I actually set up a small replica of Stonehenge made from bricks in a nearby city park. People were wondering what I was doing and were gathering around as I checked my model with a small map I had of the Salisbury Plain's most famous landmark. But they also thought it was pretty cool, and were helping me get things just right.
I then took about 60 pictures of it from above, below, close ups, etc. and was amazed at how many trees, buildings, etc. managed to weasel their way in! I also had about 7 seconds to shoot each shot, as some of the bricks kept falling down! This shot was taken with a fill in flash to avoid pure sillhouette and was taken from a prone position, as you can probably tell by the grass in the foreground.
In the end, I selected this shot because it looked enough like Stonehenge, had the sun in the shot in the right place, and didn't have too many extra things creeping in. The shots from father away were all pretty boring.
Since my camera's fastest shutter speed was 1/1000, I knew I would have some playing to do with levels, and my work with levels in Photoshop was pretty drastic as you probably can guess. I shot into the sun at around 7 pm--well before sunset. I came back at sunset to shoot more pictures and clean up my bricks, but I had already worked with this shot and liked it, so my efforts later on were only half hearted. Some may suggest that it is too dark, but I default to dark and emotional and saturated rather than lighter and paler.
Thanks for reading! It's always fun to me to see how folks got a shot!
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In browsing your portfolio David, this is about the 20th image that made me smile at the creativity. The ideas are sensational, and the execution usually matches.
I hope you enjoy shooting these as much as I enjoy looking at them.
this is one of my favourites of the challenge! Funny, and I like the flare of sun in the corner, makes the bricks seem very mighty, until you see the grass! Just a cute idea executed nicely. Colours are vibrant, but not overpowering. Well done.
Not only a clever idea, and one that made me laugh, but how long did you have to wait to get that sunflash? Excellent technical trick...it really makes it seem more like a full-size monument!
This is a great concept and (IMO) perfectly executed. Very creative, nice colours, would be very interested to know how this was done... fill in flash to get the colour of the brick? Great job, should do really well - 10
Very silly, but I really like this one. Good control of exposure, the sun flare is very effective. Great textures. Shame about the noise in the sky where (presumably) you've pushed the saturation and reduced levels. 9
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