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gyaban


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Ghosts (Expert Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Date: May 10, 2012
Date Uploaded: May 10, 2012

 [May. 15th, 2012 01:25:04 PM]

While this is obviously a direct interpretation of the challenge, not very creative nor extremely inspired, I like the overall mood and esthetic of it.

Of course, as usual, everything was shot and processed by me. Technically, here is how it was done:

- The ruins come from the Jumieges Abbey, France. The left part (from the left tower to the central arch) comes from a first panorama, while the right part comes from another one (the overall image weights 75Mp). The right tower is a single shot, added in the background. In order to blend the shapes, I adjusted the panoramas perspectives, to obtain this "pseudo-wide angle" effect that I like. Also, since these were shot under different light angles, I had to "relight" everything in post-production, by adding brightness to the buildings faces oriented towards the light, and darkening the other parts. Shadows were also adjusted accordingly.

- The tomb comes from the graveyard of the same town. No idea whom it is (didn't look), probably some important (or rich) person.

- The moon was shot (at 600mm) during the 'supermoon' night. The weather was really cloudy, so I had to wait until 4.00am to get a clear shot of it.

- For the flying bats, I simply cut one in a sheet of paper, and shot it against a black background, flipping the wings to obtain different positions. Then I inverted the colors, and created several custom brushes from the photos.

- My wife kindly posed for the main ghost. The dress is custom, made out of long piece of fabric that we initially bought for the "abstract with people" challenge (I finally didn't enter it as I wasn't pleased with the result). She was standing on a chair, while the fabric was maintained on the floor using a piece of wood: this let me adjust the folds precisely.

- The "ghost circle" was simply made out of a white sheet, roughly folded and put in a ring shape. I added some (subtle) ghost faces to the sheet, by deforming some photos of my own face.

- Some other details have been added for good measure, such as trees and fog.


Thank you so much for your comments and votes!

You can see a larger version of it here.

Statistics
Place: 1 out of 63
Avg (all users): 8.1269
Avg (commenters): 9.1154
Avg (participants): 7.8286
Avg (non-participants): 8.2323
Views since voting: 6360
Views during voting: 496
Votes: 134
Comments: 56
Favorites: 12 (view)

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AuthorThread
 05/21/2012 09:51:10 AM
Another fantastic piece of art. Congrats on your blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/21/2012 03:05:39 AM
Congratulations, Christophe. Fantastic picture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/20/2012 09:03:48 PM
ack! I forgot congrats on this! Silly me!

Love the shot, love the back story, Congrats!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/19/2012 10:23:29 PM
Interesting, nice work
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/19/2012 10:33:22 AM
Beautifully rendered shot. You have an amazing gift a) to be able to envision such imaginative scenes, and b) to have the photographic and processing skills to bring them to life. Simply amazing. Congrats on the image and ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/19/2012 09:11:06 AM
continuing the dominance.

  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 01:28:24 PM
Congrats on the blue, Christophe!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 12:53:34 PM
Congrats on another convincing and impressive victory.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 11:38:06 AM
Wonderful. Congratulations, Christophe.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 10:00:00 AM
Superb,Congratulations.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 09:58:16 AM
I wish someone could explain to me how some people can even consider giving this a 2,3,4 or even a 5. I would just love to hear the explanations by those individuals as to how they justified their scores.

oh maybe it's just that they are envious.

Message edited by author 2012-05-18 09:59:26.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 08:34:38 AM
As usual, I am amazed at your creative ability with graphic photography. Congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 07:44:46 AM
Congrats on the Blue Christophe.

I am on your heals lol ;)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 07:17:10 AM
Originally posted by paulbtlw:
Do you get to sleep at all nowadays?


Thanks a lot Paul. Frankly, it's hard! There was much time involved on this one, and I really need some rest so my next entries will be probably less ambitious. Just so that my wife actually remembers I can also talk, not just shoot and edit ;-)
 05/18/2012 06:37:32 AM
Well done on yet another Blue! (and yet another 8!)

You set your own standards - how are you holding up with all of these Expert challenges??? Do you get to sleep at all nowadays?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 05:13:15 AM
Absolutely Superb!! And what dedication staying up until 4am for the moon shot. How do you find the time to create all these wonderful creations?!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 04:18:34 AM
Excellent work christophe must say it's a pity we only see it at 800px... this puppy should be blown up big time!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 03:06:12 AM
Stunningly amazing and another signature piece. Congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 02:38:05 AM
the circle of ghosts reminds me of that scene at the end of raiders of the lost ark.
Man, you're hitting scary consistency of late! Congrats on the bleu!

