the duel

[livin4lax09]

I like to call this one "anyone who says you can't have fun in college without drinking obviously doesn't know my friends."

This is what happens when you combine two crazy kids with a photographer. I know there are some flaws, mainly the blown out window, but this was just a rough idea. Still pretty fun. We'll be working on it in the next couple weeks, and trying to find a better setting.


10 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 100. 1D w/ 50mm f/1.8

[walterick]

Now, that's pretty damn cool

Coming from both a Star Wars geek and a photographer.

First off, I have to commend your creativity here! Stuff like this you don't see very often. It certainly represents the FUN side of photography! (I also gotta give y'all props for abstaining from the juice while having fun, but that's an ot thread)

A few suggestions if you want to consider them, perhaps for doing a reshoot:

1.) I was a little disappointed as I scrolled down and discovered they weren't wearing clokes of some sort. Yes, my Star Wars nerd self was critiquing at that point. Their upper bodies look like they're wearing hooded clokes of some sort. To get a really "original" effect try dressing the guys up a little next time.

2.) Yes, the highlights and the background in general are distracting. That could be pretty easily remedied. You might consider a really cool background like some sort of industrial background or an open, moonlit field. Again, geek alert on my part.

3.) On the technical side, you didn't mention how you made the shot. One thing I can suggest in order to "burn" the guys into the frame more is popping a flash as they are standing still. This will hopefully make them look a little more solid (and not so Obi-Wanish if you know what I mean)

All in all, hell I'm just a little jealous that you all put something like this together

Good work!

[livin4lax09]

Now, that's pretty damn cool

Coming from both a Star Wars geek and a photographer.

First off, I have to commend your creativity here! Stuff like this you don't see very often. It certainly represents the FUN side of photography! (I also gotta give y'all props for abstaining from the juice while having fun, but that's an ot thread)

A few suggestions if you want to consider them, perhaps for doing a reshoot:

1.) I was a little disappointed as I scrolled down and discovered they weren't wearing clokes of some sort. Yes, my Star Wars nerd self was critiquing at that point. Their upper bodies look like they're wearing hooded clokes of some sort. To get a really "original" effect try dressing the guys up a little next time.

2.) Yes, the highlights and the background in general are distracting. That could be pretty easily remedied. You might consider a really cool background like some sort of industrial background or an open, moonlit field. Again, geek alert on my part.

3.) On the technical side, you didn't mention how you made the shot. One thing I can suggest in order to "burn" the guys into the frame more is popping a flash as they are standing still. This will hopefully make them look a little more solid (and not so Obi-Wanish if you know what I mean)

All in all, hell I'm just a little jealous that you all put something like this together

Good work!

GREAT suggestions walterick. Thanks a ton. I didn't really think of the cloaks, as this was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but it will certainly add to the photo. My concern for the background is this. I need something cool, but at the same time somewhere that is developed enough that it has lights. I want sort of a spotlight to be on the two duelists, and the background be dark. I have a great field at my house where I could pull this off, but no lighting that would make it possible, other than the light from the moon. That may give a cool effect though...

I thought about popping the flash a bit in the beginning of the photo, but then remembered a previous long exposure I had done the same thing in, and how it didnt turn out well at all. The white balance is so different for the flash and the overhead lights that it looks very strange. Also, I was kind of going for that transparent effect. My idea was to have their moving bodies more definable, with their starting positions definite. I got the definite starting position, but the moving bodies just didn't show enough light. I got them to change their clothes to white/bright colors and I was going to have them move slower in their moves so i could catch the action, but it started to rain, so hope was lost. But if you look closely in the middle, you can see hands clashing together.

as far as the procedure goes, this is what I did. I set the settings to correctly expose for the concrete tiles, then manually focused on the guys. I opened the shutter up for its ten seconds, and after about 4 seconds had passed, i told the guys to start fighting. This made it able for me to catch them at their starting positions, then what looks like a very fast movement of light and battling.

[jar_e]

Brent,

Rick pretty much covered it all up but I LOVE the potential for this shot. I'd love to see a reshoot if you end up doing one.

Great idea and wonderful shot.

Jared

[readingr]

Try a dimmly light car park would give you a good setting.

