Lps#5

LiquidAir

On Edge



Does anyone have an idea for a better title for this? If you have any suggestions, last time I checked the pepper was still safely stored in our refridgerator so a reshoot is still possible.

saurora

Re-shoot??? Geezzzz, looks perfect to me!!! When I looked at the entries tonight, it really jumped out at me! I like the title...unless you can link it to something about health perhaps....like Healthy Edge or something along that line. I think the shot is so strong by itself you won't need to get too crazy with the title. Just love it! :saurora

Nikolai

LiquidAir wrote:

On Edge

Does anyone have an idea for a better title for this? If you have any suggestions, last time I checked the pepper was still safely stored in our refridgerator so a reshoot is still possible.

Ken, it's a great idea and a great execution...!

Couple of really minor things that got my attention:

• I don't like red glowing on the blade (right under the pepper) much. I know it's real and it's hard to get rid of it, but it's killing knife silhouette for me..
• There is a tiny speck of specular highlight on the pepper (left-hand side, projected right above the blade)
• For some reason the color of the background does not look "right" to me, I want something either more neutral, or even more cold
• I think the butt of the knife should not let any light go under it..

HTH

BistiArt

Damocles Dementia

LiquidAir wrote:

Does anyone have an idea for a better title for this?

Lets see...

Anybody remember Damocles?

Something about a 2 edged sword...

I like the shot, its simplicity, its symmetry!

saurora got it right; the back lobe of the tomato is brilliant against the top knife edge while the under knife edge outlines the scene

Swartzy

This is a great shot
That lighting is wonderful. I like the title as it is because this shot speaks for itself. Excellent.

tlee

I like it as is!

sherstone

I concur - the image is very nice.

I can not get past it making me feel quite vulnerable like I am the pepper sliding down a razor banister...

(the above is a good thing imho)

saurora

Nikolai wrote:

Ken, it's a great idea and a great execution...!

Couple of really minor things that got my attention:

• I don't like red glowing on the blade (right under the pepper) much. I know it's real and it's hard to get rid of it, but it's killing knife silhouette for me..
• There is a tiny speck of specular highlight on the pepper (left-hand side, projected right above the blade)
• For some reason the color of the background does not look "right" to me, I want something either more neutral, or even more cold
• I think the butt of the knife should not let any light go under it..

HTH

Interesting! The 2 things you dislike (glow of the pepper and the light underneath the knife) are 2 of the things that help make the shot not just another shot for me!!!

sherstone

saurora wrote:

Interesting! The 2 things you dislike (glow of the pepper and the light underneath the knife) are 2 of the things that help make the shot not just another shot for me!!!

Nikolai

saurora wrote:

Interesting! The 2 things you dislike (glow of the pepper and the light underneath the knife) are 2 of the things that help make the shot not just another shot for me!!!

Well, what can I say? We're all different...

Now the funny part: these are the exactly two reasons that make this shot MORE like just any other shot for me.
I mean, if you just get a similar idea, arrange things simlarly and take the shot, more than likely you will get the glowing in the blade and a crack of light under it. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing (tastes differ), but that what everyboy else would get too. Now, making a concsious decision to get rid of it and actually get rid of them - that is what you need to figure out how. And also pull it off in a convincing way that it's not simply PS-ed in or out.

Anyway, that is only my rationale. It's a great shot, and, more importantly, it's Ken's shot, so it's up to him what he likes and dislikes. We're just bystanders, he's the artist.

sherstone

Nikolai wrote:

Well, what can I say? We're all different...

[SIZE=-1]Hear hear


life would be boring otherwise. [/SIZE]

LiquidAir

Thanks everyone for all your comments.

The original idea for this shot was to show the pepper as translucent by shooting a flash through it to make it glow. Originally, I was going to shoot it against a black background and let the pepper light the knife. At the last minute as I was setting up the stage I decided to try it against white instead. The foam core I use is black on one side and white on the other so all I had to do was flip it over. I took a few test shots to get the exposure right from the main light on the pepper before setting up the fill light. In the test shots I saw the silhouetted knife and the funky gradients in the background and decided to skip the fill and run with it. So the shot is lit by just one flash with a red bell pepper modifier (Tupperware? Naw, I use vegetables). The gradient in the background is a blend of speular and diffuse reflections off the pepper (the specular a reflection, so it is white; the diffuse, of course, is red).

