I had actually taken a similar photo for another competition. It was shot on Monday, just after the challenge start, but before I knew about it! I was stoked to be able to enter it, but SC told me it wouldn't quite pass, because I had edited out the skewer that popped the balloon. So, I painted the skewer black and reshot, and I actually like this one better, so that's great. :)
This was actually shot sideways and rotated. The hand is actually under the water. The balloon was hung from the balcony on a long piece of surgical tubing (the really stretchy stuff the Mythbusters used for their human slingshot), so that as soon as the balloon burst, it was whipped away out of the frame. Flash used a sound-trigger (a kit build specifically for the first photo), but the balloon actually didn't make enough sound, so I put the skewer into a piece of wood, and then hit that with a hammer to trigger the sound-flash. :) My wife was a great help through these shoots, modelling, triggering the shutter while I operated the hammer and the skewer. Yes, I said modelling, but no, that's not her hand in this final shot. She was watching a DVD, and kept leaving, so the final take was done solo with my hand. Lots of fun, and I learnt a lot about this sort of photography.
Editing - rotate, crop, colour adjustments, little bit of D&B, minor cloning, resize, and selective USM.
(Original shot is here...) I kind of like the splash of colour with the balloon in the edge of the original shot, but the reshoot was setup differently, and the balloons were just totally outta there! :) The original shot is also edited not so well for sharpness, because I was too lazy to fix it.
Post-challenge - Wooohooo! My first ribbon. Thanks everyone for all your comments. It's so great to have the support. Special thanks to my mentor, rjkstesch for all her tutoring, and her focus on detail that's really helping to improve my photography.
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Place: 2 out of 138 Avg (all users): 7.3235 Avg (commenters): 8.6538 Avg (participants): 7.0189 Avg (non-participants): 7.4615 Views since voting: 41353 Views during voting: 788 Votes: 170 Comments: 88 Favorites: 89 (view)
woah i dont understand how you did this with a 1 second exposure please do tell i've been trying to do this but with a surgical glove to get the shape of the fingers and i thought it would be cool but please elaborate on this?
This is the coolest picture I have EVER seen. Please tell me how you did it. Was the set up intricit. I'm flabergasted that you didn't get first. This is the first picture I'm putting into my favorites. And trust me, I am a very tuff judge...
This is an awesome shot. I often wonder how someone could give this a score of a 2 or 3. I think some people are just not happy in general and take it out on innovative, great shots.
Well certainly the most original of the three ribbon winners this week, personally think this should switch places with the winner but who cares what I think :) Nice shot!
I look forward to reading how you did this.. Out of all the "waterball" shots, this is my favorite. The clarity & lighting on your hand and the shape of the ball is spot on.
I was kind of dreading all the water pics in this challenge but this one is very nicely done. No balloon fragments in site and wonderful sharpness and contrast against the background. This should do well. (9)
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