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Burning flames rise in her eyes ...
Burning flames rise in her eyes ...
levyj413


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Pink Floyd (Basic Editing)
Collection: People
Camera: Canon PowerShot S2 IS
Location: Basement
Date: Dec 19, 2006
Aperture: 2.7
ISO: 50
Shutter: 1/5s
Date Uploaded: Dec 19, 2006

 I knew I wanted something with fire reflected in my wife's eyes. But we were running out of time, and it was very hard to get the candles reflected large enough that I could see them.

Eventually, she was leaning so close she singed the ends of her bangs, and I had the camera directly across the candles, so close I was worried about burning something.

I tried various lighting schemes to light her face better, but everything I tried was visible in her eyes. So this was lit just with the three candles.

I initially tried cropping down to one eye, but it wasn't especially sharp, it showed no emotion, and it just wasn't that interesting or pretty.

Backing up to both eyes meant either using a 2:1 crop to get the bright parts out of the bottom or really opening up and accepting those parts as part of the shot.

Somewhat in desperation, I ran an action that added an "acid" look to the shot. Suddenly, it looked more interesting. It's just a couple of curves layers and a hue/sat adjustment. I sharpened a bit, cropped, and saved.

We'll see whether my wife is happy I entered this. It's certainly not attractive!

Statistics
Place: 118 out of 151
Avg (all users): 5.0755
Avg (commenters): 5.6364
Avg (participants): 4.9643
Avg (non-participants): 5.1154
Views since voting: 843
Views during voting: 298
Votes: 212
Comments: 13
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Apple iPhone 6s+
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
 12/27/2006 07:05:08 PM
Are you still married? :) I would like to see this with the nose cropped off and the eyes right in the middle. The light on the bridge of the nose would echo the light on the forehead, and the composition might be very mysterious.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-6D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 12/27/2006 12:46:12 AM
Sort of suprised this didn't do better. Was a cool expression and I liked the dark PP approach. I guess the connection with Floyd is sort of nebulous. Still, nice work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital
 12/26/2006 04:49:47 PM
Sorry but I don´t really care for the "look" on this picture, the blue hue and harsh shadows along with the strong noise so I gave it a 4.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2
Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7 ASPH
 12/26/2006 01:03:40 PM
highlight on tip of nose blown out a bit, but otherwise a good photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic DMC-FZ8
 12/24/2006 12:42:04 AM
I like the processing for what it is, just doesn't seem "warm" enough to go with the image of flames. But if I were voting I would not vote down for that because the image itself works nicely, and isn't specifically *not* flame.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Pentax K-5
Pentax FA J 75-300mm f/4.5-5.8 AL AF
 12/23/2006 05:23:00 AM
7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D100
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
 12/21/2006 09:18:49 PM
Interesting angle. I don't like all the blue in the shadow areas though. 6
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-40D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 12/21/2006 03:52:09 PM
Would have been cooler if you could actually see the reflection of flames in the eyes rather than just white dots.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/21/2006 07:39:30 AM
wonderful portrait!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony Alpha a7R II
Pentax A 50mm f/1.4 MF
 12/21/2006 02:39:10 AM
Should have gotta bigger flame & brought it closer...

Nice concept - disturbingly executed...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-30D
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DL Macro Super for Canon
 12/20/2006 05:13:55 PM
my eyes are drawn to the nose vs the eyes
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D70
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 12/20/2006 04:12:33 PM
i dont see any burning flame reflections in her eyes...excellent post-processing though. i like it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D7200
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G
 12/20/2006 10:54:13 AM
Neat shot. I like the processing on this one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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