The mood of a colour photo is highly related to how light reflects from the objects. In this series of photos, the room is filled with old machines built of solid iron. They are painted black and are partly rusty red. The daylight from the old windows reflects from white tiled walls and is mixed with light bulbs in the ceiling all this blends into light sources that are both challenging for a photographer and add a special atmosphere. Light is everything and I try shooting with natural light always.

The mood

This set of photos was developed in Lightroom in both black and white and a colour version. I ended up favouring the mood of the downtoned colours appearing natural. The colours are almost as they are shot, adding a little contrast in shadow and black in Lightroom Classic. The mood is set by the environment.

The colours are mostly monochrome in two overall colours orange/red and blue. Monochrome demands only one colour range but with only two colours represented in the pictures it has some of the same feeling. In many areas, colour tones change between warm tones and blue casts, with a red piece here and there adding a warm atmosphere.  The subtle blue casts bring forward the dominating warm tones even more caused by the contrasting colours.

Working with a very narrow palette of colours is almost like shooting black-and-white photos where composition and form are crucial to achieve a good result.

You can’t set this up but only search for it, appreciate it when it’s present and make the most of it.

The  Sony A7rII was attached to a Leica Summilux 50mm f 1.4 and this combo renders colours beautifully.

The location is in an old factory where the now 100-year Diesel engine is run by passionate former workmen.