DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register) 
 
Challenge Entries
Portfolio Images
This image is not part of a public portfolio.
A Celebration of Fall
A Celebration of Fall
banmorn


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Celebration (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S7000
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Date: Oct 9, 2005
Aperture: f/ 8.0
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/20
Galleries: Still Life, Floral
Date Uploaded: Oct 9, 2005

 Well...this sort of turned out the way I wanted, not quite, but sort of. I think I could have use one more leaf on the right side (there was one there but it kept moving and had to go) and may be something else that exemplifies fall in the bottom corners....but I was away most of the weekend and considering the monsoon conditions yesterday, I was happy to just get the leaves.

Yesterday, I picked the leaves off the ground at the 'farm' we were out for a choir retreat. I put them in a plastic bag and got them home relatively intact. They were a bit dirty, so I put the in a bowl of clean water to clean them a bit, shoke them off, put them on paper towells on a flat surface and placed a large, heavy book on top of them and let them sit overnight.

I had all the flowers from shooting them last week....mums are great in that they last a good while before going bad. I bought some thumb tacs and had some black thead. Tied the thread to the leaves on the stems or, in some cases, taped the thread to the back of the leaves. I placed the end of the thread on a small piece of tape and put the tack through it and stuck into the top of my shooting area which is, conveniently, a piece of white foam board.

Lit with four clamp lamps, two on either side, each with a 100w halogen bulb in it. They all point up to the white foam board. Too cut down on some drafts that were moving the leaves, I place my larger two lite discs behind the lights.
The background is a piece of black velvet... which I need to replace soon.

Post: Open. Crop. Layer adjustments for levels (50% Opacity), contrast/brightness and hue saturation (both 75% opacity). USM. Cloned the visible threads from the back gound on from the stems of the leaves. Burnt the upper black background cause the full size showed a bit of blue there that I did not like. Also cloned a few hot spots in the background.


Statistics
Place: 42 out of 137
Avg (all users): 5.7067
Avg (commenters): 6.4615
Avg (participants): 5.4028
Avg (non-participants): 5.8676
Views since voting: 983
Views during voting: 293
Votes: 208
Comments: 16
Favorites: 0

Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Canon EF 22-55mm f/4.0-5.6 USM
 10/16/2005 07:45:09 PM
Terrific autumn colors against the black background. If I were to show this to someone who wasn't aware of the challenge itself, I'm not sure they would say celebration, but a very well thought out photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
 10/16/2005 02:57:39 PM
Nice colors. Works well on black.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D70s
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6G ED
 10/16/2005 01:15:48 PM
Ahh, yes. Tis the season! Great arrangement here. Love the use of space and the background really brings out the colors and shapes.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 10/16/2005 07:38:19 AM
I like the concept here, but IMO it would be better when the leaves are at the top of the photo. nice colors
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic DMC-FZ20
Panasonic DMW-LTZ10 1.5x Teleconverter
 10/15/2005 05:31:25 PM
Wow, this is beautiful. The lighting is great, the composure is maybe a little too centred. I just feel it's in the wrong challenge as it doesn't say celebration in any way but the title
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i
Tamron AF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 LD for Canon
 10/15/2005 11:06:37 AM
nice flowera and nice shot
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus E-300 EVOLT
Olympus 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital ED
 10/14/2005 09:02:08 PM
Beautiful colors and composition on this image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-50D
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 10/14/2005 08:37:39 PM
looks like a RoB shot to me... great lighting and composition. good luck!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM
 10/14/2005 06:24:44 PM
Nice still life. If I had to crit something it would be that there isn't enough space around the edge. The leaf stems almost touch the edge of the frame and I would prefer them to be a little further in.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony DSC-F717
 10/11/2005 05:39:30 PM
i wonder how this picture would have looked with a dark brown background instead of black, to highlight the fall colors? it also looks like there's a string or seam behind the second leaf from the top on the left side. interesting idea for a shot, with the leaves flitting about the boquet.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon PowerShot SD990 IS
 10/11/2005 02:25:24 PM
beautiful flowers, love the background.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Minolta DiMAGE EX 1500 Zoom
 10/11/2005 11:47:52 AM
Good contrast and lighting. Background works perfectly. The only little picky picky thing I would have changed are the leaves. I think the stems tend to draw your eyes away from the centre focus, and lead you off the page in different directions.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
 10/11/2005 10:41:52 AM
Beautifully arranged and shot. I really like the lighting and colour, detail and clarity!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D
Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
 10/10/2005 11:07:23 PM
too fake for me...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM
 10/10/2005 02:21:17 AM
Nice vivid autumn colors. There are some blown out edges but it's ok for this image as my eye just is centered in the bouquet itself.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus PEN E-P3
Konica Minolta MF 85mm f/1.7
 10/10/2005 01:49:12 AM
beautiful arrangement.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Theme: Classic / Light / Dark
Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2026 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 10/15/2026 10:20:57 AM EDT.