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Two Bullets for Wild Bill
Two Bullets for Wild Bill
GeneralE


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Every Picture Tells A Story (Advanced Editing VII)
Collection: Portfolio
Camera: Canon PowerShot S3 IS
Location: Oakland, California, USA
Date: May 4, 2008
Aperture: 2.70
ISO: 80
Shutter: 1/6
Galleries: Vintage, Emotive
Date Uploaded: May 4, 2008

 "Bullets" are aces in poker parlance ... "Wild Bill" Hickock was killed during a poker game in North Dakota, reputedly while holding the "Dead Man's Hand" of two-pair, aces and eights.

I couldn't find any silver dollars to use in the pot, but I found my grandfather's old set of flag-motifed poker chips -- suitable because Hickok was (unbeknownst to me until now) an abolitionist and member of the Union Army during the Civil War.

I had the camera mounted on a tripod, with the flip-out LCD screen turned so I could check the composition while posing -- Isaac pressed the shutter-button for me using the timer.

-RGB Curve
-Isolate Green Channel
-Mode -> Grayscale
-Mode -> Duotone with Black and PMS 143
-Mode -> RGB
-Crop top and right a little to remove BG
-Resize
-USM at 12%/48 dia/TH = 0
-USM at 66%/0.6 dia/TH = 5
-SaveAs JPEG at quality 8/10 = 158kb

Statistics
Place: 103 out of 170
Avg (all users): 5.5364
Avg (commenters): 6.0000
Avg (participants): 5.2535
Avg (non-participants): 5.7875
Views since voting: 1026
Views during voting: 278
Votes: 151
Comments: 6
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 05/12/2008 04:03:46 PM
Originally posted by pineapple:
The idea is good, IMO. I wonder what might make for more drama? Raking light coming in from an out of frame window? A spilled glass? Some deep shadow on the arm hinting at the body out of frame? Just thinking what I might do to enhance the visual theatre.

I agree -- more/better props might have helped. Most of the light is actually coming from a window way off to the left -- see the lighting on the glass and the shadow below the arm; I probably should have made it darker overall, though, but the typical state of people's monitors made me err on the side of visibility.

It didn't want to spill any liquid -- those are some old cards which used to belong to my grandfather and I didn't want to take a chance with them.

I only found out just last night that I only have three of the five cards exactly right -- the Eight of Diamonds should be the spade, and the Queen should instead be the Deuce of Spades ... :-(
 05/12/2008 10:48:36 AM
Imagine finishing one pic down from a photo of a dead mole. Dear me, IE, you will have to do better ;-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
05/08/2008 01:54:42 PM
good in b/w
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/05/2008 07:08:48 PM
The idea is good, IMO. I wonder what might make for more drama? Raking light coming in from an out of frame window? A spilled glass? Some deep shadow on the arm hinting at the body out of frame? Just thinking what I might do to enhance the visual theatre.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/05/2008 09:56:08 AM
Feels too staged, too clean. Good exposure. Good idea. And maybe a couple of drops of blood.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/05/2008 09:28:04 AM
Looks like a womans hand and if so you should have called it wild billy
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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