wasn’t the best idea and honestly, the final position I captured was the best I could get. And it still followed the Golden Ratio composition.

Post-processing played a huge role in this photo, you can see the original photo here. I slightly rotated the image to straighten the horizontal lines since that kind of adjustment wasn’t possible in the game itself. I also used Photoshop to apply color isolation.

Here’s what I did:

• B&W – Besides how well black and white emphasize the lines and textures, it also creates a strong contrast between the background and the nuclear bomb toy. Plus, B&W gives the photo a lifeless, historical feel fitting the story behind the frame since black and white is often associated with classic, timeless photography.

• I achieved this effect by lowering saturation, shadows, and blacks, raising the whites and highlights for the sky, and adding texture to enhance the details.
  
  

• Masking – This is where I applied the color isolation. I used it to make the toy stand out as the dominant figure especially since the toy is red. Beyond just highlighting it, I used the power of color to help tell a deeper story through this photograph.