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by DrJOnes

Comment by Dax-:
This shot is wonderful! The idea of the watch as a detail is a very good thought! Perfect highlights and the particular light on the neck make it extremely sensual! Compliments! :)

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Comment by graphicfunk:
Hey Martin: Congratulations on your 5th placing with this ad agency style advertising splash. Great tonal values and exciting lighting.

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Comment by arpita:
Congratulations on the 5th, though I was hoping this would ribbon!
Pretty neat that you did this with yourself and a timer, and still got such an excellent posed-model like look to it. I really like the mood in this shot... more than just the object, it also suggests the kind of person who ought to wear it... great work!

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by DrJOnes

Comment by hdogg4u:
Nice shot. Beautiful model. The backgound really adds to the shot

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Comment by superdave_909:
You did well but I am really surprised you didn't ribbon!

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Comment by kosmikkreeper:
And here I was hoping you'd get your traditional 4th place! Darnit!!! ;-)

Awsome shot my friend!!! :-)

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Comment by hopper:
it's a great shot, martin ... very professional

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Comment by DrJOnes:
Thanks for all the kind comments about this shot.

It's been a while since I submited anything to DPC. I've been extremely busy with my career and had less time to work my way in DPC challenges. The jewelry challenge inspired me to do this shot, and I thought it would be nice to submit something other than what DPCers are used to see me submit. It's kind of my way to say "hey, I can do other stuff too you know! ;-)".
I suspected that the majority of entries would be closeups of jewels, so I wanted to depart from that idea and try to use suggestive advertising. The idea was to create a feeling that the viewer would associate with the product. The downside to this technique is, in this occasion, a much smaller product shot and (especially on DPC at 640 pixels resolution) a high loss of jewel detail.

This is actually an autoportrait. So thanks girls for all the nice comments about the model! ;-)

It was extremely frustrating to shoot on a timer. I hated it because I didn't have control on the composition; I shot large and cropped after. I did about 75 shots, many of them facing the camera, some of them on the side like this. I went for the shot that suggested movement in it.

I'm happy with the lighting. This is pretty much what I had in mind when I visuallized the shot. This was simple to light:
- Main light source 1 meter to the right, half a meter forward. 4 foot soft box with grid on it (so the light does not affect the bgr.)
- second lightsource facing down on the lower left part of the bgr. A 30o grid ensures that the light does not affect too much of the bgr.

Post editing:
- Cropping.
- unsharp mask.
- slight level correction.
- slight color adjustment to give more yellowish tint to skin tone.
- some burning in the right bgr and around the watch.
- minor healing in on the skin in the face.
- doged a littlebit to whiten the eyes.
- added text.

Thank you to everyone who voted on this challenge, and to everyone who took the time to write comments. I appreciate it.

Take care!

Martin

Message edited by author 2005-05-02 02:14:28.

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Comment by peete:
where are the girls?
im just kidding. excellent shot. for some reason when i saw the thumbnail in the challenge your name came to mind. guess i kinda recongnised you from the thumb in your profile or self-portrait.
very good work

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Comment by rlinn3:
Excellent us of model and keeping jewelry low key.