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Mystery Vase
Mystery Vase
giantmike


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Update Your Avatar (Expert Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-50D
Lens: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Location: Madison, WI
Date: Jan 15, 2012
Aperture: 4
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/20
Galleries: Self Portrait
Date Uploaded: Jan 15, 2012

With just two days for this challenge, I had to come up with an idea quick; I had numerous ideas to do with the recent snow, and some with my son. But those ideas weren't panning out in the allotted time, so instead I went with the magic light coming from an object style shot. I have never done anything like this before, so it was quite the learning experience.

In order of learnings:
* Flash light from the object spills all over, so move further away from the wall
* To light myself (shirt, hands, and vase), I need another, very soft, light source
** It's better to light with from a diastase with the source around eye level instead of close to me and near the floor
* Getting the facial expression perfect is difficult
* Getting focus on my eyes is tough at f/3.5
* Have extra light coming from the back is a nice way to highlight my outline.

To light this, there were 4 light sources
* Flash in the vase
* Flash through an umbrella that was near the camera and a bit to camera left
* Ceiling light gave light to camera right
* Light coming from the open basement door reflected off the wall behind me

In the end, I like the way this turned out, with the exception of the vase. I would very much like it to be in better focus, but I think it still works alright.

Post Processing:
* Crop
* White Balance
* Increase exposure, black point, and brightness
* Topaz Adjust
* Removed orange tint from ceiling lights
* Topaz DeNoise
* Decrease exposure an brightness
* Increase black point
* Increase definition, saturation, and vibrancy of the vase
* Brown color monochrome at 21% - this really brought out details in the skin and muted the reds a bit
* Sepia tone and polarize the vase
* Blur the background to reduce noise
* Export as TIFF
* Resize
* Sharpen Edges
* Save as JPEG

Statistics
Place: 43 out of 90
Avg (all users): 5.7333
Avg (commenters): 0.0000
Avg (participants): 5.6140
Avg (non-participants): 5.7886
Views since voting: 672
Views during voting: 342
Votes: 180
Comments: 1
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
01/23/2012 06:07:58 AM
I quite liked this one. I definetely agree that a softer light would have worked better. I guess fitting a softbox inside was not an option :D
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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