A double exposure. I originally had a much more ambitious shot in mind, but that didn't quite work out so I'm left with this. Camping fuel in a black ashtray shot and then moved while my hand was put in place. The trick (because the two exposures were quite different in time) was to use a black card with a slot cut in it which acted like a shutter and allowed me to expose the fire somewhere probably near 1/100th of a second (something I couldn't do by hand moving a solid card back and forth).
I just wanted to prevalidation my Fire shot as I'm guessing someone will ask for a validation.
Conversion from RAW:
In Adobe Bridge here are the settings going down the line:
7750,17,-0.85,35,84,27,0
CS2 PP:
in order of layers:
USM, Shadow/Highlights:
300,0.3,2 I have lost the S/H settings, 0 on Shadow, I think 40-60 on highlights.
Cloning:
very minor, mainly to roughen up an hint of a line at the bottom of the fire (caused by the black ashtray the fire was set in).
Burning:
a few highlights almost all on the left of the picture. (if you are actually trying this, wait till after you do the levels layer before you see what you need to burn. Levels takes care of most of the background).
Final USM:
200/0.3/2 and, I think, 20/40/2
Then the adjustment layers:
Brightness/Contrast -20/0
Masked in a gradient off my palm and the fire. Provides some darkening further away from the flame.
Color Balance: Highlights 60/0/-60
Provides the glow of the fire on my palm. Masked so it only affects my palm.
Color Balance: Mids 30/0/-30, Highs 20/0/0
Provides lighting more in line with firelight. masked the fire off so it doesn't saturate.
Hue/Saturation: Reds -20 sat.
I actually think this layer may be an artifact from a previous go-over. It looks like the flame is desaturated a bit (by mask) and there is a partial mask over my skin. This is a confusing layer to me...
Levels: Red: 90/1/255 Green 80/1/255 Blue 100/1/255
Masked to the fire which overlaps my palm. This is an attempt to bring the fire more in line with the color of the rest of the flame due to it being washed out from the double exposure.
Levels: 20/1.2/255
I think this may be the first layer I did. Primarily to black the background out.
Enjoy!
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Outstaanding photograph Jason. I was sure this would score high! Can you give us more information on you "slot shutter", how it was made and maybe even a photo or 2 of your set up?
The top of the arm looks a little bit jagged - maybe an increased file size would help? I'm not sure. I generally like borders like this one but here it seems to feel a bit like it is cutting off the arm. Aside from that, though it is a nice image. I like the colors and lighting, and especially how the flames seem to be softly dancing.
Excellent focus on the arm here. There's a scar on the arm I would clone out since it's a minor distraction from the hand of flame. I hope this didn't require a trip to the ER... it looks painful!
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