Imagine. Shoot. Create. by Annegien Schilling

Friday 6 April 2018, 16:08 by Michelle Peeters | 10,907 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Annegien Schilling shows you in this book how to create unusual photographs that spark your imagination.

The entire process is covered and described in detail, step by step, from the thought process to the technique behind it. It is hugely inspiring and encourages you to get creative yourself.

Lightning striking her hand, a bubble of chewing gum in the shape of a heart, the sea pulled over herself like a blanket, the swing above the New York skyline: anything is possible in Annegien's surreal photographs.

Annegien Schilling is now 19 and was born in the United States. She moved to the Netherlands when she was three. When she was thirteen, she opened her Instagram account under the name @fetching_tigerss, where she posts her almost surreal digitally edited photographs.

Her account has more than a million followers. In this book, she shows you step by step how to come up with a concept for a photograph, take the photograph and edit it for Instagram.

Secrets revealed

She looks around a lot. Then she suddenly sees a lamp with a beautiful glow and immediately thinks of another photograph. She likes to observe and stores images in her mind.

She has built up an archive full of colours, concepts, objects and ideas. The idea for a photograph is often a combination of these things. She links them together and creates something new

Her photographs fascinate you and make you curious about their meaning, as well as how they were made. In this book, Annegien reveals her photography and editing secrets. You can learn to photograph creatively yourself using the many example photographs and tips.

I was not actually familiar with Annegien and her fetching_tigerss account before I started the book. But I was soon amazed by the magic she brings to her photographs. You keep turning the pages, and the photographs invite you to read and understand the explanations that go with them.

Three steps

The entire creative process is covered in three steps: Imagine, Shoot and Create.

1. Imagine
Look around you and think about what you want to photograph. Annegien explains the thoughts behind her photographs and gives you ideas. Objects, colours and the shapes you see can help inspire you to create a successful photograph.

You can combine separate subjects to tell a shared story.

2. Shoot
Once you have an idea, you can actually start taking photographs. What should you pay attention to? Annegien gives tips on how to create the perfect photograph.

This includes the light, the location, clothing and the focus of your photograph. She also advises you on how to create a self-portrait and how to use photographs from the internet that you can incorporate into your photograph.

3. Create
Once you have taken your photograph, you can edit it into the final result you had in mind. Using step-by-step photographs, text and images, Annegien explains how she edits her photographs into the final image you see on Instagram.

She works with an iPad and uses a few apps on it, Superimpose and Deforme. She has never used Photoshop, but the basic techniques are usually the same.

There are many ways to edit your photograph, and you can adjust many things, such as the colour(s), distortions that you can apply to make imported photographic material fit, depth adjustments and layer styles, so you do not have to cut everything out, something she dislikes because it is so time-consuming.

How to

After these three chapters explaining Imagine, Shoot and Create comes the How to chapter, in which she shows step by step how she made the photographs and which edits she carried out to achieve the desired final result.

It takes enormous creativity to use the sea as a blanket or to swing above the New York skyline. Not that she actually did all these things. This is where her great strength lies. She is a master of manipulation.

Once she has an idea in her head, new ideas are constantly springing to mind, she starts with her own photographs. Sometimes she combines these with photographs she finds on the internet. She edits them so that they match her limitless imagination.

Design

The book is beautifully designed and has a hard cover. The front features a photograph composed by Annegien. The inside of the book also has a clean, attractive layout. It is packed with her photographs, which you can keep looking at.

Recommended

Are you into photography, or would you like to explore it further? This book tells you step by step what you need to do to create photographs like Annegien's.

Imagine. Shoot. Create. is certainly worth reading if you enjoy being creative or appreciate the creativity of others. Annegien clearly explains the steps she took and how she develops concepts.

If you have been involved in photography and photo editing for a little longer, this book will mainly serve as inspiration.

Her book certainly inspired me. I think it is hugely impressive that she already has such a strong feeling for design at such a young age. She has an incredibly strong visual insight and feel for design, and this clearly comes through in her photographs.

Some basic knowledge is needed

I do wonder to what extent people without any knowledge of design will be able to follow and apply it. I think it takes quite a bit of work to master something like this.

Annegien may have a natural feeling for images that not everyone has. So how will this come across to someone with no experience at all?

She explains everything clearly, but of course I have an advantage. I am very familiar with Photoshop and the associated terms, which are also often used by other photo editors, and I can quite easily imagine which actions you need to apply.

Fortunately, the tutorials do include images to support them.

Price and where to buy

The book Image. Shoot. Create. is available from, among others, Bol.com and costs 20 euros.

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