Too subtle an effect on Balloons?

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

04/28/2010 07:43:03 PM · #1

I had hoped that this shot would do a lot better than it did. It is pretty well a shot that relies on a moment of "how did he do that?" to score well and I wondered if people just didn't think about it? Did people not give it much thought to see he's 12 feet in the air or was it not obvious in the composition or was it obvious how it was done?

Just curious. It was a fun shot to work out, but it's disappointing when it doesn't resonate like you had hoped.

Kelli

Canon EOS-D60

04/28/2010 07:50:41 PM · #2

So...how'd ya do it?

bcenu

Canon EOS-40D

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Canon

04/28/2010 07:50:53 PM · #3

Not obvious to me so I'll be the one to ask....."how did he do that?"

Well done all the same. Scored you a 6.

Canon EF 500mm f/4.0L IS USM

04/28/2010 07:51:47 PM · #4

Originally posted by bcenu:

Not obvious to me so I'll be the one to ask....."how did he do that?"

Well done all the same. Scored you a 6.

What the heck? ;) You are supposed to say, "there is no freaking way that kid is that high up there!!! 9!!!"

Magnumphotography

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

04/28/2010 07:53:35 PM · #5

I think you may be rite about the composition. Actually, it might have just needed something/someone nearby. Just to show the height in relation to the balloonist. Maybe a little girl looking up at him. Screaming "bring back my balloons!" lol
Fun though for sure!

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

04/28/2010 07:54:45 PM · #6

Originally posted by Magnumphotography:

That is actually an awesome idea! Too bad I didn't think of it at the time. Laine was right there too.

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

04/28/2010 07:58:45 PM · #7

I assumed you cloned out something he was standing on.. Or you used a cutout (probably more likely to be a cutout looking at the image...)

But sure, do tell, how did you do it?

(FWIW: I did ask that question, and you got a 6 from me... As there seems to be something a bit odd about Chet's perspective)

bcenu

Canon EOS-40D

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) for Canon

04/28/2010 08:02:13 PM · #8

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Originally posted by bcenu:
Not obvious to me so I'll be the one to ask....."how did he do that?"

Well done all the same. Scored you a 6.

What the heck? ;) You are supposed to say, "there is no freaking way that kid is that high up there!!! 9!!!"

Didn't I just say that?.....geez, my typing skills are bad :-)

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G

04/28/2010 08:14:00 PM · #9

I'll give people a bit more to think about it, although all the suggestions are wrong. That's really Caden up there, and I doubt I could clone something like a ladder and get away with it.

vikas

Apple iPhone 13

04/28/2010 08:16:20 PM · #10

Now only if you had made him jump 2 feet instead of 12, it might have scored 6.5 :)

just kidding.. I though it was a great shot, my guess he is hanging from something, but would love to know how you did it!

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

04/28/2010 08:30:35 PM · #11

Originally posted by vikas:

Now only if you had made him jump 2 feet instead of 12, it might have scored 6.5 :)

just kidding.. I though it was a great shot, my guess he is hanging from something, but would love to know how you did it!

I saw that shot as I was going through the thumbs and knew it was trouble. :) It's very well done and exactly what I was going for. Congrats on the good score!

PGerst

Canon EOS-20D

04/28/2010 08:33:58 PM · #12

I know!!

You used a trebuchet!

mzrowan

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

04/28/2010 09:13:41 PM · #13

Here are my thoughts, for what it's worth.

Number one: unfortunately, a lot of other people had the same idea you did, which was some kind of faked "flying" shot. By the time voters had gotten to yours, they may have seen five or ten or twenty others, so the concept itself had lost its impact. And it is hard to tell from the angle how high up he is.

The shot has a lot of extra space in it that doesn't add anything; rather the opposite, in fact, in that it makes the subject smaller and less attention-grabbing. I would have cropped it so that the boy was roughly a third of the way in from the left, with his feet about a third of the way up from the bottom.

