Since journaling is a big part of how I do many things these days (plan, reflect and remember), I figured photographing my "Journal Book" would be a decent idea.

I made the first Image as a FlatLay with the book and some surrounding objects. The white background felt like a nice contrast to the (mainly) dark/black "hero" and "support cast" (though the rainbow writing is the center of attention).

The "support cast" is meant to indicate things I'd often journal about, such as gaming (the Controller), life/love (the Ring), work (the Keyboard) and the pens are, well... writing utensils.
I arranged them so that if you read them the right way (keyboard and controller), you end up looking towards the center, or that, if you follow the lines they create (ring and pens), you go towards the center.

For the other two Images, I set up how my journaling setup may genuinly look before I begin to write (a little exaggerated of course). Pens (including the additional brighter pen as the "Robin" to the Journal's "Batman").

I used the layer on my window to place the ring, and to also "elevate" it (no pun intended) from the rest of the support cast (Water Bottle, additional Pens, a book off to the side).

The only thing I was kind of worried about in these two shots (both flat angle and high angle), was that the additional pen would take the center of attention from the Journal itself.
It feels in the flat angle shot the white pen is more "attention grabbing" because of the color contrast with the shadows and the objects behind it, though it doesn't feel like it takes 100% center stage from the Rainbow Writing on the Journal.

Some final things to add here:

- I was very limited in my resources, hence why the picture may seem a bit spacious/empty, though with the theme of "Journaling", I don't mind this as much as I would probably had I chosen a different theme.

- as my window is a bit above the Shot, the shadows were a bit tricky to deal with. I didn't have a reflector, so I decided to leave them, adding a more "natural" look to the shoot.
Would I have removed them if I could? Probably at least reduced them a fair bit.

- all in all, happy with how my first attempts at this turned out

Kirian Reichhalter

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