Yes, I finally decided to become an active participant of this great community.
For some time now that I've been reading and learning from you guys. Great ideas, fantastic images and a helpful community. Thanks! It's now time to be part of it!
The setup was fairly simple: strobe left and right of tank fish with the same power and distance; and black cover on top of tank fish.
Post-processing:
>Lightroom: open RAW file, Crop, WB, Brightness, Contrast, Clarity and Tone Curve adjustments
>Photoshop: resize, add white and black borders, USM, save as jpg
I would like to thank my friends André (M4TRIX), Jorge (De Sousa) and José (JMoreira) for giving me some help throwing the sneaker and lighting ideas but specially for a nice mood and well spent afternoon (that turn into night... you know...Times flies when you're having fun). I would also want to thank Carlos Marques, a Portuguese photo pioneer in many aspects, for letting me use his studio and trusting me his equipment. It was with him that my photographic world started to get shaped up as a photo course at Oficina Da Imagem.
The biggest thank you to Jorge (De Sousa) for pushing me to DPC and for making me a much better photographer. You rule man!
So, this is my first step into DPC! You get the title...
Hope you like this image as I had a lot of fun shooting it :)
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Post-challenge:
WOW!!!! Wait a minute (or 2...) Maybe my cellphone isn't working properly... Maybe the columns aren't correct.. Hold on it's still loading... aaahhh.. come on!
Let me explain: I didn't have access to internet all day long yesterday! I wanted to check the results and I couldn't! Aaahhh! So, I remembered to spend extra money to access DPC website through my cellphone just for a quick check:)
What a surprise!!! Wished that I had a faster access as it was excruciating to watch the results sssslllloooowwwwllllyyyy showing up :)
Seriously, I really don't advise people to watch DPC challenge results through a cellphone as you will be prone to heart attack! NOT lol! :)
I couldn't expect better start here at DPC: first challenge, first ribbon! I'm thrilled!
Thank you all for the nice comments and welcoming messages. This is what keeps me going.
So, my own prize for this amazing result was... to become a DPChallenge member!
Well, maybe I'll get some champagne too... or some Portuguese red wine...
A toast to all!
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 124 Avg (all users): 6.9554 Avg (commenters): 8.1111 Avg (participants): 7.0189 Avg (non-participants): 6.9329 Views since voting: 6169 Views during voting: 399 Votes: 202 Comments: 42 Favorites: 2 (view)
This is so funny, my first critique in over a year and I get given a red ribbon! And here is a little known fact, you joined DPC on my 50th birthday!
So, to the image, what can I say? your first submission and a red ribbon. This is a great product shot, excellent composition and you got the 'splash' just right. I;ve just read you comment below and yes, the choice of this shoe helped this become a winner as the colours work well with water and it was nice to hear how you worked out the buoyancy.
I have to own up and say I was one of the 42 voters that gave a 6. Why just a 6? whilst its a really good shot I've seen many similar shots (not shoes) so it doesn't have the uniqueness for me that it might have done for others. A niggle I have is the laces and personally I'd have lost them by cutting them down or hidden them in the shoe or had them at full length. The exposure is spot on and the shoe is nice and crisp and if the droplets top left had been super sharp this might have been an 8 from me.
I do hope we see more of the same from you Pedro but you already have a lot to live up to!
Congratulations! Welcome to DPC you will love the experience and I look forward to seeing your future work.
I just realized after reading your post that you beat your mentor. How awesome is that? Not only is De Sousa an exceptional photographer, but he also shares his wonderful talents. Bravo to both of you.
Hey!!! That's cheating!!!. Shots and productions assisted by the master De Sousa should be banned because it's too much of an advantage. You are a lucky man. Welcome to dpc, but I mean you alone :-)
Aha! Good question Debbi.
Well, that was actually a problem. My first choice for a shoe was a little rubber red clog, as I thought it could be a nice color against the white, and the holes would make nice bubbles out of it. But, one problem arose the first time we dove it into the water. It just wouldn't go any deep. And putting some weight inside wouldn't be that flattering because they would be seen through.
So, I went back to the bargain shop where I had just bought the clogs and exchanged them for these nice blue shoes. Once I saw them I loved the colors that reminded me of water. Anyway, to make a long story short, the same problem arose, but this time we could put some stuff inside as it wouldn't be seen through! Just looked around to find some weight. Ended up using some metal little objects but it could have been anything. The good thing about using not just one is the ability to balance the dive. You can put some more weight or remove it until you get the desired weight for the dive. As you can see the shoe is almost aligned with the water surface ;) and it wasn't that easy.
And, yes, there were a few throws too :/
Hey, ordinaryangel and ti_evom that's a good idea! Maybe I'll try to contact some shoe advertisers. It would be much fun to make a marketing shoe session originated by a DPC challenge!
I'm really gonna think about this possibility! Thanks.
Wow! Absolutely perfect everything. The colors are what gets me - great blues and even some yellow in the reflections in the water. Hope you get top 10!
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