8th Place no more red by Michael Puff by Canon DSLR Challenge

Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> CSLR CHALLENGE 89: Blue (hosted by Nico Conradie) >> ELIGIBLE > 8th Place no more red by Michael Puff


11-MAR-2007	Michael Puff

Canon EOS 20D ,Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
1/125s f/8.0 at 50.0mm iso200 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto

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Guest		16-Mar-2007 12:36
Ahhh...my 24mm spread was too wide, way too wide LOL.. Thanks for 'waking' me up. I hadn't noticed that before. Thank you, Debbi

Guest		16-Mar-2007 05:22
Debbi, I don't have a set-up image to show you, but it's fairly straight forward. I use 580EX flashes with the ST-E2 Transmitter on the camera. That's the most important thing is getting the flashes off the camera hot shoe and having the ability to fire 1 or more flashes from different angles. If you are using hot lights (desk lamps will do), then they are already off the camera. Many times I will use a piece of aluminum foil (not high-tech, but it works) to create a "snoot" around the flash head, but one could do this with a desk lamp as well (I have). A "snoot" is nothing more than a cylinder around the light source which focuses the light where you want it and keeps spill away from where you don't want it...works particularly well with dark backgrounds. Hope that makes sense, but holler if I've been obtuse and haven't explained it well. -Michael

Guest		15-Mar-2007 22:22
Michael, I would love to see a set up of how you lit this. When I photograph black (bottom) on black (backdrop) I always get stray light that lights up the backdrop to an off-black color. Any tips? Debbi

Canon DSLR Challenge		15-Mar-2007 02:52
No - thank YOU Michael, for posting such an interesting image and explaining how you did it, and also for the info on cyanotype in Larry's Civil War picture. I always learn so much from you and the others here and am grateful that you all are so willing to share your knowledge. I need all the help I can get! ;-) CJ

Guest		15-Mar-2007 02:47
CJ, oops!. I feel so silly, but it's fixed now. Thank you! -Michael

Guest		15-Mar-2007 00:00
Thanks Cindy, Vikas, CJ. CJ, I don't think there is a reflection of the strawberry behind the brush. I believe all those reflections belong to other strawberries, but when I get home I'll check the full resolution image just to be sure. Yep, I think there are lots of fun variations one could do on this theme. Cindy, I'm going to have a bowl of the Strawberry Grand Marnier ice cream that I whipped up from these berries and ponder your insights into deeper meaning. I understand your thoughts on the background and agree that a casual background would work nicely. My choice for a very formal look was precisely to be incongruous, just as a blue strawberry is incongruous. -Michael

Canon DSLR Challenge		14-Mar-2007 17:31
Very innovative! - I like it! I thought it interesting that the reflection of the one blue strawberry by the paint brush was not blue. Was this on purpose? Deeper meaning? lol! It might be fun to see all blue strawberries with red reflections - "true color shining through"! CJ

Canon DSLR Challenge		14-Mar-2007 17:20
Very Very nice Michael, beautifully done. Cheers, Vikas.

Canon DSLR Challenge		13-Mar-2007 15:00
Deeper Meaning - The human drive to change the already perfect? Genetic Engineering - (after all we are now producing glow in the dark green piglets by including jellyfish DNA) It is only a matter of time before blue strawberries hit the market :). Although my "Painting the Roses Red" in the last challenge was an obvious play on Alice in Wonderland - it actually did occur to me that the human species is absurd enough to do it. We even do it to ourselves with permanent lip and eye liner etc. lol - that is what I thought of when I saw your (very cool) creation here. * Although I do like the reflection and backdrop . . . in a way it doesn't seem to fit the image. The crinkled brown paper bag, the brush with paint still in the scene . . .then that reflections and highly controlled backdrop as seen in a set-up food glamor shot. I think it needs a more spontaneous looking environment. Cindy

jnconradie		13-Mar-2007 08:39
Marvellous. [ So it was not the "Harry Potter wizard", after all, who was weaving his magic here! :-) ] Thanks, Michael, for that explanation. I have to confess I have never ventured into lab colour yet (only read about it in books). Just this one paragraph from you has again confirmed to me how much I still have to learn - and also how fantastic it is to have photo-friends willing to share their expertise so graciously. I now have lots of new ideas! Thanks again. Regards jnconradie PS. No, I did not read some incredible symbolism into the image and was just wondering whether I had actually missed the point.

Guest		13-Mar-2007 05:53
Thanks all, appreciate the comments. Nico, glad you liked the arrangement...I love to shoot still life and that crinkled paper bag was just begging for some good light (apparently it's a sin to put organic strawberries in plastic...who knew?). The color change was actually done in post processing. A copy of the image converted to lab color, the a and b channels both inverted will turn red to blue. While the color is swapped in the a and b channels, the luminosity channel is untouched. This blue version was copied into the color version as a layer and masked. I then actually back off the blue with a mask, particularly on each seed to allow original color to show a bit...this is the most realistic look I've come up with (and is the way I did Green Eggs & Ham, btw). As for "deeper meaning", none intended (I just like funny art). However, if you find some deeper meaning that appeals to you then I think you should go with it and tell everyone you know what I really meant, LOL. -Michael

Guest		13-Mar-2007 00:34
Wow, another knockout! I love your thinking, it's so creative! Debbi

Canon DSLR Challenge		13-Mar-2007 00:15
Neat idea. Looks tasty also, well maybe not the blue ones. 8-) theFly

jnconradie		12-Mar-2007 20:04
What a beautiful arrangement, Michael. I thought at first you changed the colours in post-processing, but the more I look at it, it does look like real paint. Definitely out-of-the-box. Great reflection and the lighting creates lot of depth and texture. Is there some "deeper meaning" here? Or am I trying to read more into it than what was intended :-) Compliments and regards jnconradie

Canon DSLR Challenge		12-Mar-2007 18:19
I like your idea Michael. :) Ann