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"Fairy Godmother"
"Fairy Godmother"
espy2


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Mother (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix 3800
Location: Florida
Date: Dec 28, 2005
Aperture: f/8.3
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/2
Galleries: Humorous, Action
Date Uploaded: Dec 28, 2005

 POST PROCESSING STEPS, in this order, using PSP8 (I am showing the size of the brushes used in order to show the tiny spot editing amounts done):

1. Crop
2. gamma (red/green/blue on 1.88 to the lighter side)
3. Dodge to hair to enhance the already lightened area (#5 brush)
4. Lost a bit of backdrop from the crop in the top right hand corner, and smudged it back in using the right click of the smudge tool (#16 brush) to drag the original background color to that area.
5. Brightness (-5) Contrast (+15)

I did a resize to fit DPC at this point. I like to do further enhancing at the proper sizing sometimes so nothing changes with the processing during a resizing later on and so I can see the finished product immediately.

6. Clarified entire photo
7. Smudged forehead to blend using the lighter colors of the skin in that area (#12 brush), and this was done to also rid of graininess from clarification
8. Used a smudge (right click #1 brush) tool to lengthen eyelashes a tiny bit
9. Soften tool used (#2 brush) around face below forehead, around eyes, and in between sparks on face
10. Sharpen tool (brush size #3) to rims of glasses, rhinestone lines in crown, and glitter on the star
11. Smudged to blend in the two sparkler tips (brush #3) that could be seen just above the star
12. Took the dark line on the bottom right of background that was made with the background material and lighting used, and brought it up the whole right side using the right click of the smudge tool (#20 to #30 brush). This also eliminated the blow out from the lamp on the bottom right of the cape by bringing over that smudge.
13. Smudged the rest of the background with appropriate size brushes to blend and rid of grain
14. Selective sharpen tool (#3 brush) to selective areas on edge of cape
15. Sharpen tool (#1 brush) was then used to make sure the two sparks on either side of model and in background were properly enhanced
16. Used smudge tool (#2 brush) to remove cape showing in between the rhinestone lines of the crown and hanging down from top inside of it. (Just a small detail that wasn’t needed, but I liked the look better).
17. Frame added (#2 white line border and then a #5 dark blue line border)



Ok, so here is the fairy-tale (real story..LOL). This was not the original photo I had in mind, which was wildlife. There were none to be had in this area in what I was looking for, so I decided to go with a Fairy God"mother" instead. NOT EASY.

First stop? Wal-Mart. I bought a dark blue shiny backdrop and the silver/blue metallic cape material (a bold move to have so much shine in the shot, but I knew the lighting I wanted to use would just make it show up better by natural shine and not blow it out); a dowel; some fun foam for the star on the wand; some ribbon; and 8 boxes of sparklers. The crown in the shot is one I already owned.

I put up the backdrop, taping the top to my wall, and did a few test shots for lighting. All seemed well, so off I went to my room for hair and makeup. I put a TON of powder in my black hair and a TON of face powder mixed with white powder on my face. I did a fairy-godmother-Shrek2-style hair doo (kinda..LOL). I put on red lipstick for the punch, although it isn't seen that well. At least you can see it a bit in this shot.

I took the crown and got out the bobby pins it takes to keep that big baby in place (its a 6" full round crown and pretty heavy), and put it on. Then I threw the metallic material over the top of the crown and let it drape down around my head and top half of body. I only bought a yard and a half, so you are seeing about all of it in this photo. (Underneath, I am naked!..LOL) I pinned it up at the side upper neck to give it that cartoon-godmother look (kinda..LOL).

Ok, off to make the wand. I took the 1/4" dowel I bought, broke it in half, and wrapped it in the silver ribbon. The fun foam I got was sticky on one side. I made a star and stapled the unsticky sides together around the dowel and stuck another piece of ribbon under it to hang down and stapled that on. (Just a small extra detail). Then I took off the paper on the outside of the foam revealing the sticky side and shook some silver & snow glitter on it hoping it would stick. It stayed on well. No glue needed. YEAH! (Little did I know the glitter would hardly be seen, so with a sharpen tool I brought those out.) OK, WAND done!