Lastly, the lighting was against you, literally -- the boy is back-lit by a much brighter sky. I would have used a feathered selection to bring the sky down and the boy up. Maybe you tried this and couldn't adjust it as much as you wanted?

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

04/28/2010 11:57:25 PM · #14

Originally posted by vikas:

just kidding.. I though it was a great shot, my guess he is hanging from something, but would love to know how you did it!

You are the winner. Hanging from a climbing rope with a harness under his pants. You can see the rope go through the balloons.

Thanks for the input mzrowan. You are probably right on a number of things there.

mpeters

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

04/29/2010 01:43:32 AM · #15

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Originally posted by vikas:
just kidding.. I though it was a great shot, my guess he is hanging from something, but would love to know how you did it!

You are the winner. Hanging from a climbing rope with a harness under his pants. You can see the rope go through the balloons.

Thanks for the input mzrowan. You are probably right on a number of things there.

And,.... you rented a high lift to anchor the rope?

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

04/29/2010 01:49:31 AM · #16

Originally posted by mpeters:

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Originally posted by vikas:
just kidding.. I though it was a great shot, my guess he is hanging from something, but would love to know how you did it!

You are the winner. Hanging from a climbing rope with a harness under his pants. You can see the rope go through the balloons.

Thanks for the input mzrowan. You are probably right on a number of things there.

And,.... you rented a high lift to anchor the rope?

That's exactly why I didn't suggest hanging... WTF did you hang him from? Maybe a cut-off branch? Either that or a front-end loader :) That would explain the positioning of the shot into the sun to hide shadow :)

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

04/29/2010 02:29:24 AM · #17

Big tree branch about 30 feet up. Used a tennis ball with fishing line to get the rope over. The tips of the branch were in the shot, but those were cloned out.

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

04/29/2010 03:50:36 AM · #18

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Big tree branch about 30 feet up. Used a tennis ball with fishing line to get the rope over. The tips of the branch were in the shot, but those were cloned out.

You and Shannon must keep child protective services busy.

mzrowan

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

04/29/2010 11:19:40 AM · #19

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

The tips of the branch were in the shot, but those were cloned out.

Er...technically, that should have gotten your shot DQ'ed. To quote the rules: "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". Removing the branch and the rope from above the boy falls under that, I think. That would be another explanation for why people didn't catch that the boy was so high up -- they were assuming that he must have been jumping, because cloning out a rope was illegal.

Kelli

Canon EOS-D60

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

04/29/2010 11:31:36 AM · #20

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Big tree branch about 30 feet up. Used a tennis ball with fishing line to get the rope over. The tips of the branch were in the shot, but those were cloned out.

My daughter wouldn't let me hang up her baby. :D So I had to settle for laying her on glass and shooting through it from underneath. It didn't work out so well for me score wise, though I do still think the picture is adorable.

citymars

Nikon D700

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

04/29/2010 12:03:36 PM · #21

Originally posted by mzrowan:

Er...technically, that should have gotten your shot DQ'ed.

Yeah, I wondered about that, too.

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

04/29/2010 12:13:00 PM · #22

Originally posted by mzrowan:

Originally posted by DrAchoo:
The tips of the branch were in the shot, but those were cloned out.

Er...technically, that should have gotten your shot DQ'ed. To quote the rules: "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". Removing the branch and the rope from above the boy falls under that, I think. That would be another explanation for why people didn't catch that the boy was so high up -- they were assuming that he must have been jumping, because cloning out a rope was illegal.

Don't think there was a huge branch up there. Think bits sticking into the composition. Also don't think of the branch travelling from left to right across the canvas, but rather moving "into" the canvas. I'm pretty comfortable I didn't do anything illegal. I'd post the original, but I'm at work.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

04/29/2010 12:13:35 PM · #23

Originally posted by mzrowan:

I've seen the original. It's not an issue. Extremely minor amount of cloning.

R.