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ctfchallenge | all galleries >> Challenge 79.Dark Side Of The Moon >> Challenge 79 Eligible > Cat's Money *
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4-16-2005 Photocat

Cat's Money *

Money, it's a crime
share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
money, so they say
is the root of all evil today


15th Apr, the TAX deadline in US, remainds me of horror story from 2001-2002 for many of us.
This picture is dedicated to the ones affected.

Here are some guidelines in interpreting this photo:

This picture represents my impression of the "2001-2002 Financial Bubble at Wall street".

The dark surface on which the bubble and my dollar sits represent the "dark side of the moon". The $ represents "money": MY MONEY! which I had invested in Wall Street. The golden color means that although its just a dollar, its GOLD (precious) to me.

The soap bubble represents the layer of protection which the government laws on Wall street assured me would be enough to safeguard it from the "greed" of the other people. The fragility of the soap bubble represents a kind of minimal confidence, which can be broken or can be cracked open any time and by any one if they want to, leaving my money open for stealing... And someone did! Remember Enron?

The soap bubble, sooner or later would burst as its not strong enough and the people who had money invested would loose all of it or most of it. And thats's what happend in 2001-2002. I lost my job, got laid off, was out of work for almost a year. So I KNOW how "dark" side of human can hurt lives. And what pink floyd's "Money" in wrong context might lead one to dream. People who steal turn a deaf ear to Pink Floyd. They don't see the real meaning.

The tiny bubbles in the photo represent other peoples' investments and their dreams which might grow and bust too. They are lot smaller, as they are insignificant to me as conmpared to my dream (shown as big bubble) The white speckles on the "dark side of the moon" represents someone elses bubble burst open and money stolen and what is left of it.

There are lots of ways pink floyd can be interpretted, but this is my way of doing it. Altough money is the first thing which comes to mind, I think there are more than one line I am trying to capture here. I see it as representing several things from the album: In between morality and immorality... Peace. -Cat


