...End of the Tunnel
by GeneralE

Comment:
Your statement makes me sad :-/ I hope peace is more than just an illusion. But you made a good photo. I like the lighting. -stephan

Reality
by stephan

Comment:
The description how I did it is as usual written in the "photo details".
I especially picked the candle because I thought it will increase the illusion effect. It's not possible to change the direction of how a flame burns. So there is a contradiction between what you see and what you know your experience.
I knew the colour is a bit dull, but I thought it would fit to this photo. I wanted the scene to look as normal as possible. In my opinion a dramatic lighting with bright colours would have distracted from the illusion I wanted to show. It should look like a normal snapshot.
Thanks to mcmurma for a laugh (no offense!) but a flame doesn't throw a shadow ;-) At least not at these lighting conditions. So I wasn't so super-smart to create an illusion in an illusion, like you thought. :-)

Thanks again to everybody for your feedback. See you next week :-)

A Collector's Item
by sojourner

Comment:
This has a great look. I love the lighting and the focus/DOF is awesome. This is one of my favourite photos this week. -stephan

Edison's Gift
by stephan

Comment:
Thank you very much for all your feedback. I still don't believe that I scored that high :-) For the curious ones who wanted to know how I did this, please see the photo details. When you look very closely you can see the luminous bulb behind the bulb in the front. E.g. there is a label imprinted on it which you can see through the other one. The most difficult problem in this shot was to keep the bulbs clean and without any fingerprints ;-)

Regarding the comment of jmsetzler: It was a difficult choice how to crop it, but I liked the horizontal format more because it left more space for the hands (also the imaginary rest of the hands which are hidden in the dark). If it would have been allowed I would have used a square format though.

Konador: You're right the bulb is really a bit off-centered. I didn't notice that before or at least it wasn't that disturbing to me. But now I think I'll mind that when recropping the photo for my photo gallery.

This photo was the result of some kind of development. First I tried to make a photo where a glowing light bulb hovers above my head, visualizing the act of "having an idea". In German there is a wordplay called "Mir geht ein Licht auf" meaning "It dawns to me", but that wouldn't have worked for this mostly american site. Also I wasn't able to get enough light on my face with the bulb behind my head. Then I had the idea to put two bulbs in a row to create the illusion of a disconnected but glowing bulb which hovers in the room. But I couldn't produce enough light on the socket (without a second light source) to show that it's disconnected. Then when playing around with that idea I noticed that when holding my hands very near the bulb my palms reflect enough light to make the socket visible. That was it! The "Edison's gift" message was attached to it afterwards ;-) Well... long story short... This was an interesting experience because almost all of my other photos I did with a specific image in my mind and just executing it.

Anyway. Thanks again. You all helped me a lot developing my skills more and more (just see my first enntries to DPC ;-)) so that photo is also a gift from you :-)

Hi-Key Portrait
by johnmk

Comment:
Wow! I like this photo very much. The high contrast emphasises the details of the face and the cloths very nicely. One of my favourite photos this week. -stephan

Demon Child
by crabappl3

Comment:
Now that I see the photo details I understand how you did the photo. Different from what I thought before but also a neat idea! ;-) Way to go!

Demon Child
by crabappl3

Comment:
This photo definitively has a "Wow!" factor. It's mostly all in her eyes. Great job keeping them so very much in focus. I guess you did this photo by shooting through an x-ray radiograph. Neat idea! This photo is one of my favourites this week. -stephan

Green
by karmat

Comment:
Great colouring! I also like the simple composition. -stephan

Green Fire
by wingy

Comment:
Great photo! I love the green colouring and the focus. The lighting really makes your subject look dramatic. One of my favourites this week. -stephan

Flower
by lochiano

Comment:
I would have liked portrait format more. But that's just personal taste, nothing I can backup with technical arguments. The photo seems a bit grainy which in this case does not work good. It weakens the colour. The lighting however has something dramatic, which I like. -stephan