I opened up a box of sparklers. I don't have a tripod, so I used a wooden TV tray for a stable surface. The only thing I had, so I had to do my set up on the floor. I put on all the camera settings along with the self timer, which only gives me 10 seconds! YIKES! So, I adorned my eye glasses, then lit two sparklers at once and held them in my left hand but against and behind the wand making it look as if the wand’s star was magical. I set the camera to go, and jumped on the floor in front of the backdrop and at a decent distance from the camera. I had already practiced the facial movement I would do from the Shrek movie's godmother (kinda..LOL), and struck the pose while holding out the wand's star (which caught on fire twice and had to be cut again a few times!..LOL) and towards the camera while partly covering my face with it. (I never do like to reveal my whole self for anonymity).

It took about 25 tries of jumping up to the camera, doing the settings over again and setting the 10-second timer, back down to the floor, and lighting ALL of the sparklers 2 by 2 to get the right shot. I had to keep trying to get the right settings for lighting as the lighting changed in the room, and eventually had to set up a lamp to get the top half of my body. So I shined the lamp upwards toward my head, but used no flash. I finally got the shot I wanted with the sparks I wanted, but not without receiving a charley horse in the meanwhile..LOL. Between the lamp and the sparklers, it was enough light to work with for advanced editing so off I went to PSP8.

Whah-lah, the spell was cast! My wish? A ribbon!

(My original idea was to do "Mother Nature" when the wildlife shot I wanted didn't unfold well, however, I didn't have a model. :( Couldn't use myself for that shot. I wanted a girl in a vintage white dress with angel type sleeves. I was going to put a halo of leaves and berries in her hair with some ribbons here and there for flow. Then I was going to have her leaning over a well or pond of water that was still, possibly with rose petals floating, and then take the shot of the reflection. Another possibilty was to also have her posing in the woods, but to have her holding a wand of a sort made with natural surroundings but in the same dress, make up, and halo. Oh well, for those of us that don't have models to use - you gotta do with what you have, and all I had was me...LOL)

Rose









Statistics
Place: 20 out of 125
Avg (all users): 6.3071
Avg (commenters): 7.5946
Avg (participants): 6.3919
Avg (non-participants): 6.2767
Views since voting: 2519
Views during voting: 506
Votes: 280
Comments: 52
Favorites: 3 (view)

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AuthorThread
 05/15/2006 11:39:48 PM
I love it!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/24/2006 11:07:22 PM
This is very good. And it got a high vote from me in a challneg I didn't get through all the voting.
Somehow, it reminds me of the Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 11:09:25 AM
This is such a creative photo I love it. Your hard work and efforts really make this. Congrats. I always loved fairy godmothers when I was a kid!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 02:29:20 AM
Congrats on the top 20 Rose. I love the story :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 01:36:41 AM
I think you get the award for the longest "photographers comment's" ever...dang, that's a long read. :P

Yeah...I figured this was yours, It's got your "style"
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 01:29:12 AM
fyi 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 01:00:44 AM
Enjoy your high finish Rose. Its a good one. I hope you have it hanging in your childs room somewhere!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 12:52:39 AM
Great shot, I love the story and I think the other shot would have been good .. but through the story telling this is so much better.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 12:46:29 AM
Congratulations on your top 20 finish with this lovely fiery "fairy" Godmother.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 12:15:41 AM
I loved this shot, the hard work that went into it and gave it an 8 .. I knew it was you Rose .. don't know why .. but great job and great thought put into this .. congrats on your 20th place .. but I really thought it would be higher!! :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/09/2006 12:14:35 AM
Stareatthesun, you were right all along I think, if you meant me. LOL....I just didn't want to give it away by PM'ing you, but good call!
 01/09/2006 12:13:21 AM
Thank you so much Joey for the comment! I'm very pleased :)

