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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 109: Mechanical Art (Hosted by Barry Shaffer) >> Eligible > The Mechanics of Terror, Tearing and Ripping....
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16-DEC-2007 Traveller

The Mechanics of Terror, Tearing and Ripping....

...this is maybe a failed experiment, it is better than I feared, but still not what I saw in my mind's eye. The actual mechanics of these terrible claws seemed self-apparent...and I liked the image and shot it for this reason...biologic mechanics, I suppose.

I may give this a another try tomorrow.


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Canon DSLR Challenge25-Dec-2007 19:50
I like the composition, the subject, and the concept; but I agree that the foreground and background could be blended a bit differently perhaps. Very interesting image. --mlynn
Guest 22-Dec-2007 00:48
This is super cool, Trav... I like the red background as it enhances the "terror" perception .. :) Nice job
Canon DSLR Challenge21-Dec-2007 21:20
Thanks so much for the detailed comment, Kelly. I will keep it for reference. I am working from basic CS, not 2 or 3. Nevertheless, I did Feather this at a 3 pixel radius...so this version is better than what I first had...but still, I agree, not good enough.

This was going to be a throw away shot however, just an experiment...but I have come to feel that this is good enough to keep in Eligible...because it is Mechanical and lays those levers bare.

Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge21-Dec-2007 19:14
Hey Trav! Ominous and carnivorous to be certain! Glad to see you expanding on your use of a such a powerful tool - no, no not the raptor - I meant Photoshop! I've forgotten - what version of CS are you using? CS3 has a marvelous addition of Refine Edge, but earlier versions still allow you to select varying feathering criteria so that when you make your selection (using the various tools, Lasso, Polygon, Magnetic, Magic Wand, Marquee, etc.) the edge of the selection will be softer - Make selection> right click, Feather or in CS3 Refine Edge. Just how soft of course depends, but as a general rule of thumb, I like to create an edge whose softness is nearly the same quality as other nearby edges. If you're already hip to all of this, please forgive the intrusion. If you're okay with such comments, then here's an other idea for you experiment with: After you've made your selection feathered, right click, Layer via Copy and then duplicate the layer, Ctrl+m (Image>Adjustments>Curves...) and make that thing look more ominous! Lastly - just an idea mind you - Ctrl+t (Edit>Tranform>Rotate), right click, Rotate 180° - Fun stuff! - Kelly
jnconradie20-Dec-2007 06:39
Thanks for the reply and location info, Traveller. Sincerely appreciated. Regards Nico
Canon DSLR Challenge19-Dec-2007 12:16
It certainly is a killing machine Trav! Those claws are frightening and as you said... "The actual mechanics of these terrible claws seemed self-apparent." !

I gave up commenting on images for a while because so many of them disappeared and been meaning to come back to this... it is eye catching with the red background.

Trav... you really should try not to allow such a gap between meals... I sometimes do that and it AINT GOOD! 'The body reackons the throat has been cut and this must be the last meal... so it stores it as 'animal fat'... and that is not good!... So you have been told by Dr Bob! (well ... a chemist is nearly a Doc?... )

~ Regards Melbob


Canon DSLR Challenge18-Dec-2007 23:07
Hi Traveller,
I like the image, and the background. Dripping blood might be even more effective, but this is good.
I also like your account of your visit to the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition. I would love to see it. There's something about seeing ancient versions of old texts. I remember when I visited the Civil Rights museum in Birmingham, what had the most profound effect on me was seeing the original texts of the Jim Crow laws. The thought that supposedly educated people (at least people with law degrees) had written such things shook my faith in the power of education to enlighten.
All the best
Alastair
Canon DSLR Challenge18-Dec-2007 22:22
I'm glad our friendship has not flagged or failed, Nico...I shot this at the San Diego Natural History Museum, where I went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. As I wrote on my Travel Place:

but...coming home, and I tired hard to avoid it, but I stopped at Balboa Park....asked if I could do a walk in on the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition that was at the Natural History Museum and had just been extended through Jan 6, 2008.

I couldn't find parking so I said to hell with it, stole some 15 minute parking and went to the Botanical Gardens, which was pretty cool, left, stole some more 15 minute parking in another spot and photographed the famous Carousel and miraculously long term parking right in front of the Exhibit opened up for me.

So there was a $28 Dollar entrance fee...what the hell, how often do you get to see the Dead Sea Scrolls? Now it is true that I had caught a cold, I hadn't eaten since the previous night with Jag and so by the time I left it was 22 hours without food, and maybe like the desert mystics, I was also in a fevered state of arousal...

Now it was best I was alone because no one was going spend, as did I, 4 hours in the Exhibits, going back and forth, reading the 10 Commandments in ancient Aramaic, the War Apocalypse, the Messianic Apocalypse...the Testimonia, the Lease Contracts from 34BCE....gads, it was profound for me.

Listen, they are only fragments...and I mean most often only small, small fragments...and yet, and yet...the written word over the eons spoke to me.

They were Words and somehow they proved to me that Words matter.

Really.

The 10 Commandments in the Dead Sea Scrolls differ significantly from the KJV we are familiar with...they read better, they are in better order....they are just significantly different...and another passage, The Good News isn't the coming of Christ or even of God's Word...The Good News is that the poor will be relieved of their bondage, (in Heaven?).

These may seem like distinctions without a difference, but not so...these biblical texts give a different meaning. And why the Changes? Why the erasures and crossed out and written over text?

Damn, I just checked the Official Exhibit Catalog that I purchased and they don't have the text I want...but the First Commandment is:

"You shall not swear falsely in my name." In effect, bearing false witness being supreme among sins...and I can get behind that.

If you are in San Diego before Jan 6, and you have a taste for this kind of thing, you should see the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Best Wishes, Traveller
jnconradie18-Dec-2007 21:14
Most eye-catching indeed! Where did you shoot it, if I may ask? Regards Nico
Canon DSLR Challenge18-Dec-2007 20:22
Lovely image Traveller; but if this is mechanical I could just take a picture of my wife ;) -mcbit
Canon DSLR Challenge18-Dec-2007 18:11
Tweeked or not, I like it! It screams terror due to the red background. The claw shows up beautifully against it. shu
Canon DSLR Challenge18-Dec-2007 16:53
I don't think it deserves Pending, Trav. Perhaps just a bit of blurring on the background and a tad bit of blurring the edges of the subject so it doesn't look so 'placed' there against the background. You know? As I said, I like it... just needs a tweek, IMHO. ~Lydia
Canon DSLR Challenge18-Dec-2007 16:40
I like it Traveler - biomechanics in the extreme form! Cindy
Canon DSLR Challenge18-Dec-2007 14:59
Really? I don't often do Gradient Maps, so I was trying to teach myself this tool...yes, the background of children and wives and husbands have been erased. I tried lighting effects, spot, etc, and they didn't really work either.

I wanted this to be a kind of wall of dripping blood...like in a horror movie poster. I had not the talent to get there. Hey, I'm sure I learned something...lol

I think I'll move this to pending in a day or two.

Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge18-Dec-2007 13:20
I like the idea, Trav... and everything except the background... too harsh, I think. Was it added later? ~Lydia