In poker, the dead man's hand comprises a pair of Aces and a pair of Eights.
Legend has it the origin of the name comes from the hand held by Wild Bill Hickok at the time of his murder, which contained the aces and eights of both of the black suits (also known as "bullets"). The identity of Hickok's fifth card remains a mystery.
Hope I've met the challenge criteria ok - I interpreted Bokeh as meaning the way foreground/background blurring supported the mood and intent of the image...
I originally shot this for 'After The Game' but switched challenges at the last second - dunno if I did right..
Details:
Table Set-up. Movie lamps bounced off the ceiling.
Post Processing PS2: Curves / Gradient Map (Greyscale) / Photo Filter (Sepia 90%) / More Curves
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Yes, on reflection, and having considered the concept of 'bokeh' I agree.
I think bokeh should not really show any recognisable shapes, more an emotive blur of colour/tones.
I'd originally shot this with a view to entering the 'after the game' challenge, and switched at the last minute - i think my original choice would have been more appropriate.
Very nice, but isn't the dead man's hand a full house (2 eights and 3 aces)?
The original inspiration for the image came from Bob Dylan's Ramblin Gamblin Willie where the hand is described as "Aces backed with Eights" - which would indeed suggest a full house - but when I Googled it was consistently 2 pairs (Aces & Eights) and the fifth card varied depending on who was telling the story.
I really liked the Bill Hickok legend (there are several variations) where he had thrown in his fifth card and was waiting for a replacement when he was shot, so the fifth card was never known. I represented that here by showing it face down...
Maybe I should have titled it Wild Bill's Dead Man's Hand :)
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