Rose
 01/09/2006 12:10:41 AM
Congrats on your highest scoring photo yet :o)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/08/2006 06:15:14 PM
Composition is ok. Good choice of subject matter. The image quality is ok. Very creative! - 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/06/2006 07:42:34 PM
I don't know, this one looks like it has too much processing. I like the gray hair showing to show age, but it looks too smooth, too polished. Looks more like a painting.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/06/2006 07:00:20 PM
Excellent! Very cool shot. Looks like maybe some minor focus or PP issues, but great job! 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/06/2006 02:29:10 PM
Haha! Good One 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/06/2006 12:46:55 PM
Great job catching such a complex lighting. Hope you'll describe the lighting set up after the challenge is over. Especially the model's face... is that just light from the sparkler?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/06/2006 10:08:38 AM
very very cute idea. The costume is great, could have used a little less light on the bottom right side, it looks much brighter than the rest of the costume. Love the sparkling wand. Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/06/2006 05:56:59 AM
Nicely done. I can't say I'm overly fond of it, but it does amuse me and I can see the work and skill that went into it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/06/2006 03:07:48 AM
different
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/05/2006 07:10:27 PM
Alot of thought and effort clearly went into this shot. Where on earth did you find that Tiara/Crown? Perfect. Love the gray hair too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/05/2006 04:41:30 PM
I like this, very good lighting, lots of emothion in her eyes, great job
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/05/2006 11:30:43 AM
Great shot, the details on the face on hair are a little washed out though, probably from too much dodging, 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/05/2006 07:50:50 AM
This is wonderful, I think I need a Fairy
Godmother.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/04/2006 03:20:54 PM
awesome picture!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/04/2006 02:44:39 AM
Very creative take on the challenge. Technically well done too. Nice job.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2006 10:29:48 PM
Wow this is amazing, I love the idea and work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2006 09:14:55 PM
Great job on this one. The silver and blue are great and the sparkler made for a great effect. Good luck!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2006 08:57:19 PM
Different...Very nice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2006 08:24:50 PM
Wow, I really like the creativity here....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2006 04:53:21 PM
Very nice! Love the imagination. Wonderful color with just the right softness.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2006 10:44:43 AM
great idea, but there are some technical problems there is an overall grain or noise on this shot that i dont like and there is something very funky going on with her hair... wonderful idea.. excicution needs work
 01/03/2006 09:50:50 AM
Very cute idea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2006 05:43:05 AM
This is adorable, and one of my favorites! I love the softness of her face contrasted with the sharpness of the "fireworks", and the crown is spectacular! Very cool execution of your concept!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/03/2006 05:28:53 AM
If only all Mums were fairy godmothers. This is great, and an unusual slant on Mothers, which works well.......Super image as well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 11:10:50 PM
Very funny! Nicely done! Looks just like the Fairy Godmother from Shrek II (although she used bubbles). :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 10:14:02 PM
Great shot, love the sparkles ... although a little too much neat image visible on the skin - 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 10:10:44 PM
Nice image! I like the creativity. 10.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 05:14:40 PM
Good idea - nice, different take on the challenge. Looks like it must've been a lot of work to set up! The costume, the colors, the idea - are great. I bet it would also have been striking to have the wand a bit to the side of the godmother's face, so we could see her better. Love the tierra!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 04:16:22 PM
nice image well lit hope this does well
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 03:42:34 PM
Very cute!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 03:00:56 PM
This is amazing, she really does look like the Shrek's fairy Godmother! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 01:45:52 PM
haha funny but too noisy, sorry about all the artifacts.
 01/02/2006 09:26:33 AM
How fun and creative!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 01:56:52 AM
I think I know who's this is....Does it begin with a R....?

:P
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 01:10:27 AM
wow very cinderelly like
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 01:09:55 AM
Cute, clever and creative!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 01:08:48 AM
geez, she looks exactly like the fairy godmother from shrek 2...7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 12:59:47 AM
Ha, ha, ha...what a great entry. Bravo and good luck in the challenge. So creative!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 12:55:23 AM
HEE HEE Love the idea - clever. I'd have more negative space on one side of her. Maybe with a pumpkin???
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/02/2006 12:45:27 AM
clever shot. one of my favs!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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