The * FLY? by Canon DSLR Challenge


29-APR-2006	Melbob

OH? ... SO... THIS is 'THE FLY'?
(no offence intended!)

Canon EOS 20D ,Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/13s f/8.0 at 100.0mm iso400 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto

Please do not delete, update, or otherwise edit others' entries
* Submitter retains all copyrights *

Canon DSLR Challenge		02-May-2006 03:58
OK. Note that any painting I'm suggesting is not on the image itself but on the mask. Basically, I'm suggesting adjusting levels on that part of the material in the shade of the fly. I have not tried it myself, but I'd take a try if I had access to the source images. -- Victor

Bob AYTON		02-May-2006 02:42
OK on that "thingy" in my pic.... I think it is a thread or something lower in the darkness OOF area. Not intended to be anything. Thanks for that tip. I the difficulty of course is keeping the underlying texture (threads) and not over painting with fly texture. (perhaps some opacity adjustment may do this) Thanks Victor, I would like to discuss this stuff perhaps in the forum. Regards Bob

Canon DSLR Challenge		02-May-2006 01:02
By the way, to simulate the shadow, here's what I would do. Create a levels adjustment layer and click the add layer mask button to add a mask to the adjustment layer. Paste a copy of the fly there. Use the move tool to move it where you want it. Keep it the same size. Invert the mask layer and apply gaussian blur to suit. For the levels adjustment layer, adjust the right slider on the output section to perhaps somewhere around the middle. You may wish to adjust red and green more than blue to give the shadow a blue bias, as if it were illuminated by blue sky, in contrast to the fly itself, which is illuminated by the sun (even if it's really flash). These steps are a bit out of order. I'd probably do the blur second to last and finally adjust opacity last.

Canon DSLR Challenge		02-May-2006 00:54
I'm not sure why that picture isn't displaying. I thought it would display automatically if posted that way. -- Victor

Canon DSLR Challenge		02-May-2006 00:54
http://www.pbase.com/victorengel/image/59524688/original.jpg

Canon DSLR Challenge		01-May-2006 04:36
Not sure what you mean by moon shape Victor. The jeans photo is as shot from the 20D. The only addition is the fly and its shadows. Hope this hasn't offended anyone? I played with the fly theme more as a light hearted approach rather than seriously expecting votes. Bob

Canon DSLR Challenge		01-May-2006 03:18
Was the moon shape part of your test, too? Or is that just part of your signature or something? -- Victor

Canon DSLR Challenge		01-May-2006 02:20
Your observations are spot-on. I had great difficulty trying to get the shadow right but as you correctly observed, shadows don't have detail like that. I copy/pasted a "size-reduced" fly, desaturated and darkened for its shadow to see if it could be convincing. I also used another copy/paste and slightly rotated copy to get the legs shadow to line up with the suggested light source and make the fly look to be clinging to the button. Clearly needs a lot more work. This is two photos, one of the jeans the other a fly on a leaf. The fly was painstakingly extracted, reduced, rotated and pasted onto the jeans then masked etc. Took ages and was fun, but as Victor said... doesn't really do it for me either. But... Hey ... its a learning process and I appreciate your skilled observation and comments. Thanks Guys you all passed my little test LOL. Bob.

Canon DSLR Challenge		01-May-2006 01:03
Techo, you're right. I noticed something weird about the shadow too, but I couldn't figure it out, so I didn't mention anything about that. -- Victor

Canon DSLR Challenge		30-Apr-2006 17:45
I like this version better than the "No Fly in these jeans" version. Kind of easier to find the focus point in this one. (*)What's supposed to be the fly's shadow? it's a bit strange to see the fly's details, I would think it to be one tone of color and perhaps show the jean's details instead? -Techo

Canon DSLR Challenge		30-Apr-2006 16:47
I like the idea, but the composition doesn't work for me. Also, the fly looks dead or stunned. -- Victor

Guest		30-Apr-2006 12:22
I like! 8-)

Canon DSLR Challenge		30-Apr-2006 11:33
Thanks Trav for your thoughtful suggestion. I will see how this goes. I really enjoy creating "different" takes on a theme and have lots to learn. (That's what keeps us young (at heart at least!)) Thanks again. Bob.

Canon DSLR Challenge		30-Apr-2006 10:45
Dear Mel: IMHO, this is by far the better of the three images. Do as you wish, but I'd remove one in Eligible and post this one in its place. I think that picking up any stray votes in this Challenge is going to be very difficult, but this one might do it. Best wishes, Traveller