On various details:

The small bit of direct light on the pepper: I have been hemming and hawing about removing that.

On various details:

The small bit of direct light on the pepper: I have been hemming and hawing about removing that. So far I have left it in to provide a little added definition to the pepper which looking at tad ethereal. However, it does detract from the message. I am always hesitant to remove details like that because I am afraid it will make the shot less real, but I should really just try it and see what it looks like.

On the line below the knife: That line drove be a bit batty while shooting this. In many of the compositions I tried it led the eye right out of the frame, but without it the knife loses too much of its identity and just becomes a black shadow. I finally settled on this composition with the line horizontally framing the shot and the break placed just below the pepper to give it a little more weight.

On the red glow: I still think of this as a (albeit funky) translucent shot and the glow on the knife is part of the story as it shows that the pepper itself is a light source.

On the background color: I got the current color by white balancing to the outside edge of the background (which meant a significant shift toward cyan) and the selectively bringing the green back to something more normal. The red of the pepper is too strong to be affected much by the WB shift I used. I spent some time playing with some more radical shifts, but the shot starts looking a little too cartoonish for my taste. I might fiddle with it some more; I’ve tried and rejected greens and blues, but something purplish might work.

saurora

I had a hunch you were going for the translucent and the silhouette was accidental. It's a neat shot I'm sure whatever you decide will work well.

Nikolai

LiquidAir wrote:

Thanks everyone for all your comments.

I had no doubts you have spent a lot of time both on setup and in post. It's a strong shot and I really like it. Yes, few things could have been done differently, but that applies almost to anything... You, the artist, still have the full responsibility about any decision you're making.
Good luck!

LiquidAir

Here is a version without the specular hightlight. It also has some cleanup of details to small to see at this resolution (stock photo sales are coming...)


Here is a version with a purple background, some supression of the reflections off the knife, and a slightly lower blade back.


Yellow pepper instead.



Here is a reject from the same shoot I had lying around. This one is a straightup Lightroom conversion with no Photoshop.

Nikolai

LiquidAir wrote:

Here is a version with a purple background, some supression of the reflections off the knife, and a slightly lower blade back.

I like it better. Most of the background seems pretty neutral to me (maybe the result of your WB /curves), I wish the bottom light wasn't so purple (and it's extremely easy to fix:-)

Yellow pepper instead.

I actually like Yellow/purple color combo more, but for some reason the yellow pepper lost its translucency, it does not glow the way the red one did So you're left with the only silhouette part of the blade, which is not the primary subject of the picture (I think pepper still is). Very good shot but somewhat weaker for this particular challenge.

Here is a reject from the same shoot I had lying around. This one is a straightup Lightroom conversion with no Photoshop.

I say - keep it rejected

Bottom line: I think your new purple/red is the strongest one, but I'd lose purple and make it neutral.

tsk1979

Yellow purple is my favorite too
Make it a little more lively

pyroPrints.com

I say red purple. The yellow doesn't do it for me.

LiquidAir

How's this? Something of a compromise.

indiegirl

LiquidAir wrote:

How's this? Something of a compromise.

LOVE it.

Nikolai

LiquidAir wrote:

How's this? Something of a compromise.

Better than original...

LiquidAir

Darnit, I finally figured out how to get Photoshop to do something more like what I wanted, and I was too late. I was editing my post while Dr. It locked it. Oh well.

drdane

LiquidAir wrote:

Darnit, I finally figured out how to get Photoshop to do something more like what I wanted, and I was too late. I was editing my post while Dr. It locked it. Oh well.

It's a great shot as entered, Ken - one of those "why didn't I think of that?" kind of images. I'd vote for it (along with mine, of course )!

Blessings,

heatherfeather

Just read this..."Tupperware? Naw, I use vegetables" and I laughed and laughed! You have a great sense of humor!

Like your last un entered edit very much. Too sad!