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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 48: Games and Hobbies (hosted by Gayle Knowles) >> Challenge 48 Exhibition > white queen's demise 2 *
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05-SEP-2002 Kelly Bellis

white queen's demise 2 *

Minolta DiMAGE 7i
1/90s f/9.5 at 23.4mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time05-Sep-2002 17:21:00
MakeMinolta
ModelDiMAGE 7i
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length23.4 mm
Exposure Time1/90 sec
Aperturef/9.5
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programaperture priority (3)
Focus Distance

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Guest 23-Aug-2005 02:54
Kelly, thank you sooo much for the details. I'm still digesting it all, but your explanation is very readable and makes sense to me. I definitely want to play with these techniques. Again, thank you. -Michael
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Aug-2005 01:42
Thank you Michael. I think I tend to agree with you about the simplest being my favorite (although kinda of torn between it and the earlier one in the sky) but had a blast doing them all.

I set up the chess pieces for white queen's demise 2 and 4 first on a mirror in their positions as I wanted them on the chess board. Then for white queen's demise 2 without moving the camera or the mirror, I removed the pices and and shot the chess board so that it would be in proper place/ perspective. For white queen's demise 4 the soft/ flexible chess board got shot from somewhat similar and more distant vantage point but draped over a box. Then in Photoshop all of the pieces were isolated and put on spearate layers including their reflections to their own discrete layers. The chess board also on its own layer, the opacity of which ended up being 58% and 80%, and the periphery being decreasingly erased.

For the earlier one, white queen's demise, I took a sheet of glass and laid it over the chess board, set up the pieces and then suspended the glass over the edge of a table and shot it from beneath. In order to get the chess board in perspective, I imported the image of the suspended chess pieces into AutoCAD and drew a perspective grid based on their locations and did a sceeen capture (see below). Next I shot the chess board tacked to a wall trying to minimize any effects of perspective and then brought the image into Photoshop and using Edit, Transform, Distort forced the chess board into the same perspective as the chess pieces with the help of the grid, finally displayed at 4% opacity with the periphery largely erased. I tried a bunch of sky shots before deciding on the one in the final image.

I really wanted to work on a NEW image, but work is very, very busy and I just haven't had the time to concentrate on it. - Kelly

Guest 22-Aug-2005 23:34
Kelly, this is a wonderfully bold and creative series you've done. I think this simplest of the three is my favorite. I'd like to hear more about the set up and techniques you used. -Michael
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Aug-2005 20:53
Agrahhhhhhhhh! Which is maybe why I was never that good a chess player, though I suppose I was decent enough. You are correct, of course, Knight to F1, Check, and presto....I'm not quite sure why I couldn't see it.

It was late when I was looking at this, which explains some things I suppose, but I knew that you wouldn't take this picture unless you were a fairly good chess player, you simply wouldn't have the props nor the interest to set this up.

What is frustrating is that I presupposed that your positioning was correct and yet I still couldn't see it...ah, all my life, nothing looking backwards is worth seeing...lol

Best Wishes,

Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Aug-2005 10:32
Traveller - I'll never hate you. I'm delighted that you took five minutes to think about the play - something that I cooked up three years ago and quite frankly hadn't looked at until you mentioned it; however, with it being black's move n-f1! makes it impossible to save white's queen (black's next move qxq). - Kelly
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Aug-2005 10:04
Kelly, I know that you're going to hate me for this...but I've been playing this in my head for the past 5 minutes....and even if it is Black's move, I don't see how you take the White Queen under any circumstances. Sorry, just my view. Best Wishes, Traveller
alexeig21-Aug-2005 21:46
Surreal