LPS#6 - Is this idea worth developing?

LiquidAir · May 29, 2007

Bending the Rule

Current version:

Orginally posted version:

Swartzy · May 29, 2007

I think
this is a brilliant idea. Maybe the little man should be sliding the gate one way or another? Just a thought.

LiquidAir · May 29, 2007

Swartzy wrote:

this is a brilliant idea. Maybe the little man should be sliding the gate one way or another? Just a thought.

Hmmm. That's a thought. I was thinking of it as a fence rather than a gate when I set it up, but a gate does make more sense now that I look at it. These wooden figures are annoyingly hard to pose, but I might be able to pull that off. Thanks.

photogmomma · May 29, 2007

Hilarious! I love it! And the pose is amazing.... You did a wonderful job with it!

Try it the other direction,b ut I do like this, too.

ChrisJ · May 29, 2007

Definitely worth some attention. It does remind me of the "irregular" entry from LPS#3, but is decidedly different.

Tessa HD · May 29, 2007

lps6
very creative! cute! i think both his pushing on the ruler, and the name of your photo "Rule", takes away from the 'angles' theme. maybe compose it differently?

Tessa

LiquidAir · May 29, 2007

photogmomma wrote:

Hilarious! I love it! And the pose is amazing.... You did a wonderful job with it!

Try it the other direction,b ut I do like this, too.

Thanks! Can you tell I have a 3 year old at home?

I actually a couple of theses figures for a different photo idea which didn't pan out because they can't convincingly do simple things like sit down.

LiquidAir · May 29, 2007

ChrisJ wrote:

Definitely worth some attention. It does remind me of the "irregular" entry from LPS#3, but is decidedly different.

Thanks. Those figurines are wonderfully iconic which makes them nice for these kinds of conceuptal photos.

LiquidAir · May 29, 2007

Tessa HD wrote:

very creative! cute! i think both his pushing on the ruler, and the name of your photo "Rule", takes away from the 'angles' theme. maybe compose it differently?

Tessa

I'll be the first to admit I am not on the center of the road for this theme. Do you think Bending the Rule is a better title?

I do plan on toying with the pose, light and composition. Thanks.

Tessa HD · May 29, 2007

love the title!!!

great play on words. We need a challenge for that! No, on the other hand - we don't - I would stink!

Tessa

Swartzy · May 29, 2007

Heh...I got it
With the little man sliding the rule..you could call it........."Slide Rule"..yuk yuk

davev · May 29, 2007

I like the idea, but not so much the results. The vanishing point is wrong.

The ruler as it gets farther away it is spreading out more. It should be the opposite.
Tighten that up, reshoot, and I think it will be great.
Maybe try a few other lighting angles also. A spot light against the fence/ruler from behind may look good.

LiquidAir · May 29, 2007

Swartzy wrote:

With the little man sliding the rule..you could call it........."Slide Rule"..yuk yuk

Heh. I've got a slide rule I can use as a prop...

LiquidAir · May 29, 2007

davev wrote:

I like the idea, but not so much the results. The vanishing point is wrong.

The ruler as it gets farther away it is spreading out more. It should be the opposite.
Tighten that up, reshoot, and I think it will be great.
Maybe try a few other lighting angles also. A spot light against the fence/ruler from behind may look good.

The ruler isn't long enough, so I faked the vanishing point by stretching it out. Doing it right will require some trickery and a lot of Photoshop work.

Getting lighting I like for this shot has proven very tough. I put the light where it is because I like the shadows it casts, but that is not written in stone at this point. One downside of that is it limits where I can put the light and illuminate his face. The other challenge of lighting this secene is that the figure is varnished so it kicks off some pretty nasty spectular reflections when you hit is with hard light source. One thing I am considering is desaturating everything but the ruler. Converting the figure to black and white will give me some latitude to tone down the harshness of the light on him.

LiquidAir · May 31, 2007

This one is for Swartzy:

Slide Rule

LiquidAir · May 31, 2007

I took another shot at this to try out some of Dave's ideas. While I still think they are good ideas, I couln't turn them into something I liked better than the original. When I get a perspective I like on the ruler, the camera angle on the figurine leaves him looking flat. There likely is a solution to that puzzle, but so far I haven't found it. In the meantime, I took a shot improving the original in Photoshop:

Bending the Rule

Swartzy · May 31, 2007

Hysterical!

LiquidAir wrote:

This one is for Swartzy:

Slide Rule

I love it!....somehow with different lighting would be like way cool. I'm digging your second one down below too. My goodness my stomach hurts....laughing out loud!

richtersl · May 31, 2007

Sheer genius!