other sizes: small medium original auto
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ctfchallenge21-Apr-2005 12:52
Thanks Rod, I will keep that in mind and also I will have to learn the finer skill of PS from you in the long run. For now this is as far as I could go. Thanks again :-) -Cat
Rod 21-Apr-2005 09:44
That's a lot better Cats, terrific look to it now. Just a minor thing, "burning in"pure whites tends to give a dirty grey look. I don't know if a 50% fill of the nearest colour will suit this shot or not.
You got there in the end mate:-) Well done.
ctfchallenge21-Apr-2005 03:37
Thanks pfehlauer , Yes there are one dollor coins. This one is golden in color and Susan B. Anthony's etched picture on the other side. They are not in circulation as much as the quarter (25cents) as both of them and pretty close in size and people used to end up using the wrong ones in phone, vending machines, laundromat etc. :-) -Cat
Guest 21-Apr-2005 03:14
WAW... now it looks great...the golden color...for me....you did it! awesome pic...
bye the way... I've never seen a one dollar coin...
ctfchallenge21-Apr-2005 02:57
Here is what I have so far... Just a piece of mirror was looking odd, so I removed it completely. I have alos toned down the refelected highlights. Hope you guys like it now :-) -Cat
ctfchallenge20-Apr-2005 19:14
Thanks Nugar, I'll see what I can do. If can cleanly clone them I'll do, otherwise I'll just leave it as it. -Cat
ctfchallenge20-Apr-2005 18:31
Thanks pfehlauer, I will try the crop and also see if I can do anything about the old photo. so I could compare. Note to Abs: Actually the mirror represents the "dark side of the moon", so I thought to include the mirror (circular and all). Anyway, will post links of the crops later. -Cat
Nugar20-Apr-2005 18:28
Cat, about the reflected highlights, you can always clone them. I haven't seen this image at home, but at my work's monitor it seems like cloning them wouldn't affect the bubble's continuity.
ctfchallenge20-Apr-2005 18:06
oh yeah. by cropping most of the mirror will definitely solve the problem. well for me at least :) and i think you should be able to do that with landscape composition too. -Abstract
Guest 20-Apr-2005 17:55
I see Abs point and I agree from a compositional perspective, the bubble should be larger... but what I like better from this one are the missing white spots.. maybe crop it, and you'll get the best of both worlds...
ctfchallenge20-Apr-2005 15:15
Thank you all of you. Most of you liked this one over the previous one except Abs, So question for Abs: What if I crop from both sides and reduce the presence of the mirror and make it a verical compo instead of near square. Will that highlight the bubble and the coin? And don't worry about "harsh" feedbacks. I really don't mind any kind of critisism. I tried a different approach this time. One thing I have learnt that lighting a concave-mirror with a tranparent bubble and a shiny coin on it, IS NOT EASY. Especially with a table lamps, and the bubble going poof! every 5 sec or moving away from the DOF due to surface tension. I have tried Fly's suggestion, but then the mirror is not as dark as I would like it to be. Its reflecting the lighted wall too. :-) -Cat
ctfchallenge20-Apr-2005 14:30
Cat, i prefer the old one...by far better than this one.
IMHO now the mirror, which has nothing to do with the shot-concept, seem to occupy most of the frame space and its border is taking all my attention. Main subjects coin and bubble have lost the importance. as a matter of fact coin details are hardly visible. just my 2 cents.
i apologize for being harsh, but didnt like to see such a beautiful shot get ruined. please delete my comment, if you think its inappropriate. -Abstract
Guest 20-Apr-2005 13:38
Much better now! I like the shot and the idea...
Rod 20-Apr-2005 06:03
The shot looks good Cats. Were the lights visible in the first shot? My eye is fighting between them & the money even though the overall shot looks better. Well done.
PhotoNUT 20-Apr-2005 05:01
Much better, looks good. The mirror is nice and clean too.
ctfchallenge20-Apr-2005 03:20
Thank you all. Keeping in mind all your suggestions I have reshot this photo and replaced the old one. What do you think of it now? -Cat
ctfchallenge19-Apr-2005 16:29
OK, Thanks Abs, point noted. As soon as I find some time I will reshoot this one again. I will keep the increased DOF suggestion in mind. -Cat
ctfchallenge19-Apr-2005 04:26
Cat, i know the bubble has a meaning that is why i suggested more dof...front rim in focus too. the way you replied felt like you thought...i am suggesting less dof and completely oof rim, so i corrected.
great picture nonetheless.
-Abstract
Andy 18-Apr-2005 22:02
Interesting ideas if a little complex for my simple tastes. Highly creative and a worthy outcome.
ctfchallenge18-Apr-2005 21:47
Thanks Abs. If I reshoot this one, I will keep the DOF in mind. The bubble have a significance in the picture so it didn't bother then as they were part of the picture. However if you just look at it purely from a photo stand point, I have to agree with you. -Cat
ctfchallenge18-Apr-2005 21:47
Thanks pfehlauer , for your feedback. The white spots can be easily clonned out in PS, but since they play an important role in understanding the picture I would like to leave it there in this context (PF) if not anything else. -Cat
ctfchallenge18-Apr-2005 20:06
Cat what an excellent ingenious idea! great work. -Abstract
for *...i would use a little more dof, OOF front-rim of the bubble kind of spoils an otherwise masterpiece.
Guest 18-Apr-2005 19:56
Sorry, last post was from pfehlauer.
Guest 18-Apr-2005 19:54
Great interpretation, excellent idea. What disturb me a little bit are the white spots on the mirror... don't know how to get rid of them, though, maybe adjusting the lighting as someone suggested before... or just cloning it out or lowering the brightness in PS... anyway, great image in the end.
ctfchallenge18-Apr-2005 12:38
PhotoNUT and Rod, Thanks for your input. I'll have to experiment on it and upload a newer version soon. However I had the circular disc of the moon in mind when I chose this mirror. -Cat
Rod 18-Apr-2005 11:28
Well done on getting your thoughts into an image, not easy to do. The shot works really well. I would like to see the Nutter’s idea of cloning out the frame to an all dark background as it might work really well. Great shooting Cat
PhotoNUT 18-Apr-2005 01:59
I like the concept, but it would be even better is you could not see the mirror frame, just black space.
ctfchallenge18-Apr-2005 01:37
Thanks for your comments Rich, Lee and Jstrong.
Rich, PF adopting bubble as one of the words in their lyrics. LOL! I like that idea.
Lee, thanks for the tips. I'll see what I can do. BTW I don't have a flash yet to fit on the 20D (wanting to get one)
-Cat
janewigginsphotography17-Apr-2005 23:21
Very nice! I absolutely love Pink Floyd and your written interpretation is excellent. jstrong
ctfchallenge17-Apr-2005 22:40
Also, I would darken the two areas outside of the circle. theFly
ctfchallenge17-Apr-2005 22:39
PhotoCat,

Love the bubble effect. (*) I think that your lighting is too harsh. I would try bouncing more light off the ceiling. If this is not possible I would secrure paper towels to you desk lamp. This will help difuse the light.

Another solution is to flood the picture with light from behind the camera and to the left. Do you have a flash. Bounce the flash off the ceiling with the lamp.

theFly
Guest 17-Apr-2005 22:19
I think you and this image have communicated your story very well. I'll bet PF would have used the word "bubble" if they had seen one burst. Rich
ctfchallenge17-Apr-2005 19:31
Thanks Nugar and Shu.
And Nugar... isn't Pink Floyd's philosophy complex? I find their lyrics very interesting. Every time you read, you see a different meaning hidden in there. From the top its simple, but it has much deeper meaning. I wanted to show that aspect with a simple photo having deeper meaning. I don't know whether I am able to communicate that successfully or not. -Cat
Canon DSLR Challenge17-Apr-2005 18:14
This is marvelous!!!! I like your commentary almost as much as your image. It shows how art can flow past boundries and create a more beautiful picture for the viewer. Fantastic! Shu
Nugar17-Apr-2005 18:05
Hi Cat,

A very interesting concept. Photographically well executed and philosophically complex. Kudos