Rick covered all the other comments.

ENVY

Roger

[mjs1973]

Great idea here Brent! I have nothing new to add about the image, but I would like to point you to an article in the newest issue of Outdoor Photographer. The article deals with using flash and bluring the image at the same time. It might be a good technique for this type of photo.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/c...ionflash.shtml

[livin4lax09]

thanks for the comments everyone. And thanks for the article link as well!

[Overbeyond]

It's brilliant. I don't have much idea how you did it but it's so effective whatever you did.
Please do not dress them up; you will then be trying to copy the original and lose the originality (innocent fun) that is here at present, if you know what I mean. The burned out windows add to the effect in my opinion and are not a problem. They are nicely placed also.
Well done indeed.
Tom

[readingr]

Brent,

Just finished work and come back to this and Tom beat me to what I was about to say, rats!

The location adds so much to this photo and even though the windows are a little hot it doesn't detract. And definately no costume.

Roger

[OldSchool]

That's just great! I like it.

What's funny is that I shot an akin series with my kids with their light sabers. I didn't use a tripod (but tried the flash). My results were not as nice as yours.

I think hunting down a better setting, and some costuming would help. But, don't over do it. It would lose the tongue in cheekiness.

The other thing you may consider is simplifying the movements such that the light traces are not so complex. It may draw more interest if the user can retrace the movement -- as well as appreciate the beauty of intersecting arcs.

Have fun,
Tim

[walterick]

I frickin love this image.

A couple of folks have commented on the costumes. I certainly don't think you should dress them up as Darth Mal (sp?) and Anakin but I think a more "costumed" outfit would be cool. Maybe even matching sweats with similar colored shoes would do the trick.

I hear your concerns about the background. I do a lot of moonlight shooting and I can tell you that trying to get a full moon exposure takes a while - about 15 minutes at iso 100 and f4, to be exact. Since you have the field, I recommend shooting at twilight, when there's just enough light to give the sky and treeline some definition, but not enough to overpower your fighters. That way if you do decide to use a flash the color balance will be the same too.

I am wanting to go out and shoot this myself so bad it is hurting. Oh, to be in college again Sigh.

[amithi]

I don't have any technical advice, but I think this is very creative and fun! I was just recently introduced to Star Wars (I know, its a shame I didn't have it during my childhood) and I agree with everyone who discouraged the cloak-like costumes. I do think they should have hoodies though, kind of a modern twist on that. I like that the guy on the left has a black hoodie and black pants; that to me looks better than different colors on top and bottom. You might even go as far as having one guy in black and one in a lighter color (the good vs. evil kind of thing). That's all I've got, good luck with the reshoot!

[LeeIs]

I think it's great as is.

The only thing that distracts me a bit is the 3 hot spots smack dab in the middle. Other than that, I think you've done well. Great vision and execution IMO.

Love the eeriness of the figures as well.

[Chunk]

I have to agree with the others on this great, creative idea.

One thing I didn't see suggested was to use different colored light sabres, keeping the central part less confusing and perhaps heightening the sense of conflict where the colors overlap and blend.

Also, if you want to use the flash as suggested, you could filter the flash to get a closer color balance to the room light.

[CLKunst]

Love the concept of this one. I think everything that could be said aesthetically about this shot has been. I have a suggestion that might help with your flash problem though. Try an off camera flash technique. Set up your long exposure and set an adjustable off camera flash to 1/2 power. Circle around your dueling pair just outside of the frame or using them as a screen between you and the camera and pop off the flash at different times throughout your duel. Your field and absolute darkness will make for as many ghosted images in the frame as you can click your flash's tester. I learned this from an old boyfriend back in high school. We used to turn cartwheels in a pitch black field while he flashed us at close range and then we would have multiple ghosted figures spinning all over the images! Give it a try. The most important part though is to make sure you don't let a flash burst off directly at the camera and the rest should work great. Can't wait to see a follow up post and see your application/interpretation of all the great ideas you've got to pick from here.

Regards,

[mpreslar]

Brent, You Rock!!!!

This is a fantastic idea and very well excecuted! I can't really add anything to the critiques that have been made. Please post the re-shoot!