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levyj413


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Mathematics (Advanced Editing VII)
Collection: People
Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM for Nikon
Location: Silver Spring, MD
Date: Aug 16, 2008
Aperture: 8
ISO: 100
Shutter: N/A
Galleries: Family, Children
Date Uploaded: Aug 17, 2008

 These are my very good friends Jon and Stephanie and their 2-year-old son. I love the challenge interpretation and I'm pretty happy with the results.

I first thought of using addition, so made a plus sign. Then "go forth and multiply" occurred to me, so now it's multiplication. Someone will probably comment that blue plus yellow, not times yellow, equals green. Steph's actually wearing a light blue shirt and Jon and their son are in white. I changed the colors in editing.

I used the old "two flashes in one shutter opening" trick:
1) Work in a dark basement (not pitch black, but very dark), with a black cloth hanging from the ceiling
2) Open the shutter in bulb mode
3) Using my point-and-shoot as my off-camera flash, light the family on the right and then replace the lens cap (shutter's still open)
4) Pick up their son while they move over to the left and pick up the mult. and equals signs, then flash again from in front of them
5) Close the shutter.

I know the lighting's harsh. I tried bouncing it off the ceiling several times, but since I chose F/8 to avoid any DOF problems, those just came out too dark. So I used the flash pretty much straight on.

Turned out the last pose was the best for their expressions, even though he's got his hands in front of his face. I'm hoping the concept will carry me over the imperfect lighting.

Here's the original:


With this entry, I survived week 4 of the Better than Average side tourney, where we have to beat our own overall average score. My target this week was 5.6986.

Statistics
Place: 28 out of 92
Avg (all users): 5.9613
Avg (commenters): 6.9474
Avg (participants): 6.0857
Avg (non-participants): 5.9250
Views since voting: 1240
Views during voting: 390
Votes: 155
Comments: 29
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 09/02/2008 11:47:35 AM
Clever. You remind me a little of labuda and scalvert. Maybe you should reshoot this with them in it and you as the baby. :P
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2008 01:43:18 PM
Critique Club Review:

Color Saturation and Hue: Color choices are excellent, especially the play on blue and yellow making green. Saturation is good, could even go a bit more on the shirts. Hues are accurate as evidenced in the skin tones.

Brightness and contrast: Nothing is overly bright, highlights are not blown out. (the math signs are very bright though, more on that later) I like the dark black of the background. As you have already noted,the lighting is a little bit harsh. But you can work with what you have at hand. Reading your comments, it appears you were quite creative with the limited resources.

Focus and depth of field: Focus is good, but seems like it could be a tiny bit sharper. Depth of field is very good.

I would have liked this a little better with a wider crop on the left, as she is cut off by the edge of the image. The girls blue shirt seems to have some sort of processing effect along the lower edge. (Doesn't look like shadow.) I think also choosing a different color for the math symbols might have worked a bit better. The biggest issue for me, is that the equals sign is so bright and so strong that it keeps drawing the eye to the dark area in the middle of the photo.

I like that their son is covering his face. It adds a touch of humor to the image, and fits in well with the broad smiles of his parents.

All in all a cute, humerous photo.

  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/25/2008 06:14:17 AM
Amazing, Jeffrey. This is executed flawlessly, and should have scored higher in my opinion!

  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/25/2008 01:11:39 AM
What I meant to come back and add was how impressive this was for basic advanced - I can see this being a wonderful addition to a studio repetoire of shots for family shoots. Much easier to do with multiple exposures in that case! At first I wondered about the shirts, then figured that was post processing - very smart idea! And it doesn't hurt that your models are very enthusiastic ones. Very well done!

Message edited by author 2008-08-25 11:30:31.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/25/2008 12:46:54 AM
Jeez Jeffrey, what's with the people wanting this to be an plus sign instead of multiplication? I got it right off multiplying to become a family. Sheeeeeesh.
Very creative ... as always. You never fail to impress.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2008 10:17:29 PM
Great job setting this up and executing, Jeff. Points for degree of difficulty. :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2008 09:36:52 PM
Great job Jeffrey , like it a lot , very original..
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2008 09:19:41 PM
Creative Jeffrey! --earned a 10 from me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2008 08:35:17 PM
Well put together Jefferey liked the family theme.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
08/24/2008 07:58:09 PM
I like how the two T shirt colours are mixed to make a brand new colour.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2008 04:09:47 PM
Can't wait to read how you pulled this off. Love it! A seven for you.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2008 03:05:39 PM
the new family portrait!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2008 09:03:30 PM
Excellent idea and well executed!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2008 08:32:17 PM
Mother, M = 2
Father, F = 3
Child, C = 1

so, M x F = M + F + 1

or 6 = 6

and my vote = 9.

Great job. You'll provide the details of course.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2008 01:25:10 PM
cute! I wish the multiplication and equal signs were held a bit more level, but a cute idea for this challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2008 01:23:44 PM
Intriguing concept. Voted a little lower because of lighting issues. Too much direct flash/light on the models.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/22/2008 06:40:52 PM
clever
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/22/2008 11:13:57 AM
Class!!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/21/2008 07:35:19 PM
Is this addition or multiplication? ;) Pair of twin adults?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/21/2008 06:53:07 AM
lol
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/20/2008 01:15:15 PM
i love this photo and espically love the play on colors with mixing blue and yellow to make green. You had a wonderful idea!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/18/2008 11:18:55 AM
it should be a + not an X
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/18/2008 10:29:14 AM
Nice - that made me smile. Looks like you had fun taking it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/18/2008 10:25:45 AM
Clever idea, nicely done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/18/2008 10:08:12 AM
This is adorable. I have a feeling you'll be disqualified (sorry) because you've combined two exposures, but... I'll vote like it's okay. Shouldn't that be a "+" instead of an "x"? :-)

Good execution!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/18/2008 08:54:57 AM
very cute
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/18/2008 08:52:05 AM
Cute idea, if legit.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/17/2008 11:48:14 PM
I love the blue plus yellow equals green...a very creative idea! bumping to 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/17/2008 08:10:11 PM
lol thats funny
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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