Well this is probably the most effort I have ever put in at DPC since I started here. I got this idea pretty much immediately after I saw the challenge description but I needed some help so I called up two of my teammates in the Magnificent 7 for help, Andri and
Steinar .
Andri was able to get an old window from the place he works, Husasmidjan yesterday (19th of april). I could only take this photo this day since I was busy the whole weekend, luckily the 20th is the "first day of summer" here in Iceland and is a national holiday. I was still busy in the afternoon though so we had to get up at around 5:30 am to go driving out in the countryside with this window in the trunk. Anyway, we got to Gullfoss at around 9 pm and fortunately we were the only people around, if people had seen them holding up this window for me to photograph through it they probably would have thought us to be pretty out of it.
This is no photoshop trick or mixing of 2 photos or a printed out photo as a backround in a studio or anything like that, this is a real window in front of a real waterfall lit with ambient lighting.
Here are the entries Andri and Steinar did with the exact same window :)
As for post processing, I cropped heavily, used the lens correction tool to correct the perspective, the image tilted a small bit downwards when I took it. Did a curves adjustment on just the wood in the window to darken it and the same then on the waterfall, a separate curves adjustment and made it slightly bluer with the colour balance tool. Lots of healing brush to clean up the window, when I was holding it up for Andri earlier in the day I dropped it in horse manure, that explains the some of the stains that you see on the photo :)
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Place: 22 out of 180 Avg (all users): 6.4017 Avg (commenters): 7.2286 Avg (participants): 6.1628 Avg (non-participants): 6.5359 Views since voting: 2579 Views during voting: 455 Votes: 239 Comments: 41 Favorites: 3 (view)
Great picture Larus. I really wish you had scored higher on this. I can totally see all the effort you put in to this but what struck me when I voted was that it looks soooo much like the frame was added to the picture in photoshop. This perception is only being strengthened since it looks impossible for this to be anyones backyard as the title implies.
The view down also doesn't match the perfectly square window and it looks like the wall where the window was had to be tilted 30 degrees forward for this to be someone's bacyard.
But... after you explained how it was done I understand it all. I did not understand it in the challenge though.
Having said all this - it's a beautiful picture! :)
Clever and well done. It looks like a photo in back of the window frame - the lighting is very well thought out and well done for such a shot. Nice symmetry and straight on perspective with good attention to the horizontals and verticals, too.
I would like to see a shot of this without the window some time. The contrast of the brown window and the blue-tones of the outdoors is a bit awkward (IMHO).
I love the ocean outside my back window, but this makes me think about trading it in. Nice crisp photo. Like the sharpness of the window frame in re: to the soft flow ocurring outside.
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