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1st Birthday
1st Birthday
Artan


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Illusions II (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Canon Digital IXUS v3
Location: 1st Birthday
Date: Aug 5, 2005
Aperture: f9
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/250s
Galleries: Still Life, Science and Technology
Date Uploaded: Aug 6, 2005

 Candle, light bulb and a birthday cake.

Plan A
I drilled a hole in the bottom of a light bulb and tried inserting the candle inside. Unfortunately when lit I could not get enough oxygen in the bulb to keep the candle a light. So gave up on that approach and reverted to plan B.

Plan B
Placed bulb on old sponge cake, put lit candle behind bulb. Used a card the same colour as the candle as a background for the shot to blend out the candle, and took the shot, and hey presto.

Post Process.
Auto Levels
Slight rotation
Crop
Cloned odd bit on RHS of cake
Selected cake, cap and filiment to create layer 1
Neat image on background layer
USM on layer 1
Sized for DPC
Merged layers
Gentle USM
Stroked a border, and saved for DPC file size.

PS it's not me in the reflection it just looks like a person, I was all in black when taking this shot..

Statistics
Place: 25 out of 127
Avg (all users): 6.2180
Avg (commenters): 7.2667
Avg (participants): 6.2588
Avg (non-participants): 6.2010
Views since voting: 1855
Views during voting: 620
Votes: 289
Comments: 33
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 01/08/2006 11:37:05 PM
nicely done! this is great.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/15/2005 01:14:30 AM
well placed, congratulations my friend. one of the few pics I scored over 6.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
08/14/2005 09:45:14 PM
Wow, I really thought this was kinda cool of an idea that needed some work till I scrolled down and saw the cake. It made the title make sense though... Lose the cake, play around with the lighting and maybe try a polarizing filter to take away some of the reflections on the bulb and this could be a winner!
TC
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/13/2005 09:11:59 PM
Nice idea, no wax dripping on the cake this way : )
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/12/2005 11:40:21 AM
Love it
9
good luck
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/12/2005 02:46:57 AM
Neat idea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/12/2005 02:29:26 AM
Good illusion, but not the most interesting photo of the batch...5
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/11/2005 06:55:46 PM
Interesting. It is something I would have explored with a darker background. The sense of humor jumps right out.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/11/2005 04:09:02 PM
This is a really cool illusion. Very original and well shot. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/11/2005 01:13:53 PM
A great concept. I'd love to hear how you did it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 09:21:11 PM
Nice. I probably would have cloned a bit of the candle showing in the background and used a darker background as well to make everything pop!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 08:57:37 PM
Simple, clever and well executed. Great job.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 03:09:46 PM
nice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 02:54:59 PM
Super idea and your creativity gets a 10.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 10:48:19 AM
very nice, and completely original
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 09:28:53 AM
cute idea...where's the frosting?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 05:28:52 AM
Good illusion shown here and a great idea I think it would have looked better with a darker background.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 05:18:31 AM
That's very good! I think the 1 lux globe would have carried without the cake and birthday theme, but really a great shot! I like the background colour too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/09/2005 02:03:21 AM
Very creative. Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 08:51:25 PM
hah, very cool. for the theme/title of the shot though i'd like to see the bulb screwed further down the cake, and also more cake. a good idea though and well executed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 08:23:06 PM
I like the placement of candle behind the lightbulb..good idea
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 07:36:49 PM
very artistic. one of my top picks. best of luck!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 06:18:29 PM
Nice execution of the illusion. The only thing I don't like about the picture is the blue color cast. It makes the picture kind of dark and cake not very appitizing.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 06:07:38 PM
very cool idea and a clean presentation, nice work!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 03:47:44 PM
Nice effect, good detail, good color.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 12:25:28 PM
Neat. The only thing that I don't like is the background colour. A bit to plain for a creative idea. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 12:17:21 PM
Wow ! This is cool !
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 09:49:24 AM
Very neat idea. Interested to see how you did this...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 03:18:30 AM
wheres the icing on the cake? My lightblub blew while i was looking at this. creepy youre in my wires aren't you!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 01:47:28 AM
hey now this is very clever... awsome work... 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 01:09:20 AM
clever! And well executed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 12:37:02 AM
hmm this is mind boggeling
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2005 12:31:17 AM
Awesome!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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