The old screen with water effect. I do like the concept of one woody seen many times (kind of like here at DPC). People buy them around the world, but the all look very similar.
Set up is outside with black cloth behind the woody. Screen is about two feet from Statue and camera is taking macro close up of screen, that was sponged with water.
I'm sure that there are better ways to do it, but the thought for the shoot had come to me overnight and I had never done one like this before. I played with different setups.
Probably do to the fact that I do not have a true macro lens, I had to crop tight to get to where I liked the result.
Edit, import from raw - contrast, highlight and saturation adjustment. Add border and save for web.
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Place: 83 out of 130 Avg (all users): 5.6283 Avg (commenters): 6.1818 Avg (participants): 5.2830 Avg (non-participants): 5.7609 Views since voting: 1291 Views during voting: 414 Votes: 191 Comments: 16 Favorites: 1 (view)
If I did this right, there should be two out-takes from the project. One is the original sized image and one is a high close up.
As one can see the original "macro" 24-105 Canon L is lens shoot is still very big, and has little detail even in the marco range.
The very close up dose not reveal a much better image in the water droplets, but you lose the out of focus image of the full woody. That is why I went with the in between size.
To go back to previous comments. To get this better, I probably have to use a larger grid or play with more positing of the woody, event though I do not believe that it would fully solve my problem. A true macro lens with a fully stable grid may help the sharpness, resolution and focus.
Thank you again for all of your input.
I spent quite a bit of time trying to understand this image. Of course I recognized Woody, and I recognized the screen, but I couldn't understand what all the little Woodies were. I knew they were Woodies, but I didn't know they were refracted in water drops. I just couldn't figure it out, although I liked it. I'm just telling you this, because it may help explain why the score wasn't as high as it deserved. One thought was that if you had cropped it close enough for us to really see the small Woodies, it might have been more pleasing. It is probably much better in the original size.
I appreciate all kinds of comments, positive as well as critics. I'd rater have somebody give a low score and tell me why, then just a low hit.
"k10DGuy" thank you for your first comment and more importantly your second "follow-up".
I believe you are correct as is "ambaker" and others in the advise about a more clear or larger picture in the droplets of the object behind the screen. I'm not sure what it would take to accomplish this, a different placement or a different screen? I played with several placements of the woody and I found this to be the most pleasant one. I also had a sample with a closer crop, but did not find it to add the value of the message that I was trying to portray, of one woody begin many (especially on DPC).
I may have also run into technical limitations, since I do not have a true macro lens and I had to drastically pull in the image from the shoot taken. This was taken outside and there was wind blowing, moving the screen constantly, also affecting the exact focus point. And a last, I have been know to mess up good shoots in my editing...
One thing that I do like about the image, even with all of it's faults, is the face that the image of the woddy in the droplets changes as you move around the grid do to, I guess, a changing angle.
Thank you again, for all comments, I enjoyed taking this shoot and have learn allot. Yes I had hoped for a better score, but I do that with all my entries, who aims for the average?
I'm sorry that I didn't get the time to come back and be a little more clear on what I meant with my one-liner.
I've seen this type of shot done before, so I was comparing it to the ones I've seen. What I see here is that you've not allowed the viewer to really see what is in those droplets by leaving the shot too far out. I understand that sometimes equipment can be a real roadblock to this sort of thing, but for a shot like this, you really want the viewer to be able to recognize what it is you're reflecting without squinching up to the screen.
Focus is also a little off, which some commenters pointed to.
I'm surprised your image did not score higher. Perhaps because the droplets are small, the two second voters did not take the time to really look at this photo. This is a very imaginative and creative shot. Perhaps a little larger grid on the screen would improve the score. As is I think you should have made at least the top 20 or so. My image scored a little higher than yours, but I have to say that yours is better.
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