Another self portrait... Sorry for those who are bored with my face.
No clue why this idea came to my mind, but I sure enjoyed its creation.
The tomato is hanging on black wires that were cloned out. However, I did not hang the tie as the resulting shape was not convincing enough, so I just re-shot the scene until I was satisfied with its position and movement. Took me about 500 tries (yes, I was tired after that!)
Lights setup:
- 1 silver umbrella from bottom left
- 1 softbox from upper right, slightly behind the subject
- 1 flash + red gel on a black backdrop
- 1 flash on the tomato
- 1 flash on the knife's blade.
Thank you for all the nice and constructive comments, I do appreciate them very much.
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 154 Avg (all users): 7.0619 Avg (commenters): 8.7059 Avg (participants): 7.0980 Avg (non-participants): 7.0323 Views since voting: 7240 Views during voting: 320 Votes: 113 Comments: 65 Favorites: 23 (view)
Regarding your notes above, I'm not sure I'm getting bored with seeing your face. When I see one of your selfies it's more like, "Nuts, now there are only two ribbons left to fight over!" Gave this one a 9. I think this is one of my faves of your entries because it appeals to my love of quirky shots.
Congratulations on the red ribbon (appropriate!) You have achieved a fantastic image and had to work hard to do it, so I'm glad that your effort rewarded you well.
Never bored with your face, LOVE IT!
Debbi
edit to say : you got f/22 on speedlites? Or was it speedlites?
Thanks Debbi. Speedlites were indeed used on the lower left (bounced off an umbrella), on the tomato and the knife. Both upper right softbox and backlight are 400w studio flashes.
Wow. Excellent shot, and well deserved 7.x! I'm surprised you got so many below-5's to be honest. It was a great idea, well executed, and in terms of the challenge... only the rolled up sleeve on your left arm is central. It's about as far from dnmc as my left hand!
I loved the bandages on your right hand. Very nice touch.
The only slight criticism I'd have with it was that when I looked at it your marriage ring was a little prominent. Ninjas woudln't be married I'd've thought :)
You ROCK at creativity and photography. What a wonderful combination. But, add in humor as you do... and well... you see... it's a ribbon every time! Congrats on another one!
Jeez, Christophe, aren't you getting a little tired of winning ribbons pretty much each time out?! :-)
Another wonderful quirky idea, great lighting, flawless execution, and nope don't think anyone's sick of your face yet! Keep up the great work, and oh yeah congrats on the red!
So basically, you don't go to the gym. You just do 500 Tomato Slice Lunges. You, Sir, are a fixture on the front page, and for very good reason. Congrats on the tomato red.
Amazing! Thanks for telling us your lighting set up too. I never get bored with self-portraits -- because with self-portraits the subject is mastering the perfect vision of the photographer -- which as a photographer, I find it so hard to do when you're trying to get someone else to see it. This is perfection!
hahaha. i gave this a 10 as usual. i did not comment during voting coz im getting tired of saying "Awesome! Great shot!" week after week after week coz you never seem to run out of ideas of outdoing yourself. You're the best and you're still getting better. thanks for always sharing your lighting setup and other details of your shot.
Excellent setup, lighting and execution again, Christophe. Congrats on the red (what else could it be). Some remarks I'd have, though: there should be tomato juice on the knife and overall I don't find this to be an off-centered composition. Great image, anyway.
Thanks for your comment Oliver! I do agree with you: usually I compose the shot from the challenge's topic, but this one was done the other way. It just popped in my head, and then I thought it could fit in this challenge, even if the off-centered elements tend to balance each other.
As for the juice on knife, or even spraying from the slices, I tried... and failed :) We need more expert editing challenges! ;-)
Excellent setup, lighting and execution again, Christophe. Congrats on the red (what else could it be). Some remarks I'd have, though: there should be tomato juice on the knife and overall I don't find this to be an off-centered composition. Great image, anyway.
I can not see your photo because the site is down. I am sure it's great and congratulations are in order. Really worth the ribbon. Way to go!Great 2 place.
Always creative and superb execution, if you will pardon the pun.
Only flaw, the tomatoe (you say tomato) should only have one slice through it :) The plastered fingers show 3 misses :) It would be difficult to throw it up in three pieces and keep them together as photographed.
But what do I know, I'm not Gordon Ramsay :)
This is a very well done staged shot. Nice lighting, posing, effect, attention to details (the bandaids are an excellent addition).
(not voting, fellow entrant)
I can't wait to see how you did this. You are my top pick, I would have given you a 10, but since I'm not exactly sure if this is a truly off centered photo I had to just give you a 9.
Such a great shot. I might be wrong, but personally I perceive this is a centered composition since the ninja, knife and tomatoe is one object and perfectly centered. Still an 8 from me.
WOW- suspended tie? suspended tomato slices ! animated expression- very very cool imagine- gonna guess ribbon on this 1 :-) very original idea- and sharp focus! :-) (not voting just commenting)
Your work continues to amaze me. Again, perfectly lit, razor sharp, excellent display of motion, and another uniquely creative and this time humorous scene. And every time it just looks like you have so much fun with all of it. Dude, you're an inspiration.
One of the best so far!
I think it's the band-aids in the righ hand that completes it for me!
10, and I'd imagine I will be seeing it in the top-three.
You are, without a doubt, the most passionate photographer I have ever seen. Your photography is excellent, but so is your art direction, lighting. I'd give anything to be inside your mind for just an hour :-)
I LOVE the wrapped fingers, but I fear that... this will be an anamoly for you, and won't ribbon... because to me there are two off-centered subjects... maybe three (face tomato knife).
And they all balance out too much for "off-centeredness".
Tomato Ninja
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