Gloves & Scissors

DaddyO

An effort I made a little while back. Would appreciate your thoughts.
I'm pretty novice at working B&W's but I'll get there.
Do you like one better than the other? Thanks in advance. :bow
I love that little guy! Michael

Skippy

DaddyO wrote:

An effort I made a little while back. Would appreciate your thoughts.
I'm pretty novice at working B&W's but I'll get there.
Do you like one better than the other? Thanks in advance.
I love that little guy! Michael

Hi there DaddyO ....... looks like you processed these shots differently.
The first one is softer with less noise, sort of has a smoother look.

Also your B&W converstion is darker on the first image.

Second Shot is more shades of Grey, and looks to have a bit of grain to it.

I prefer the second shot with the wood floor as the background,
to me it suites the tools of the trade so to speak better than the fluffy blanket used on the first shot.

Andy has a great little Tutorial on B&W conversions
Check out the link at the Dgrin Tutorial Section below.

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1126557

You did very well with these converstions, I think once you see Andy's Tutorial you will be surprised at the results you can get too

Thanks for sharing ........ Skippy
.

Awais Yaqub

Nice photos i liked the 2nd placement of gloves is nice

DaddyO

My thanks for your comments and taking the time.

Appreciate the link Skippy. I'll check it out. Hopefully I can get more impact applied to this effort.

I wanted shot #1 to be the winner but seems shot 2 wins out. Nuts! :cry

The scissors are vintage sheep shears so I thought placing them on a sheepskin would be the thing to do.

Its in me to play around in PS with filters when ever I think I can get more.
Besides the B&W conversion....
Shot 1. PS Filters - Stylize - Diffuse - Anisotropic (light touch there)
One of my favorite filters! It does some wonderful stuff to photos!
Shot 2. Went with high grain for high ISO Tri-X pan film effect. Might have
gone heavy handed there. At 5 ft. you can't hardly tell the grain.

Thanks again! Michael

Foochar

DaddyO wrote:

The scissors are vintage sheep shears so I thought placing them on a sheepskin would be the thing to do.

I actually wondered if that was effect you were going for with #1. I think your title may have something to with that, "scissors" puts my mind in a different frame of reference than "shears" would... I wonder if a rougher looking sheepskin, or a pile of raw wool would make for a better background, for me there the dichotomy of the rough shears and gloves and the clean, almost synthetic look of the sheepskin doesn't work...

Skippy

DaddyO wrote:

My thanks for your comments and taking the time.

Appreciate the link Skippy. I'll check it out. Hopefully I can get more impact applied to this effort.

I wanted shot #1 to be the winner but seems shot 2 wins out. Nuts! :cry

The scissors are vintage sheep shears so I thought placing them on a sheepskin would be the thing to do.

Its in me to play around in PS with filters when ever I think I can get more.
Besides the B&W conversion....
Shot 1. PS Filters - Stylize - Diffuse - Anisotropic (light touch there)
One of my favorite filters! It does some wonderful stuff to photos!
Shot 2. Went with high grain for high ISO Tri-X pan film effect. Might have
gone heavy handed there. At 5 ft. you can't hardly tell the grain.

Thanks again! Michael

It's a sheep skin ???????? narrrrrrrrrr, it looks like a fluffy blanket.
Sorry but I didn't see it as a sheep skin at all.
Hmmmmm needs some ruggedness about it ... Skippy
.

DaddyO

Agreed. I see it now. Will reshoot from your suggestions. Ruggedness.

Foochar, your are right about scissors vs shears. Should have been in the title. It will be next time! You, Skippy and everyone else have helped me see the light on the first shot. It does look too synthetic and "fluffy" blanket. Can't tell its wool. Doesn't work.

Just bought a small amount of sheeps wool from a seller on ebay. Half ounce of it. Thats like a life time supply for me.

My thanks to everyone! Michael

banjon

DaddyO wrote:

Agreed. I see it now. Will reshoot from your suggestions. Ruggedness.

Foochar, your are right about scissors vs shears. Should have been in the title. It will be next time! You, Skippy and everyone else have helped me see the light on the first shot. It does look too synthetic and "fluffy" blanket. Can't tell its wool. Doesn't work.

Just bought a small amount of sheeps wool from a seller on ebay. Half ounce of it. Thats like a life time supply for me.

My thanks to everyone! Michael

I was going to suggest if you had a clump of wool implying we just cut some wool, leading out near the edge might work.

I agree, it looked like a fluffy blanket.

Rich

DaddyO

Rich, Was wondering how to best use the raw wool. Where to place it, how much et... At the open end of the shears seems the logical spot as you suggest. Will do that shot and maybe a few other configurations and see what comes out the more interesting.

I'd really like to be doing white faced woman with orange flower on her cheek. + other accents.

Thank you!

Michael

banjon

DaddyO wrote:

Rich, Was wondering how to best use the raw wool. Where to place it, how much et... At the open end of the shears seems the logical spot as you suggest. Will do that shot and maybe a few other configurations and see what comes out the more interesting.

I'd really like to be doing white faced woman with orange flower on her cheek. + other accents.

Try 'teasing' the wool with a brush, it will make it fuller and give some nice depth. Try it on the wood surface.

Not sure if the fluffy wool blanket works - maybe placed at an angle showing the raw edge diagonal to the wood - so lines intersect. Then the gloves and sheers bind the wood to the wool. If the edge is not a hide, then use straight pins to tuck the finished edge at different intervals and you can almost simulate a wool hide.

The reason I say its kind of tough is that a sheep when sheered looks like it had a crew cut. Thats why I think it will work better with the clump of teased wool, plus you get the texture of wood to complete the rough and soft look. Better balance for the cold steel.

Good luck.

DaddyO

Rich, I actually think the "fluffy" blanket works in its way so as to speak.
If the shot were to sell it would have to be to someone in the industry whos sees the background and shears for what they are. Having said that there is still the incongruent goof. Shearing to skinning. I put this photo shoot together on the quick. So I didn't pour a heck of a lot of thought into it other than grab what I had and find some light. The shot was more about the unseen worker, end of days job and the task + tools telling what that job was. Wanted simple elements. How many people know what vintage sheep shears look like? So I did the sheepskin background to suggest it. Cept for it was too much. Like too much ice cream too much. Couldn't cut the sheepskin cause my wife would skin me. Just so you know, the gloves are mine. While I do get paid to use my head I'm still expected to dig in and swet.

Thank you for pouring so much thought into this one. Its helping lots and will in other shots as well. See things I didn't see. Consider more. Was also thinking about using just an edge of the sheepskin as you point out.
Neat that you suggested it. Could work. The wool coming in is 6 inches long "santas beard stuff" so I will have to cut and tease. All final elements have to "act" natural. Its going to work. Has to after this great conversation from all of you. Michael

banjon

Thats cool. I was also thinking about rolling the wool allowing the shears to have an underneath shadow. Then have the clumps of wool position along the wool blanket.

I actually thought the shears were old sheet metal snips. My dad an a set that looked similar, however the handles are different. Maybe showing a bit more of the handle may spark an interest and draw into the photo.

Experiment. Its digital. Try a few different poses. Amazing how the time goes when you do stills. One night I spent a few hours before I realized it. I learned a lot from the experience.

Love to see your next results

Rich