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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 40 RED (hosted by thubleau) >> Challenge 40 Eligible > Strawberries In a Hurry/Strawberries as Comets*
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24-APR-2005 Traveller

Strawberries In a Hurry/Strawberries as Comets*

Okay, my shooting of Red Silk Ties experiment didn't exactly work out, or rather the pictures just proved to be desperately uninteresting...lol...so I never presented them for the Challenge.

But here, steal a couple of strawberries from your local salad bar, sew them together, hang from a ceiling fan, shoot at 1/13s@f4 with the 70~200f4 in Tv Mode, flash, and...see what you get. I've always admired people that can do these kinds of pictures. I played with different white points in PS, but I didn't want to over Photoshop the image. As a philosophical conceit, I tend to think that pictures should have some resemblance to what is there. The static pictures of the Strawberries were better in this sense and were very good, but I wanted the Strawberries in motion...a picture representing a traditionally Still Life subject but with movement energy.

Practice, practice, practice, this is how you learn...

Canon EOS 350D
1/13s f/4.0 at 118.0mm iso100 with Flash full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Canon DSLR Challenge29-Apr-2005 09:25
Thanks Grant and Angela:

They do have a certain succulence now, don't they...lol.

Yes, Angela, I tried lots of different backgrounds and particularly liked again the violet pastel....for an emotional warmth. Maybe because color conveys emotion, or, better phrased, maybe because color IS emotion, differing backgrounds just feel different and that is often my difficulty.

But this black one does strengthen the graphical elements or the image.

Thanks again for the help.

Best Wishes,

Traveller
Guest 28-Apr-2005 17:24
I like this much better. Well done.

Grant
Guest 28-Apr-2005 13:34
Wow this is quite different. I barely recognized it just now when I opened the challenge gallery up. LOL I actually did a double take.

I do like the black as opposed to the more yellowish background. Did you try other colors? What about green? I know, that could look rather Christmas-y, but red and green are natural complements to each other.. it might really bring out the reds in great contrast. (*) Here, even though I do like the black, I feel that the strawberries will almost be swallowed by it? Just my .02. :)

And, after rereading your comments, it sounds like the thought of going in again to edit in Photoshop is not something you'll be greatly looking forward to. *wink* In that case, I say leave it :)
Canon DSLR Challenge28-Apr-2005 08:56
Drat! Grant, do you have to be right about everything...lol

I still retain a fondness for the neutral background for unaccountable reasons. But this IS better thanks to your insistent (?) advice, (smile). The stark white I thought about didn't work, but I do like this much better. I cloned out miscellaneous elements, but I don't still know how to get rid of that white little piece of leaf that I should have removed from the Stawberry even before I took the shot.

In any case, thanks for the help, really.

Best Wishes,

Traveller
Guest 24-Apr-2005 22:27
It might take 2 seconds to fix. If you have a RAW, re-open it and use the little eyedropper on the left side of the window and click on the background. The other way would be to open up the levels dialog and use the white dropper to click on the background. Shouldn't take long.

Grant
Canon DSLR Challenge24-Apr-2005 10:06
Hi Grant:

This morning when I saw your note I had a, "Slap the Forehead," moment. Of Course, lets hit the yellow channel...and then I realilzed that I didn't have a clue what that meant....lol

Last night while working in Photoshop, the thought ran through my brain, "Somebody help me before I hurt myself!" And I laughed. After much manipulation this image had a lovely violet pastel background...and I liked it, but I also recognized that, This way lies madness...lol...so I went back to the original neutral background and posted that, at least in part just to be done with it and be able to move on.

Today I really wanted to re-cut this image with your thought in mind...It can be better, (maybe), but other projects needed to get out and now I feel that if I never have to photoshop another image, I'll at last find true happiness, (grin).

I really wanted a stark white background....I think. For all the years I've been working in Photshop you'd imagine I'd be better with it than I am...I have huge books on PS, all mostly unread...lol

But the images just keep piling up....you've got to work your way through the best of them and, shark-like, just keep moving forward.

Or, as Sachel Page once famously said, Don't look back, they might be gaining on you....lol

(I do realize that in the time it has taken to write this I could have re-worked this image...but at this moment, writing is fun, and the thought of more PS is rather frightening).

I suspect many of us often feel this way.

Real Best Wishes,

Traveller








Guest 23-Apr-2005 15:51
I appreciate your concerns about teh white balance but it still looks off. Too yellow. This isn't photojournalism so I don't know why you need to make it look too realistic. To me, over-photoshopped is when people try to make things look like a sketch or a painting. But I may be in the minority.