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Balanced Budget
Balanced Budget
Dr.Confuser


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Balance (Advanced Editing II)
Camera: Nikon D70
Location: Kirkland, Washington USA
Date: Jul 12, 2004
Aperture: F32
ISO: 1100
Shutter: 1/30
Galleries: Macro, Political
Date Uploaded: Jul 12, 2004

 Nikon D70
2004/07/12 10:27:41.8
JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: Large (3008 x 2000)
Lens: VR 24-120mm F/3.5-5.6 G
Focal Length: 48mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/30 sec - F/32
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 1100
Optimize Image: Vivid
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-S
Flash Sync Mode: Not Attached
Color Mode: Mode IIIa (sRGB)
Tone Comp: Auto
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Normal
Sharpening: Auto
Image Comment:
Noise Reduction: OFF

Photographer's Notes:
Best of 62 attempts. There were two hard parts to this.

The first was getting the bill to be stiff enough to hold the weight. My wife suggested starching the bill. While unsuccessful, I have the crispest dollar bill on the planet. In the end, I glued it to a thin piece of card stock to stiffen it.

The second was balancing the coins on the bill and the bill on the knife edge and the knife on its spine. The coins kept slipping off. I tried glue. Didn't help. Tried self stick tape. No joy. In the end, it just took a bloody lot of tries to get the thing balanced. If the dog walked through the room ... it fell down. If I sighed (which I did a lot) it fell down. If the air conditioner came in, it fell down. If I got all that right, the knife fell over!

So this is the best of 62 shutter clicks, and the best of hundreds of balancing attempts.

Post processing:
Crop
Auto: Levels; Contrast; Color.
A little work with curves.
Neat Image
Resize
Desaturate a bit.
USM


... and voila.

Statistics
Place: 47 out of 139
Avg (all users): 5.7485
Avg (commenters): 8.0000
Avg (participants): 5.6220
Avg (non-participants): 5.8652
Views since voting: 1122
Views during voting: 285
Votes: 171
Comments: 6
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 07/29/2004 02:35:08 AM
Hello Charles from the Critique club

After seeing your list of comments I feel very technically unqualified
But I will try to give you my honest opinion for what it's worth.
You certainly made an effort to achieve this image points to your wife also LOL!

This is a very good idea and well executed and definately meets the challenge but for some reason it lacks 'spark' I think it may be the lighting, also the negative space above has a very grey sort of washed out look. I think if this had been done on a dark background (Maybe dark green, as in the bank note or black) your image would have stood out more and bought more tone to the image The knife also looks dull not because of the focus but because of the light factor
Maybe its the time of day that you shot this image
But to me, that is the only thing I can see that may help you in future with this type of image. It has to be Striking 'WOW' to win the voters of D P C over and it can be so frustrating when you have tried so hard
Believe me I know from experience
So good luck with your future challenges
I hope this helps and if you have any questions please P M me
Regards
Sally
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
07/22/2004 05:55:52 AM
Really good idea and done beautifully my only nit pick is that the knife should have been cleaner. Love the play on words in the title.(9)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 07/21/2004 09:15:03 PM
Great idea and execution. Your composition and angle work well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 07/20/2004 05:38:57 PM
great shot (10)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 07/20/2004 04:03:35 PM
this is a very clever idea. needs a little work with lighting...maybe an additional light source.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 07/18/2004 08:33:20 PM
Great idea!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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