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One Ring To Rule Them All
1st PlaceOne Ring To Rule Them All
Covert_Oddity


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Hot II (Basic Editing)
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR
Location: Sydney, Australia
Date: Jan 31, 2010
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 400
Shutter: 0.6s
Date Uploaded: Jan 31, 2010

 First let me start by saying this isn't my idea, I saw a very similar shot (though better than mine) over at 1x the other day, it immediately struck me that I would love to recreate it for this challenge.

The setup is a mirror with a black background placed up behind the shot. The ring is stuck to the mirror with a very small piece of blu-tak to stop it moving.

The camera is tripod mounted, pre-focused on the ring and remote release used.

I poured rubbing alcohol onto the surface of the mirror, lit it, turned out the light and took lots of shots while it burned. The only light during the shots was that of the flame itself.

Editing was just RAW adjustments (shadows / highlights, black point, saturation, vibrancy), then in Photoshop I did a simple curves and selective colour to bring out a bit more red in the flame and make the yellows & blues more striking. Lastly I resized and USM before adding a border.

I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, the only changes I would make if this was advanced is to smooth out the edge of the liquid to make it less noticeable, and get rid of a couple of black spots along to the left.

For those of you who are interested, here's the shot that inspired me:

//1x.com/v2/#?viewpic=29944

[Feb. 7th, 2010 09:28:09 PM]

A couple of people have been asking how this was done, especially in basic, but in truth there's actually nothing mysterious or clever about it.

The blue is the colour you get when you burn alcohol, it's completely natural, and the clean look is because I was using alcohol to burn, so after each attempt I had to wipe the remainder off and since alcohol is perfect for cleaning glass it was spotless by the time I took this version :)

OK, now this is just weird. I saw I had a couple of new comments and read "Congratulations on the blue", I was thinking, blue, huh, what??

With the first two images disqualified, I'm wondering if I'm next!

Statistics
Place: 1 out of 83
Avg (all users): 6.7546
Avg (commenters): 8.4615
Avg (participants): 6.3333
Avg (non-participants): 6.8186
Views since voting: 6588
Views during voting: 508
Votes: 273
Comments: 38
Favorites: 11 (view)

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AuthorThread
 02/16/2010 02:34:43 PM
OMYGOSH they are dropping like flies, now you are #1...congrats, I guess
Debbi
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2010 04:59:27 PM
Congratulations, striking image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2010 03:15:35 PM
Originally posted by dtremain:
See? I told you it was a great picture. Considering that it is now blue, are you sure you know where that ring came from? Or does it have a will of its own to dominate all others? Kind-a scary if you think about it...


LOL, looking at it that way, I should probably get rid of that ring, or perhaps use it in more shots :)
 02/14/2010 02:27:47 PM
Originally posted by dswann:
Great job! Thanks for the set-up info also. Congrats on the yellow!


Congrats now on the blue! Well deserved!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2010 02:27:13 PM
See? I told you it was a great picture. Considering that it is now blue, are you sure you know where that ring came from? Or does it have a will of its own to dominate all others? Kind-a scary if you think about it...

  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2010 06:53:05 AM
Greetings from the critique club.
Hello Iain, I̢۪m Alan.

This is really a easy Critique. Your colors, contrast, DOF are spot on. Though not a original Idea as you mentioned, it was well executed, and deserves the score and placement it received. The only negative I can find on your image is the fuel line that is a bit of a distraction, but with the restrictive editing in basic I fail to see how you could have altered that. And so brings up your claim that your attempt is somehow sub par to the Original (?) idea by Dave Nitsche on 1X. I think here you are comparing apples to oranges, similar in concept only. I think your transitions in the flames are much smoother. Dave was able to use any editing software at his disposal and was not restricted in file size, in a similar situation I̢۪m sure you could have removed the offending fuel line, in what, about a half a hour, surpassing presentation in eye appeal.
This was very well done, and congratulations on your ribbon..
Alan
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2010 05:00:36 AM
It's great when an idea/setup comes out so perfectly and the efforts are recognized by the viewers. WTG! Congrats for this amazing image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/11/2010 02:32:46 PM
Love the blues in this. Great image. Congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/11/2010 05:00:23 AM
Way to go! Both you & davenit. They each have a different look, but each amazing! Congratulations!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/11/2010 02:53:31 AM
Looks good. Did you know that the original photo was taken by a DPC'er davenit
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/10/2010 05:35:45 PM
One of my favorites in the challenge! Congrats on the ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/10/2010 01:13:30 PM
Have to disagree with you. The 1x picture was not nearly as good as yours. You can see the sticky tape on the mirror, and I like the blue in yours rather than the all-yellow of theirs.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/10/2010 05:50:10 AM
Great idea, GREAT photo, well deserved ribbon, Iain. Many congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/10/2010 04:50:53 AM
This is so unique,love it,congrats on your well desirved win.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/10/2010 04:42:23 AM
Congrats! This was my #1 pick. Nice to hear about the setup and the effects of alcohol on the mirror, I might try this now knowing that I won't ruin the mirror with fire.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/10/2010 03:10:50 AM
Fabulous, well done! And thanks for sharing how you did it. I would never have believed this was an all-in-one shot:) Fantastic
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/10/2010 12:51:50 AM
Yeah I gave you 10, you deserved to win, congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/09/2010 09:56:47 PM
Nice setup and execution. Congrats! I've been wondering what would be the best liquid for burning during a photo shoot. :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/09/2010 09:17:54 PM
great photo
Whose ring is that?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/09/2010 08:33:30 PM
wow, what an awesome idea and a perfect execution!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/09/2010 07:49:21 PM
Great job! Thanks for the set-up info also. Congrats on the yellow!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/09/2010 07:22:26 PM
Great title! Congrats on the ribbon and thanks for the sharing the "how to"!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/09/2010 07:05:26 PM
Congrats on the ribbon!

Raj
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
02/09/2010 04:31:18 PM
I like! I feel warm
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/09/2010 04:31:05 PM
My #1 pick....Irene? It has her signature look. Love that strip of blue.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/09/2010 07:24:10 AM
Looks like it's from Irenem! Very well executed shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/08/2010 10:12:48 AM
Nice setup....it does have that lord of the rings feel to it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/07/2010 12:23:24 PM
Equal best in challenge and a real IreneM feel. Beautiful clean image - 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/06/2010 01:35:58 PM
Nice rich colors, nicely set up / composed. I would prefer a more traditional frame -- or none at all, the image is strong enough to stand by itself. (no vote -- just a comment)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/04/2010 08:13:42 PM
that is cool, really hot I mean.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/04/2010 12:33:17 PM
Awesome work... great colors, composition, DOF, and conceptually very strong. As a bit of a LotR nerd, I'm bothered by the fact that the ring isn't a plain gold band--but this is nonetheless a very pretty image to look at.

One of my top picks--good luck in the final ranking!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/03/2010 04:57:16 PM
border detracts. good concept. gl
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/03/2010 11:15:44 AM
Beautiful, how did you do this in basic?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/03/2010 09:43:17 AM
Great conceptual photograph! *10*
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/03/2010 06:02:41 AM
Nice composition and lighting. Waiting to see how you got the blue part in the shot. Not very sure if I like the border here.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/03/2010 05:47:31 AM
I really like this, the concept is wonderful and you are right it can really rule it all!! Love the placement of the subject (the ring), the fire and the contrast of the cool blue makes this a really HOT image. Love it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/02/2010 09:26:31 PM
great colors..10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/02/2010 08:01:51 PM
Beautiful image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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