This was the MOST DIFFICULT picture I’ve ever taken!!! I came up with the idea to show future and past in a car. The future would be the view ahead and the review mirror would represent the past. I wanted the past to show a storm, fire, something that would represent something bad had happened. The difficult part was how to get the image I wanted in the review mirror!
After brainstorming for a couple of days I finally decided that an image on a TV could be reflected in the review mirror. I started on this shoot Friday night. Took some test shots of the road and one of the road looking back for the review mirror. Then I created an image in Paint Shop pro of the road with fire around it. Next I set up the SUV. I lowered the passenger seat and wedged my tripod between the seat and the center console using pillows until it was very tight and would no longer move. Placed a 20in tv in the passenger seat and wedged it into place using more pillows. Connected my laptop to it and projected the image I created of the fire and road on to the TV. Adjusted the review mirror until the image could be seen in the camera. Placed a car battery and a 300W power inverter in front of the passenger seat to power the tv. Cleaned the windows really good. By the time I was finished setting up it was 3:00am!
Got up around 6:00am, drove out to the bridge and stopped at the marina before the bridge and waited for the sky to lighten up. Waited until there were no cars, then drove out to the bridge, came to a complete stop and took a picture. Managed to take 2 more before cars started comming and I had to drive on. Crossed the bridge made the first U turn I could and came back to the marina. Round trip from marina took around 6-7 minutes. Checked the pictures, looked good except the image in the mirror was way over exposed! I turned down the brightness on the TV all the way down, waited until there were no cars and tried the second attempted. Only managed 1 shot this time before cars appeared and I had to drive on. The sky was getting bright very fast. Was only able to do 2 more runs with 1 picture each for a total of 4 runs and 6 pictures before the sky was way too bright.
Got home, uploaded the images and realized in last two runs the sky was too bright and overpowered the street lights. The first run the mirror was overexposed which left only the one picture from the second run usable! At least I got one usable image! Lowered the brightness, changed the white balance, adjusted contrast, rotate 1 degree, crop, resize, and submit! Whew....Had to jump though a lot of hoops to get this image! I hope you guys like it!
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Place: 2 out of 169 Avg (all users): 7.2128 Avg (commenters): 8.4324 Avg (participants): 6.9381 Avg (non-participants): 7.4058 Views since voting: 15704 Votes: 235 Comments: 80 Favorites: 38 (view)
Excellent color contrast, dramatic shot! If you ever think you'll re-do this shot, my only suggestions would be to align the mirror a little more to the right and see if you can get the top of the TV set out of the picture. Good job!
Congrats on your ribbon :) I was just wondering, why did you use a TV, and not just print the picture and sellotape it to the mirror? That would have been a lot simpler by the sounds of what you went through :P
I actually thought of that. The problem with that idea is it was much too dark in the car for the picture to show in the mirror. I would have had to shine a light on to the mirror for it to work. The additional light on the mirror would then spill over to the mirror frame window etc plus it would not look as real as a reflected image in the mirror. The TV on the other hand was a real reflection of light and therefore looked more realistic.
Congratulations on your ribbon, I read all the details that went into this shot, so it is definitely a "wells deserved" ribbon, and I really do like it, again congratulations.
Wow you seem to have gone through a lot of trouble to get this shot - but it was worth it - wonderfull shot.
Its a great and unique idea aswell.
Welldone and Congratulations on the ribbon.
Congrats on your ribbon :) I was just wondering, why did you use a TV, and not just print the picture and sellotape it to the mirror? That would have been a lot simpler by the sounds of what you went through :P
I actually thought of that. The problem with that idea is it was much too dark in the car for the picture to show in the mirror. I would have had to shine a light on to the mirror for it to work. The additional light on the mirror would then spill over to the mirror frame window etc plus it would not look as real as a reflected image in the mirror. The TV on the other hand was a real reflection of light and therefore looked more realistic.
Congrats on your ribbon :) I was just wondering, why did you use a TV, and not just print the picture and sellotape it to the mirror? That would have been a lot simpler by the sounds of what you went through :P
Thanks for all the great comments! It was a lot of work but the end result was worth it! Glad you guys & gals liked it!
There were several suggestions about cropping out the clock at the top and the antenna on the right side of the picture. Actually it is not a clock. It is the temperature and compass. SE stands for southeast. The temperature I did not really care about but the compass I wanted in the picture. The idea was although I do not know where the future will take me I will not fear it because I believe I am headed in the right direction now despite the past. I am now guided by faith, belief, God, higher power, a moral compass etc which the compass at the top symbolizes. It was a sub idea but I guess in the end it proved to be more of a distraction.
The antenna was an oversight. Should have removed it before the shoot but luckily I can remove it post challenge via Clone brush. ; )
Congrats on the ribbon!! Loved reading the story - thanks for sharing it! That is incredible the work you went through to get this. It is inspiring :-)
I admire your vision, patience and tenacity. And of course the wonderful result of a job well done. You've captured your scene in the perfect light possible.
Wow! Congratulations. Never mind that the picture is AWESOME, you deserve the ribbon just for the setup. Damn! Now that's dedication to your craft. Well done, and very well deserved.
This is probably the winner, but I find the display on the top to be a bit distracting. Hope that it has something to do with the picture and doesn\'t turn out to be just a bit of uncropped image.
... and really would like to know how it was done. Bravo!
This is a great image. Quite graphical and fitting to the title! The only thing I would want corrected is the wire on the right side which distracts attention from the main part of the picture.
I like this a lot. Great exposure in challenging conditions. Amazing contrast in the sky colourings. Nicely composed. The compass reading and antenna are a little distracting, but could be easily fixed. Very creative expression of the theme. Well done.
i can't wait to hear how this shot was taken, it seems difficult to not have the camera in the reflection of the mirror, but given the benefit of the doubt, the colors, concept, and resolution are great!
Wonderful shot. Amazing mirror image. I think that is only color corrected... It can be the sunset light or a burning forest. Its diferent ligth and color matches perfectly with the title. Very well created and done.
I will no longer fear the future nor will I regret the past
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