I knew that I didn't want to do a photo with actual wings and had an idea like this but didn't have the material, location or a model. I was driving and came by a place that was really incredibly lit around 5 pm and looked awesome and made a mental note to try and do a shot like this as a self portrait since I didn't have a model. Then I ran across melissa who has modeled with me a lot since i have been up here. We talked and she actually had some time to throw this together AND she had the big sheer curtain. We then drove to the location only to realize the entire area was covered in poison oak....not good....so we walked down the road and came across a little stream which we tried to incorporate into the shot but it was very difficult for her to run/jump on the bank because it was rocky and unstable. We eventually figured out that if we rolled up the ends of the long curtain into balls in her hands and had her throw them up in the air as she jumped it would make the most dramatic effect. I shot this at a 1.7 fstop which made the background soft but because it was all so busy that I had to darken it a lot to make her stand out in the black and white version. I am still liking the color version but there was something better about the black and white....I have high hopes for this one
editing, quite a bit of tiny spots of dodging and burning, I got the glow by sharpening the whole picture and then making a layer which I blurred with the gaussian blurr tool and then turned the opacity way down. This is the first time I actually have tried using this technique and i like how it came out. my final product turned out being really dark though because I got too enthusiastic about making her stand out, i showed it to my friend and she suggested dodging the highlights a bit and I found that after bring out the bush with some sharpening and dodging along with the plants under her feet the composition tied itself together better and I am quite happy with the outcome.
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Place: 37 out of 174 Avg (all users): 6.1421 Avg (commenters): 7.2000 Avg (participants): 5.9500 Avg (non-participants): 6.2735 Views since voting: 1964 Views during voting: 346 Votes: 197 Comments: 23 Favorites: 3 (view)
Beautiful, beautiful. And sickeningly under-rated. Should have made the top ten at least, but you never know with these voters... the scores alway seem so hap-hazard to me! :) It's so frusterating when you put so much work and effort into an image, only to have it ignored like this. It's a lovely photo.
there's just enough mayhem and compositional energy to keep me interested. Delighted, even. I'll give you an 8. Check "alas negras" for clues about how to get a 10 from me (and a lower score from everybody else).
I actually really like this concept - and the B+W...just about everything: except that her feet look so awkward....something not quite picturesque about them: typical ballet pointed toes might have been more appealing. I think I would have given this a 10 if not for those feet...they almost turn the image into something of the burlesque - a kind of parody of "flying", which is a shame because this might have been genuinely beautiful.
This screams grigrigirl or Pedro to me, but if it's not please take it as a compliment. Wonderful creativity and expression. Definitely an original take on the challenge too. WELL DONE!
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