LiquidAir wrote:

This one is for Swartzy:

Slide Rule

:encore

Nikolai · May 31, 2007

Ken,
You're having too much fun with this little wooden fella.

I think I see a new avatar coming soon..

Frog Lady · June 1, 2007

LiquidAir wrote:

This one is for Swartzy:

Slide Rule

I too

(literally) when I got to this image. Way too much fun:D Do you think the "slide" is angular enough for this to be your entry?

C.

Arnica · June 1, 2007

Bright idea, wonderful shot !

sherstone · June 1, 2007

LiquidAir wrote:

I took another shot at this to try out some of Dave's ideas. While I still think they are good ideas, I couln't turn them into something I liked better than the original. When I get a perspective I like on the ruler, the camera angle on the figurine leaves him looking flat. There likely is a solution to that puzzle, but so far I haven't found it. In the meantime, I took a shot improving the original in Photoshop:

I really like this - the color and mood is great.
There is one thing about it that I find a bit distracting though, the shadow in the very bottom right corner attracts a lot of my attention away from the main image. I'm really not sure if removing it would improve the image but I felt you might want to look at it and see.

EDIT: looking at it further - removing it would ruin the angles you have, but I still end up looking down at it and have to realise that it is a shadow coming from the hidden part of the rule.

Tessa HD · June 1, 2007

your second one is excellent! i'd enter it!

Tessa

Smashtoad · June 1, 2007

I find the idea very creative but the figure is not attractive to the eye...therefore I have a hard time believing people will vote for it. Let's face it...in this contest, deeply saturated color is going to play a large role.

Have you considered painting the figure a fantastic color that compliments the rule and the lighting? Or maybe a cheesy smiley face drawn crudely on the figure...I mean...it's a cheesy (albeit very creative) photo to begin with, so without color or emotion...I don't know how I'd vote for it. I hope this critique was constructive...no intent to offend.

Good luck!

LiquidAir · June 1, 2007

Frog Lady wrote:

I too (literally) when I got to this image. Way too much fun:D Do you think the "slide" is angular enough for this to be your entry?

C.

Thanks. Personally, I don't think the slide is enough of an angle to qualify. That said, when life settles down a bit (I have family coming to town for the next week), I'll reshoot it with better light (per Swartzy's suggestion) for the whipping post.

LiquidAir · June 1, 2007

Nikolai wrote:

You're having too much fun with this little wooden fella.
I think I see a new avatar coming soon..

Yep... I don't think you have seen the last of him. This guy and the martini glass are the two subjects I have shot so far that I really enjoy and intend to keep working with.

Avatars... Hmmm. Don't have one yet. I'll have to see if I can come up with a little man shot that looks good very small.

LiquidAir · June 1, 2007

Arnica wrote:

Bright idea, wonderful shot !

Thanks!

LiquidAir · June 1, 2007

sherstone wrote:

I really like this - the color and mood is great.
There is one thing about it that I find a bit distracting though, the shadow in the very bottom right corner attracts a lot of my attention away from the main image. I'm really not sure if removing it would improve the image but I felt you might want to look at it and see.

EDIT: looking at it further - removing it would ruin the angles you have, but I still end up looking down at it and have to realise that it is a shadow coming from the hidden part of the rule.

I have given that shadow the evil eye more than once and up 'till now I have been leaving my head in the sand about the issue (I wonder if that works better for ostriches than it does for photographers?). Reading your post prompted me to see if I can find something to do about it. Here is an attempt to subtley soften the shadow without removing it.

Working on that shadow without screwing up the texture of the plywood is tricky, and I may yet revisit it to see if I can do a better job.

DaveK · June 1, 2007

Very creative and I agree on the title being perfect.

photogmomma · June 1, 2007

i love the last one - helps with the shadow lightened.

LiquidAir · June 1, 2007

Smashtoad wrote:

I find the idea very creative but the figure is not attractive to the eye...therefore I have a hard time believing people will vote for it. Let's face it...in this contest, deeply saturated color is going to play a large role.

Have you considered painting the figure a fantastic color that compliments the rule and the lighting? Or maybe a cheesy smiley face drawn crudely on the figure...I mean...it's a cheesy (albeit very creative) photo to begin with, so without color or emotion...I don't know how I'd vote for it. I hope this critique was constructive...no intent to offend.

Good luck!

I am not offended at all by your comments. Reactions like yours are quite hard to solicit and I value them when I get them.

I have been experimenting with color shifts on the various part of the shot in Photoshop, but I am trying to keep true to my original vision which is essentially a cartoon in wood. To that end, I am trying to keep the colors in a range that is plausibly a wood tone.

LPS#6 - Is this idea worth developing?

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