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Ginsu Knife
Ginsu Knife
Bear_Music


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Knife Fork Spoon (Advanced Editing IV)
Collection: Challenges
Camera: Canon EOS-20D
Lens: Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
Location: Harwich Port, MA, USA
Date: Dec 4, 2005
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/15
Date Uploaded: Dec 4, 2005

430EX flash bounced off white ceiling

Knife, inverted blue bowl, larger bowl, blue pie plate, ballistic nylon BG

Select for BG and levels to make pure black

Select for larger bowl and levels to darken

Clone small, stray reflections on bowl and pie plate rim

Select for knife & handle, invert, gothic glow on duplicate layer and faded

Load knife selection and levels to adjust tones

Resize, USM knife only, border and save for web

Statistics
Place: 51 out of 163
Avg (all users): 5.6943
Avg (commenters): 6.0000
Avg (participants): 5.4268
Avg (non-participants): 5.8919
Views since voting: 1468
Views during voting: 324
Votes: 193
Comments: 14
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
12/13/2005 12:28:44 AM
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:

Robert, I can't figure out why, but the knife just doesn't look sharp to me. The edges appear soft. I can tell it's in focus because the "Santoku" is sharp.


A "glow layer" has been applied to everything but the kinfe, and the interaction between glow and not-glow is a "soft" one.
12/13/2005 12:24:25 AM
Robert, I can't figure out why, but the knife just doesn't look sharp to me. The edges appear soft. I can tell it's in focus because the "Santoku" is sharp.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/12/2005 10:49:27 PM
Alright Bear my honest opinion:

First I like the symmetry, love the colors. The blue showing as a blur on the right side just above the bowl should have been fixed. Overall I really like it, my only suggestion to make this really neat would be a less vertical to the knife, a lower camera perspective would be really cool.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/12/2005 10:43:46 PM
First of all, the background: I like it a lot. The colour and the shape. The composition as a whole, I like too. Maybe too symmetric for some, but I think it works here (I guess you could say the knife is asymmetrical enough). Anyway, my problem is with the knife itself. The edges and the text are a little soft. Perhaps this was the effect you wanted, but I think in that case you'd be better off without the text. Text invites reading, and I find the text just a touch soft to be pleasing, or not soft enough to be interesting. The exposure of the blade seems a little off too. Again, it seems to be too 'middle ground'. There is a little colour/texture/detail to the surface, and I think it might have been better with all or nothing. In that sense, I think it is the slight colouring that bothers me the most, and it might be somewhat improved simply by desaturating the surface of the blade. Just some random thoughts...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/12/2005 10:10:41 PM
The colors and use of the bowl are quite nice here. However, IMHO, the almost vertical knife, right down the middle, doesn't offer a dynamic image, nor does it work as well geometrically with the bowl. I can't say this for sure, but I actually think having the knife pointed down, towards the viewer, would be more dynamic, and might even trigger a very slight "danger" emotional reaction from the viewer. Another thought: It might have been interesting geometrically to have the knife just above the bowl, somewhat horizontal, touching it at the top of the arc just barely.

Just some thoughts, hard to visualize without cutting the knife out to play. The light and colors here are so wonderful though, that I'd love to see you play with this a little.

FWIW, I gave this a 6.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/12/2005 07:19:56 PM
I gave it a 7. Personally, I think it would have looked just a touch cooler if you had cloned out the english words and just left the japanese characters...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/12/2005 05:57:53 AM
Shoulda known this was yours, bear. Well done. I gave it a 6. Shoulda done better, but it was a rather lame challenge all the way around.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
12/06/2005 07:23:51 PM
A very neat presentation. Love the blue at the base of handle.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/05/2005 10:01:22 PM
I keep thinking I've seen this knife before. Hmmmm. But it didn't look quite like this. I guess many people have knives like this. It looks beautiful on the inverted bowl, and I like the frilly tart plate edge (is that what it is?) - makes it look like a sleeve or a skirt.

Out of curiosity (and you can answer after the challenge if you want, although I don't mind either way), why would you use the side with writing on it? Do both sides have writing?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/05/2005 01:39:12 PM
Nice photo, and nice knife. Who is the maker? I have an Aritsugu Deba that I received as a wedding present. For the photo itself, I think I'd prefer to see the blade a bit less bright, so you could make out the markings of the steel. Also, a bit more DOF would be good - the bottom edge of the knife looks a bit OOF.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/05/2005 01:24:13 PM
I would have liked to see the whole knife, and the bowl is stealing some attention.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/05/2005 12:14:30 PM
I think the knife is a lil too blown out but maybe thats just me, great concept and good luck in the challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/05/2005 06:01:16 AM
Bear_Music? Just saw he had a similar shot in "adulthood" and this one is equally nice, very interesting lighting. 7 from me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/05/2005 02:48:55 AM
Clean, strong, sharp image
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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