Sort of sad to see your advanced challenge 8.0 score go from your profile though.

Message edited by author 2012-05-18 02:41:19.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 12:43:49 AM
Absolutely amazing! And what a score! Congrats
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 12:42:04 AM
It's all wonderful, but I think the circle of gyaban ghosts is my favorite part :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 12:25:27 AM
Too good for words. Congrats is such a small word to show my immense appreciation of your work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 12:04:22 AM
Congrats on the blue and another 8+ finish, Christophe!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/18/2012 12:03:55 AM
congrats, your creativity is really astonishing. Well deserved ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
05/17/2012 10:40:30 PM
Photoshopping doesn't get much better. Well executed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/17/2012 09:57:23 PM
nice details.. i like the upper tree on the right..
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/17/2012 08:25:28 PM
Wonderful creation.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/17/2012 06:00:59 PM
Absolutely love the top right-hand corner of this picture but I'm not too sure about the swirling skulls.
Should easily win the Blue - congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/17/2012 02:24:50 PM
nothing to do with photography no vote
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/17/2012 12:59:29 PM
A lot of great elements here and the post editing is fantastic.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/17/2012 10:13:43 AM
Beautifully done
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/16/2012 02:47:02 PM
Beautifully executed (no pun intended!)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/16/2012 11:34:50 AM
Has to be my favorite collage in this challenge - I love the way the circle around the grave site is like an extension of her dress, almost. So cool!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/16/2012 04:57:08 AM
Expertly done but doesn't have the same feel as so many other entries for me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/15/2012 10:54:27 PM
Great tones; looks more graphic art than supernatural; great job of processing, however. (voted earlier)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/15/2012 06:32:28 AM
Gyaban ? Fantastic my pick for the blue !!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/14/2012 07:33:06 PM
i actually wanna learn how this was done. Please describe this image for us 0.o
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/14/2012 06:54:06 PM
Absolument incroyable. On dirait un extrait d'un film avec Vincent Price. Il ne manque que les hurlements des loups et l'apparition de Dracula.

Cette image sera définitivement la gagnante de ce concour.

Félicitations pour une autre création sans égale.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/14/2012 06:04:46 PM
Pretty damn cool :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/13/2012 01:55:28 PM
Praise to the master ;-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/13/2012 07:12:16 AM
Beautiful and surreal and creepy and wonderful. This was my favorite of the challenge and I happily gave it a 10!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/12/2012 05:16:53 PM
You have the BEST wife to model so much for you, Christophe! You are blessed.

And talented. :D This is excellent, as usual. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/12/2012 12:02:02 PM
Best in show award, congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/12/2012 06:35:00 AM
I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!! How many exclamation points can I add, before it's just obnoxious?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 08:51:35 PM
The only thing to be determined is the color of your ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 02:34:53 PM
Interesting background - hopefully this isn't a rules violation and all images were taken by you. Impressive if so, i'm interested to hear how you did this one :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 12:56:27 PM
definitely a top contender, i'm seeing a blue in your future monsieur. I have the feeling that this is christophe, and if i'm wrong that's still a compliment. I'm generally pleased by everything this photo has to offer and wuldt have really changed anything. I enjoy the fountain of glowing ghost juice as well. very nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 12:06:35 PM
uh oh here comes Christophe...everyone give up now! ;-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 11:28:55 AM
Looks like the top ribbon from here. Very good imge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 11:17:48 AM
haha brilliant work christoph so much to see and study, nice thought and planning, i love the crypt the trees and the bats not to mention your beautiful banishee. lovely set of ruins and clouds. great work and blue, dont think this will be a new pb though but its getting a 10 from me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 08:04:18 AM
I know who did this but it doesn't matter because I am stopped immediately on this creation. Emotional, captivating and so extremely well done. What more can I say, it is amazing, the detail, the light, the mood, it is jaw dropping. Keep putting it out here, it is a real treat to view your work. 10 and a fav.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 06:48:30 AM
def gayaban.. u should do well with this one
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 04:32:38 AM
This is corny, cheesy, predictable, stereotypical Kitsch.
It is also stunning, magnificent and magical.
How could I score this less than a 10?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 03:20:25 AM
Excellent Christophe. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 03:11:46 AM
great work
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2012 12:12:45 AM
Great work, beautifully put together and great story telling... not going to be voting in this one, but expect to see this on the front page.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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