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Challenge: Darkness (Basic Editing III)
Collection: Humorous
Camera: Canon EOS-20D
Location: Home
Date: Jun 10, 2005
Aperture: 22
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/4 sec
Galleries: Humorous, Macro
Date Uploaded: Jun 10, 2005

 This shot took many attempts before I got one that I was satisfied with. Here is the technique I used. I drilled a hole in the bottom of each of the light eggs about 1/2 inch in diameter and cut out an equally large hole in the bottom of each egg cradle in the carton except for the one for the dark egg. I put a heavy duty flood light in an aquarium and put a clear piece of glass over the top. I used a paper towel on top of the glass cover to help diffuse the light. I put the egg carton on top of the glass and wrapped the aquarium with a black velvet material to block out any unnecessary light. The dark egg is a brown egg that I left as is. The flood light created a fluorescent effect within the hollow eggs. I used a 100 watt natural light bulb positioned about 3 feet away and pointed above the egg carton to illuminate the top of the carton. I used a canon 50mm 1:1.8 lens. Since this is not a zoom lens I positioned the camera at the exact distance at which I wanted the picture to appear as I saw it through the lens. No cropping was done. The final picture was adjusted by increasing the contrast and saturation slightly and sharpening the final product. The difficulties I ran into were 1) getting a setup I liked at the right distance to the subject. 2)getting the lighting to where I liked it. 3) Getting the eggs lined up evenly. 4)Eliminating light leaks. 5) Experimenting with different ways of getting a decent looking dark egg. and 6)trying to eliminate as many artifacts like dust in the lens and anything that I was not allowed to adust in Photoshop due to the Basic Rules guidelines. In The end, in spite of a couple of minor flaws, I am very happy with the final result.
This picture is somewhat of a sequel to a previous picture I took called "Ralph Is Caught With His Light On" in the January 25, 2005 "Light" Challenge. I enjoyed the thought process of taking that picture and decided that this challenge offered me the opportunity to take it a step farther. I hope you like it. Thanks for looking.

Statistics
Place: 83 out of 373
Avg (all users): 5.5929
Avg (commenters): 7.5714
Avg (participants): 5.2047
Avg (non-participants): 5.8595
Views since voting: 1087
Views during voting: 487
Votes: 312
Comments: 24
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 06/22/2005 12:18:29 AM
I'm so surprized it didn't place higher. Congrats for going out of the box (in your case, staying in the carton). I loved it. I stand by my 9.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
06/21/2005 03:19:51 PM
Very clever use of light and darkness.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/21/2005 02:55:58 PM
hahaha. nice idea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/21/2005 11:47:05 AM
I especially like the one dark egg.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/19/2005 09:20:33 AM
Really great, clever idea! I actually didn't get this the first time I looked at it!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/19/2005 01:02:10 AM
it never fails that there is always an egg in each challenge.
 06/18/2005 02:19:34 AM
Eggs have never been so creepy. They almost look illuminated from the inside. Putting the brown egg in there was a nice touch. I don't know how you made the crate disappear into black but it looks great.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/17/2005 05:42:03 PM
Cool idea of darkness. love it!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/17/2005 03:03:00 PM
Glowing eggs!! Nicely done :)

Now tell me how you did it :-p
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/17/2005 02:21:31 PM
I like it, nice work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/17/2005 12:55:10 PM
This will likely seem obscure to most viewers but this is an interesting concept. Voters will ask why it includes one and only one darkened egg. Most folks will have difficulty understanding your central theme and you may suffer at the ballot box as a result.

It looks like the black is not solidly black and that you might need to adjust black higher under a selective color adjustment. What is good about it is there is no distracting background elements showing through.

Focus is a little difficult to judge. It appears that it was focused on the front of the carton but that the DOF was not great enough to keep the back row of eggs as in sharp of focus as the ones in the front. A smaller aperature and longer shutter speed would take care of that.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/17/2005 07:11:03 AM
haha..this is soo nice..the title so apropriete too
hope the appreciation is 'extra large' too
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/17/2005 02:05:33 AM
Very creative!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/16/2005 09:49:11 PM
very creative
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/16/2005 06:57:19 PM
This photo cracked me up.
Oh eh, pun, sorry.
I can just envision a little chick pulling the cord for the ceiling lamp and hoping under the blue and white checkered blankets. I gave this photo an extra point for origiality and creative thinking.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/16/2005 06:22:39 PM
really cool effect
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/16/2005 03:35:01 PM
Great luminescent effect. Like the line of this composition. Creates an interesting mood.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/15/2005 09:53:50 PM
Good idea. It isn't my favorite, but you executed it well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/15/2005 12:36:11 PM
Thats cool looking.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/15/2005 12:11:59 PM
Great title!!! Excellent picture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/15/2005 10:59:20 AM
YES! I like this a lot. The lid is distracting and might be a stronger image without it. Great idea, good execution. (good title too!)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/15/2005 07:23:02 AM
Nice. How did you do that?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/15/2005 02:55:42 AM
neato
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/15/2005 12:50:47 AM
Oh cool!!!!! Love the imagination it took to come up with this.One of them being brown is a great detail and ads to the contrast. A+ for originality.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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