Subject is just a blue bottle which decorates the window-shelf in my bathroom!! I know the bottle is slightly dirty - I did try hard to clean it!!!
Background is an A3 pad of white drawing paper that I recently bought as part of an Xmas present for a newphew. It’s a little too textured for my preference – but I was feeling too lazy to get dressed in order to leave the house in search of a cheap (and more suitable) fabric background.
The bottle is lit by a bedroom reading lamp (kindly held by hubby Pete). I used Shutter priority to get adequate speed for hand holding and give an open aperture.
I used the on-camera white balance feature. Then I just fiddled with colour balance in Photoshop before cropping and saving.
Title is because the shadow reminds me of the silhouette of a Victorian man of shady character - I wanted something to allude to Jack the Ripper or Sherlock Holmes - Gordon kindly helped out with final title idea.
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Interesting idea, and well executed.. Thnk I might have tried the whole bottle in shot, possible landscape? Seems to have been a bit oversharpened? (Halo on cork and down LHS of bottle?)
John
Mucho gracias for your comments on my blue entry... I agree that shadow only wouldn't have worked - I'd have had too many comments about focus and fuzzy edges etc. I figured the crisper lines of the bottle would give a contrast to the fuzzy shadow.
I think the light is a little harsh - and will try and remember to diffuse the light source next time.
The corks are very very pale so even in the underexposed shots came out very pale. If I were really serious I could dye them with tea bags to make them more brown...
I tried a few alternatives, all located here: Kavey's Blue Images but was limited by the teeny size of the drawing pad I used as background. Of course if I hadn't been too lazy to get dressed I would have gone out and bought either larger size paper or some material.
I am surprised not to have had any comments on the kitsch title!
Thanks again for your time.
Kavey
I think this shot has quite a bit of visual impact. The 'blue' here is definitely strong and significant in the shot. As I commented in my original comment on this photo, I really like the curved shadow. I think that's a nice touch for sure :) Did you try a straight shadow with some different light angles as well? I believe that the impact would have been equally high in that interpretation as well.
I read through your comments on this shot... I disagree with a lot of them... I don't believe that shooting only the shadow would have had much impact at all. The only impact i think that would have produced would have been comments asking to see where the shadow came from :) Your directional lighting is working very well in this shot. I don't see any issues with that at all. I would have experimented with several background scenarios on this shot as well. i would have tried some cloth with some smooth wrinkles and curves in it as well... white cloth :)
The composition of this is very pleasing to the eye. The fact that the shadow is curving upward in such a nice "swoop" gives the photograph a feeling of movement even though everything is obviously stationery. The only one (small) flaw that I find is that the white of your background is a little on the grey side. I know you could have fixed this in post precessing, but you might have lost the blue shadow impact so I am guessing this is the best compromise you could do. Nice 8 BAMartin
What might have made a more interesting shot is to show only the shadow. I feel by having the half bottle in the shot, the eye isn't sure what to look at.
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