Probably cliched as hell, but hopefully displays the frustration that can sometimes occur when there is a lack of communication between your head and your hands. Sometimes they just can't create what your head is imagining, so give them a break once in a while.
I'd had this idea written down for awhile and didn't have anything better to do tonight so gave it a try. It actually came together alot easier than I thought it would. The shot is inspired by La Bella Sandra's photostream (which is fantastic by the way) and this photo in particular.
I struggled with the D90's autofocus for what seemed like an age, I get all set up in position and *whirrrr* *whirrrr* backwards and forwards looking for something to lock onto, not really sure what I was doing wrong. Do older lenses take longer to focus than these new fancy ones? Anyway after alot of huffing and puffing it eventually found my hand.
Then took a close up shot of my face with the same lighting. Cut out my mouth in photoshop and placed it over my hand then used the absolutely gobsmackingly fantastic patch tool in photoshop to go round my mouth and blend in the different skin textures. Probably not my best post-production work in the world if you zoomed into 100%.
Not sure if I could've cropped it differently, I quite like it off to one side. If anyone's got any suggestions let me know. I'm always open. :) Slightly annoyed that my finger is cut off at the top too! Grrr!
Lighting was a SB-600 at TTL metering directly below my hand, hence the slight over exposure towards the base of my hand.
Disqualification Details
You may not use ANY editing tool to move, remove or duplicate any element of your photograph that would change a typical viewer's description of the photograph (aside from color), even if the tool is otherwise legal, and regardless of whether you intended the change when the photograph was taken.
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So much for the DQ.
The D90 like any AF cameras often battle when there is little or no contrast during focus.
It has no way of knowing what YOU want in focus unless you tell it.
I'm guessing your flash fired at time of shot, so there was little for it to focus on in a darkish studio, prior to the flash going off.
In the D90 manual:
P54, P59: You could have manual pre-focused the D90 on Manual Focus Mode and taken the shot.
P56: Alternatively, set it to area Mode / Single Point, switch off the "Focus Selector Lock" and choose a focus point that corresponds to your hand in the frame with the multi selector. This can be visualised through the view finder, via the "Control Panel" LCD, via the Monitor or via Live View. Switch back the focus selector lock to "L" and if on Auto Focus the D90 will use that focus point only to try focus on your hand when you take the shot (using remote or timed shot)
Try it, I battled from the getgo with these new fangled DSLR's after 30+ years of MF on 35mm SLR's but now it's a breeze and oh so useful when doing remote shots like yours.
PS: You can set up your shot and someone else is allowed to fire the trigger for you in even Basic Rules at DPC, to see that the cam has focused where you want it to.
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