photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
ctfchallenge | all galleries >> Challenge 68: Complexity >> Challenge 68: Complexity Eligible > multitask*
previous | next
16-NOV-2004 PhotoNUT

multitask*

PS Work
Crop, Levels, Hue, Contrast, UnSharpen Mask

Monitor screen:
Windows Desktop color was black, the 15 sec exposure made it turn white. It also helped create the effect with the coffee cup trail.

Canon PowerShot S410
15s f/2.8 at 7.4mm full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
comment | share
PhotoNUT 22-Nov-2004 04:09
Thanks Markjay. After playing with this composition again last night, I prefer this angle, colors and white screen in the photo above. Last night I re-shot this scene 70 times, I didn’t like any of them as much as this image. Time well spent because I learned a lot.

theFly and Pops, thanks for your tips!

1. theFly’s tip about turning the monitor off shortly into the shoot. I left it on for 1-2 seconds and left it overexposed. I couldn’t make that technique work. : (

2. Pops suggestion about the 2 images, one for the screen and one for the 15 second exposure. That worked well, but the colors and composition I did not like. It made a more realistic image having something on the screen, but this above image looks more artistic to me.
ctfchallenge22-Nov-2004 00:44
I like the image, and ditto many of the positive comments about the image previously posted. I don't happen to like this particular angle of view. Markjay
PhotoNUT 19-Nov-2004 05:08
Pops and Lonnit:
Pops, thanks for the tip. With Photoshop the sky is the limit, but I like to try and make the camera do most of the work. I will reshoot this weekend, trying theFly's tip with monitor on for a very brief moment, during the 15 sec exposure. My gut feeling says it won't work, I think it's still too much light, but I will try.

If that doesn’t work I will do as Pops suggested, with 2 separate shots. I think that idea will make the best quality photo. I don't mind the reshoot, this is only my second time playing with long exposures.
Guest 19-Nov-2004 04:33
Oh, I just meant cheat and PS it in instead of going thru all the work of a reshoot. :) OTOH, if you like to redo your work, you could just tape a print to the screen, cut to size. Perhaps you could tape this shot to it, although then I'd have to complain that there was still a blown white screen on the print on the monitor! ;) Hey, what if you just turned the brightness of the screen waaaaaay down. I guess you'd have to play with it a bit to get the right brightness for the length of exposure. ~ Lonnit
Guest 18-Nov-2004 12:50
Another alternative is take two shots. One exposed for the monitor and one exposed for you. Then you can merge the monitor area into the other photograph. It's a technique that architectural photographers use on interior shots all the time.
Rod 18-Nov-2004 11:09
That's it!!! Stone Henge # 1083 would look perfect on the screen.............cept I won't lend it to ya:-)
PhotoNUT 18-Nov-2004 04:26
That’s a *GOOD* idea, I never thought of that. I could turn it off quickly after 1-3 seconds. I will still have to play with the brightness/contrast on the monitor. When I took this photo, the monitor produced hardly any light, and the only other light in the room was a lamp at the far corner of a room (12-14 feet away), it was on VERY low, I had to use a small flashlight so the camera had something to focus onto. The room was quite dark. I will try more on the weekend.

Thanks for the tip!
ctfchallenge18-Nov-2004 03:41
Have you tried having someone unplug the monitor during the exposure. Then you could capture the desktop image. theFly
PhotoNUT 18-Nov-2004 02:50
Thank you for the comments theFly, Uncle Rod, Mark, and Lonnit.

Lonnit, Re: *the monitor screen*:
I tried all sorts of things, but at 15 second exposure, it will over expose almost everything. I had two options, turn off the monitor (tried that didn’t like it) or leave it on, and play with the monitor and camera settings. So I set Windows Desktop color to black, moved all the icons to the center (so they didn’t over expose into the monitor frame) and I got a white screen with crisp edges after 15 seconds. The only way to get something on the screen, would be Photoshop. Just too much light for a long exposure photo.

I could use Photoshop and put some styrofoam rocks on the screen.

; )
Guest 17-Nov-2004 19:05
I like the shot, good creativity and well done. The only thing is that I would like for something to be on the screen. It's brightness is distracting - unless the point of the shot is that you are so distracted by other things you can't get the work done. ~ Lonnit
Guest 17-Nov-2004 14:13
Well Done! Especially for the topic. Mark
Rod 17-Nov-2004 12:30
I think that works really well Nutcase. It's not easy to get set up shots to work but with the angle of the shot you nailed it. Well done:-)
ctfchallenge17-Nov-2004 11:47
On topic and good picture MR. Nut. theFly