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Rainforest
1st PlaceRainforest
yakatme


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Shapes III (Basic Editing)
Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
Location: Home in Miami, Florida
Date: May 21, 2007
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/15
Galleries: Nature, Animals
Date Uploaded: May 21, 2007

 I got total cooperation from my subject as I took lots of shots over three days. The hard part was using the x-acto knife to cut him out after I printed the silhouette in different sizes (sorry he's a fake).

This was one of those rare times that I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do. Almost all of my outtakes are of the same composition, orientation, and crop. Another hard part was finding the right leaf. I wanted one with a lot of veins, preferably of a contrasting color like red and one in which I could capture a lot of detail.

I took a lot of shots at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden where a lot of passerbys were interested to see this frog that I was photographing. So, over and over again, I pulled the leaf down and surprised them with this paper cutout. I told them that I had to cheat because I couldn't get my subject to stay still long enough. For the fun of it, I left one of my 'subjects' on a high leaf along the path for others to discover.

For THIS particular shot I took a leaf home with me and taped it to my sliding glass door during the day to take advantage of the backlighting. Initially, I was getting a lot of reflection on my side of the leaf, so I had to block all of the light entering from outside. This was one of the many, many problems that I encountered over the past three days. This was the first time that I have attempted something like this and it was definitely a learning experience.

Post processing - - -

*Opened RAW in Nikon Capture and saved to Jpeg
*Opened in Photoshop CS2
*Reduced highlights with highlight tool
*Levels
*Cropped with slight rotation for vertical alignment
*Hue adjustment
*Saturation increase in red and master
*Levels in RGB and master
*Brought out detail in lower part of the stem with Shadow tool
*Brightness and Contrast
*Unsharp
*Added border(s)

I revisited this image for day two of post processing - - -

*Using selective color layers, made the green greener and the red redder.
*Brightness/contrast on both layers
*Flattened and Brightness/contrast again
*Done (again!)

I think that's it. I hope that it does well. Others have been predicting their score so I'll toss my prediction out there - - - 6.2. We'll see.


Statistics
Place: 1 out of 343
Avg (all users): 7.2404
Avg (commenters): 8.4545
Avg (participants): 7.2234
Avg (non-participants): 7.2544
Views since voting: 10310
Views during voting: 339
Votes: 208
Comments: 45
Favorites: 33 (view)

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AuthorThread
 01/08/2010 12:43:10 PM
Now it's even imitated! Well done on this one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/16/2007 10:04:13 PM
Even this image is fantastic for your business card
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2007 03:42:32 PM
i totally love this shot. our teacher always talks about that with leaves you have to have a lizard or something. this is just AWESOME!!!
Good job on getting the ribbon (:
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/05/2007 03:59:27 PM
Hello Robert,
Two things here that really need addressing and I am sorry to be so harsh here but.
(1) The faking of any wildlife or nature is totally unacceptable !!!!
(2) Disturbing or removing any living element from it's natural setting is also unacceptable !!!!.

Enough said.
 06/01/2007 01:49:41 PM
Robert, that's an awesome shot, and I really like the detailed comments you left with one. Nice job, and congrats on the blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/01/2007 12:50:30 PM
Congrats on an awesome shot and a ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/31/2007 09:52:38 PM
Great shot Robert. Congratulations on the blue!!!
Nick
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/31/2007 01:35:31 PM
This is such a great shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/31/2007 08:59:39 AM
Congrats on that first blue, Robert! Its a fantastic image for the topic. :D
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 09:18:00 PM
Very Nice! Congrats! The D80 gets another blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 09:05:40 PM
way to go Robert
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 04:01:39 PM
Congrats on your Blue Ribbon and for the Idea and carrying it out to win
So Clever
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 03:53:41 PM
Very Cool Image! Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 01:57:23 PM
Awesome shot!! The backlighting really worked well, and the colors are just so vibrant! Definitely deserves the blue! Congrats!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 10:50:18 AM
As one of your '10' voters, I must say CONGRATS! I know how to pick 'em (just can't shoot 'em!)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 10:44:03 AM
Wonderful silhouette! Congratulations.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 10:17:50 AM
Congratulations on your blue ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 10:01:02 AM
Wow! You all your hard work was certainly worth it! This is AWESOME! Congratulations on a BLUE ribbon! And your 2nd highest score! Way to GO!

  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 09:16:08 AM
Very cool photo...congratulations on winning the blue ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 05:19:09 AM
Congratulations Robert, you certainly deserve the blue for this one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 04:40:53 AM
Fantastic image, the detail in the leaf is stunning. Big congrats on the Blue.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 02:17:19 AM
You cunning fellow. It was certainly a clever plan that you followed through. Congratulations.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 01:42:18 AM
Congratulations on your Blue with this outstanding gem!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 01:06:16 AM
Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 12:54:23 AM
Congrats on your first blue and second-highest score ever! This is a terrific shot; I need to try shooting backlit leaves.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 12:53:17 AM
Ya, this one is real easy on the eyes...congrats on the blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 12:51:32 AM
Double "Attaboy" for you Robert! : )
Work's done let's go fishing.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 12:51:16 AM
Kind of makes me wonder what was on the minds of the two people voting 2 and 3. Congrats on the blue.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 12:12:01 AM
most excellent, robert!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 12:08:18 AM
Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 12:07:52 AM
Congratulations on the Blue...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/30/2007 12:03:04 AM
Wonderful image here and so so worth the "BLUE".....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
05/29/2007 12:10:35 PM
Wonderful photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/29/2007 09:20:14 AM
Nice frans lanting-ish style photo (Gecko)! I like it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/28/2007 09:54:59 PM
Awesome !
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/28/2007 05:57:53 AM
Fabulous! I love it 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/27/2007 05:09:56 PM
Awesome pic! You captured it perfectly!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/27/2007 10:49:17 AM
Brilliant! The sort of photo I've been waiting to come along. My first, and probably only 9.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/27/2007 03:08:08 AM
very nice image, well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/26/2007 06:46:01 PM
Nice shape - well done
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/25/2007 10:19:41 PM
awesome
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/24/2007 01:41:01 PM
great image ... this should be a ribbon contender ...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/24/2007 11:20:45 AM
i like this idea and how there is nothing else in the photo but the leaf and frog!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/24/2007 03:57:46 AM
Ah a gecko silhouette. Nice work. I gave it high marks
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/23/2007 03:12:43 PM
Great photo! The composition is wonderful. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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