DSS #33 - Martial Arts

MikeK

Here is one of my ideas in VERY early development. I got my often annoyed but usually accommodating daughter to do some moves for me. Constant blurred motion in daylight wasn't really doing it for me; so tonight I tried pulsing the speedlight in a (somewhat) dark environment to capture the movement in more of a stop-frame manner. I like this a lot better than my earlier attempts with blurred constant motion.

Obviously I need to do this in more total darkness; perhaps I need to go buy some dark fabric to use as a backdrop. But assuming a better dark background how does this work for you. How strong does it convey motion? Is this merely amusing, or does it have enough potential to put some more work into? (and maybe fabric $$ ?)

Thanks!!
Mike

Flyinggina

Absolutely worth pursuing. I love #2 as is, but I think it is a good idea to explore further to get the very best you can from the idea. Anyhow, it is a marvelous idea well executed. If you go with a black backdrop, you might want your kung fu artist to wear a color that will stand out more than the blue would against black.

Good luck. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Virginia

MikeK

Thanks Virginia. I've been having her do moves for me under a variety of conditions and lighting to find something that works. I think I'm getting close. And yes, once I get everything worked out I'll do the 'real' shots with her wearing her white uniform.

Thanks!
Mike

WhatSheSaw

Great idea!

sbarge

Great idea and cool shots! I like #2 the best

-Steve

nightpixels

Love the idea! Certainly worth pursuing with the right settings (background)!

angevin1

These are composites? Nothing wrong with that if they are....but cannot help but wonder what She would look like well lit from the sides against a backdrop in one sweeping motion with a rear shutter flash or even front pulling away. Also try a nice even round house. Could be that even a close in shot of a hand or foot would work too~

Cool idea and Obviously powerful young lady!

MikeK

angevin1 wrote:

These are composites? Nothing wrong with that if they are....but cannot help but wonder what She would look like well lit from the sides against a backdrop in one sweeping motion with a rear shutter flash or even front pulling away. Also try a nice even round house. Could be that even a close in shot of a hand or foot would work too~

These were both single exposures, both in a very dark setting with the shutter open for several seconds. I then used a handheld speedlight to fire 3 flashes during the sequence to catch each 'look' in the shot.

I did try a single sweeping motion in daylight with a curtain flash like you suggested. I didn't like that result quite as much as these, but I will make a point to try that again in the dark setting. Thanks for the idea of a shorter movement or closeup, that sound insteresting as well and I will try it.

Thanks!

MikeK

OK, I finally had time for a reshoot against an unoffensive background. Here are three of the better ones. Any of them do it for you? Still working on the right title, perhaps something along the lines of 'Kata'

Thanks for looking!

1)



2)



3)

ic4u

These turned out awesome Mike
My favorite of these is #3...very cool idea

ETA...the reason I like #3 is that everything fits in frame,
and I like how her foot is more faint in this one as opposed to #2 where it shows
the dirt on her foot too clearly (IMO)

michswiss

Good multiple exposure. My personal opinion is that #2 has the better balance of images and clarity of individual martial arts positions.

Kinkajou

I think I like #1 best

adbsgicom

I would go with 2 or 3. My issue with the first is the the loss of too much of her head in the one position. I like two because ofthe separation, but Karin has good points about 3.

MikeK

Thanks everyone for your help and opinions. Kristin, what is it with you, always picking the shot no one else likes??

The comments were all excellent, but everyone seemed to like something different, forcing me to pick, which is how it should be. I decided to go with #2. Good call on her hand leaving the frame and the foot is indeed dirty, but I think it fills the frame better, and most importantly, I like how her eyes (and fists/feet) are pointing right at the camera. (Which was tricky since we shot these in total darkness.)

BTW, I also took #2 and did a nice post-process on it for my daughter which allowed me to clean up its issues. It came out very nice.

Thanks!!

adbsgicom

MikeK wrote:

BTW, I also took #2 and did a nice post-process on it for my daughter which allowed me to clean up its issues. It came out very nice.

Thanks!!

Can we see?

MikeK

Oh very well. I only fear that the SOOC version will now look lame next to the polished version.

1) SOOC, submitted to the challenge:



2) Photoshopped to correct some issues and adjust colors a bit

adbsgicom

Nice PP!! I still think the SOOC is really good, the PP just polishes it.
Nice job growing fingers!!! The discipline of getting your body to do exactly the same thing over and over really must have helped match the two images!!