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By the drowning pool
By the drowning pool
LalliSig


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2007-07 (Advanced Editing V*)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM
Location: Thingvellir, Iceland
Date: Jul 13, 2007
Aperture: 5.6
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/200
Galleries: Fashion, Portraiture
Date Uploaded: Jul 26, 2007

 Model is Svala Jónsdóttir, some of you might recognize her from a while back as I have submitted photos of her before.

Hundreds of years ago the laws here in Iceland were very different and at Althingi, that was then held at Þingvellir, several women were drowned for no bigger "crime" than having a child out of wedlock, some others for witchcraft. They were tied into a sack and thrown into Drekkingarhylur or "The Drowning pool" wich you see there behind Svala.

Idea behind the shoot was to make Svala into somewhat of a witch and shoot her at this location. Makeup and hair by Henný as usual. Lighting was one bowens monolight with a 75° softlite reflector. Those little black spots on the photo is not sensor dust, it was swarming with flies and considering the feel of the photo, there was no way I was going to clone them out even though I am sure I´ll get comments about me "forgetting to remove them" during voting.

Realized as I was processing this that I took it during friday the 13th, wierd huh?

Editing was somewhat but not as much as you would think. First I did raw conversion where I set contrast, WB and saturation, then I made two files out of one raw file and blended together to get more dynamic range, mainly darken the sky and brighten the dark parts of the photo, such as her dress and cliffs around her. Almost desaturated her as I wanted that gray skin tone to make her seem more like a witch, added some vignetting, curves for contrast and finally sharpened after resizing.

Statistics
Place: 15 out of 651
Avg (all users): 6.8366
Avg (commenters): 7.8667
Avg (participants): 6.7120
Avg (non-participants): 7.3929
Views since voting: 3505
Views during voting: 378
Votes: 153
Comments: 26
Favorites: 12 (view)

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AuthorThread
 08/08/2007 04:58:49 PM
Originally posted by xingchenstar:
nice color ,but i don"t like the make up.


You are absolutely right, I should have asked Henny to make her up like a barbie doll, now THAT would have fitted really well with the theme of the shot :P
 08/08/2007 04:33:49 PM
nice color ,but i don"t like the make up.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2007 12:47:37 AM
hehe, first i thought: wow he is genious adding some flies to the shot to make the dirty look more realistic...lol

really refreshing work compared to your other portrait work, and that story is awesome, too. iceland is such an inspiring place!
congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/08/2007 12:31:32 AM
Amazing lighting and dramatic portrait as usual! YOU ARE A GENIUS!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/07/2007 11:44:15 PM
An amazing portrait, a bit different from your recent bright and sunny shots! So much atmosphere in the shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/07/2007 09:17:54 PM
This shot kicks some serious ass. Well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/07/2007 08:51:57 PM
Rad shot Larus! Great that it has a story in it (as all great photos should). Congrats on 15th.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/07/2007 08:43:20 PM
Stuff like this rocks, twisted stuff, that lake must be surrounded by EM energy, Im ready to move to Iceland man!! Where do you find these women?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
08/07/2007 06:16:07 PM
effing fantastic. I assume those spots in the sky are intentional, but I wish there were even more of them or none at all. great work though, this better get in the top 10!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/06/2007 08:49:44 PM
Great picture. Very sharp. The colors of the model match well, but not so sure about the heels and dress as well as the not wind-blown but with a few strands somehow flying out hair. Still an 8 for a very dramatic picture. I wonder why the title isn't in bold.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/06/2007 07:22:34 PM
Too sharp, too contrasty, and a bit dark on my calibrated monitor ... otherwise a great idea well executed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/05/2007 06:22:59 AM
interesting and a bit creepy.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/04/2007 09:30:53 PM
Beautiful but I am not digging the unruly hair.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/04/2007 04:57:06 PM
Vey moody. Great light. Why do I have a feeling this was shot in Iceland?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/04/2007 09:07:57 AM
This has a crazy hasselblad feel to it. Nice colours and lighting. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/04/2007 04:39:54 AM
And look! A Life Guard is on duty...! Sweet photo: 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/03/2007 10:17:10 AM
Are those dirt specks in the sky? I am surprised you did not clone them out. A very unusual photo, my favourite part is the sky (without the dirt specks).
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/02/2007 09:30:52 PM
Weird! I like it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/02/2007 07:23:18 PM
OK so which part of Iceland what this taken in :) Love it. Like the contrast of the color in the flowers.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/02/2007 07:58:30 AM
Scary and thought provoking- dark & mysterious all come to mind .Ten
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2007 09:49:57 PM
wow!...very nice work on this one 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2007 06:27:51 PM
YES!!!!! I just saw this in your flckr album and was completely baffled as to why I hadn't seen this in a challenge yet. Personally I like the one where she is in the water better, but still this is PHENOMINAL! as usual I love your lighting and I also really liked your back story on the myth associated with this place. The makeup is cool but I think it looks better in the other picture where her face is a little darker. so yeah, definitely going to have to give you a 10 on this one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2007 07:35:19 AM
Great job with the lighting here, i actually am about 99% sure this is Larus' shot, you know you're good when people can recognize your work during voting, great shot, 10 from me
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2007 05:55:00 AM
Well done Larus, though I must admit, I didn't know what the drowning pool was before reading your description over on photo.net. I hope for your score's sake the other voters are smarter than me :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/01/2007 05:16:13 AM
Super, Super, Super! It reminds me of Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir's work. Words fail me - I just love this! BTW, is that sensor dust in the sky?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 07/31/2007 11:41:21 PM
Wow, this is a powerful image. Even down to the way the wind is whipping the water in the background. Well done here except for the small balck specs. Dust on the lens? Or something flying in the air. Either way it takes my vote of 9 down to a 7.

Edit. Seeing that those are flies around her, I am bumping the score back up to a 9 where it belongs.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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