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  • How'd They Do That? :: I'm in LOVE!

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    I'm in LOVE!
    by DrAchoo


    We often talk about the processing of an entry or even how it was set up, but we don't often talk about how a picture evolves over a series of sessions. Here is a timeline of the shot "I'm in LOVE!" for the Extreme Emotion: Faceless challenge.

    Preplanning/concept:

    My beginning idea was expressed in a post to DPL teammates. Most of the details of the final shot are there, but notice that some were discarded as either poor ideas or undoable.

    "I got an idea for Extreme Emotion as well:

    Self-portrait from behind walking down a quaint lane. I'd love to find some vintage clothing (Charlie Chaplainish). I'd have a bouquet of Gerbera Daisies in my left hand and am leaning on a cane in my right hand while jumping up and clicking my heels. The shot would be B&W and titled something like "I'm in LOVE!"

    I figured the happy emotions will do better than the negative ones."

    As far as the challenge results, the idea of going with positive emotions was important as the Top 5 finishers all went the positive route.

    First attempt:

    558601.jpg

    In scouting a location I started with areas close to home (or close to my parent's house in this instance). Realizing I couldn't do any cloning in basic editing, I was limited by various cars and houses getting in the way. They could not be included since I wanted to evoke nostalgia and that would be utterly ruined by a car parked at the end of the road. There were shots with a "cane" too (really a walking stick), but they were quickly discarded as cheesy.

    The B&W worked somewhat for nostalgia, but it didn't work with the busy background and the bouquet of flowers.

    558599.jpg

    After working it up, I realized color was much better. Although B&W could invoke nostalgia, the color was much better at evoking happy feelings. It also helped separate the subject and flowers from the busy background. However, this shot would not ultimately work as the background was far to complicated and busy to be appealing.

    Second attempt:

    I then switched to shooting down the driveway:

    558614.jpg

    I could have used this shot except the tree branch decided to come and interfere visually with the flowers. At this point I also tried cropping different to try to add height to the jump. I didn't actually like this as it made the jump look less realistic. I was trying to go with a "candid" feel and getting some super-human appearing jump would not fit.

    558644.jpg

    The background was still interfering and so it was out to try again.

    Third attempt:

    One limiting factor, this particular weekend was the weather. It rained on and off all weekend and the sky was solid overcast which easily looks like a big blown highlight. This is an unprocessed shot just showing another example of what was tried. Here we see a path where the subject could have been walking down and an old shed as an added subject.

    564627.jpg

    Final attempt:

    Finally, my dad and I hit on this shot:

    559050.jpg

    You will notice that the arm evolved to be further and further away from my head. The diagonal it caused was pleasing and seemed to add extra pizzazz to the emotion.

    While talking the picture over, a few negatives were brought up by people giving me feedback. I mention this because the astute DPC crowd had at least one person bring up each objection:

    1) I was wearing my wedding ring. Would people think married people could be in love?
    2) It looks like I'm walking into a dead end. I wished there was a path there, but there wasn't and we were limited by modern day artifacts in where we could shoot.
    3) The background is still busy.
    4) Why do I still have the flowers?

    Anyway, altogether the picture took over 130 shots. The next day my leg was so sore from kicking in the air, I had to move it around with my arms when sitting. The takehome message is that a shot is rarely as good as it can be the first time you shoot it. Obtaining feedback or just looking yourself at the results and where they can be improved can drastically improve a picture. I highly doubt that first shot would have come in the Top 25, let alone win.


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