Got Blood ?

[PhilF]

I did a Vampire theme shoot a few days ago.

c&C appreciated.

[gahspidy]

Really good work, Phil. I like the first one alot. The subject looking up with the light in her eyes as well as her expression is all working together great. The effects are pretty good, and the post processing looks good.
the second one is not as strong to me, simply because I feel it looks a bit too posed. I'm not sure what her expression or lack of one is saying, although technically everything else is pretty good. Still a good shot, but I feel the first is far better. She really nailed a frightening pose there and your set up worked to enhance it all.
Very nice work. . .

[PhilF]

Really good work, Phil. I like the first one alot. The subject looking up with the light in her eyes as well as her expression is all working together great. The effects are pretty good, and the post processing looks good.
the second one is not as strong to me, simply because I feel it looks a bit too posed. I'm not sure what her expression or lack of one is saying, although technically everything else is pretty good. Still a good shot, but I feel the first is far better. She really nailed a frightening pose there and your set up worked to enhance it all.
Very nice work. . .

thanks Gary.... here's more of them...

[jetrim]

Very nice stuff Phil, you're catching on quick! I agree w/ Gary's critique and prefer the first as well. Part of the difficulty with the second is that the blood doesn't look real, way too red and watery. I have a recipe for realistic looking blood somewhere on the other computer, if I can dig it up, I'll pass it along.
[edit] Really like the first from the second set as well, and great composition on all three, but the blood thing still bugs me a bit.

[Anbesol]

Agree with all thats been said so far, great shots, great exposures and lighting. The one thing I would like to see a bit more of is subtlety. I think the images here are a little too overtly vampiric (yeah I made that word up). The background is an excellent choice, I originally thought it was a warehouse wall or something, but the second pic in your second posting is a little different, theres no transition from floor to wall, did you shop these b/g's in? Howd you do that?

I also might try adding a soft focus effect on the skin, as it is the sharpness of complexion makes the make-up obvious, I think the soft-focus would make it a more believable flesh tone.

[draymorton]

All fantastic. The last two are the best (imo), but they all work very well. Nice to see this cool of an idea pulled off with such aplomb.

Point of criticism ('cause this is the critique forum): there is a lot of "coloring inside/outside the lines in some of these images: background texture over skin, coloring outside the pupil (last image), etc. Watch that. Really, really good stuff, though.

[PhilF]

Very nice stuff Phil, you're catching on quick! I agree w/ Gary's critique and prefer the first as well. Part of the difficulty with the second is that the blood doesn't look real, way too red and watery. I have a recipe for realistic looking blood somewhere on the other computer, if I can dig it up, I'll pass it along.
[edit] Really like the first from the second set as well, and great composition on all three, but the blood thing still bugs me a bit.

thanks jet!! .... means a lot.

yes... the blood... it was one of those store bought capsules ..... please if you can... would really appreciate the recipe.

All fantastic. The last two are the best (imo), but they all work very well. Nice to see this cool of an idea pulled off with such aplomb.

Point of criticism ('cause this is the critique forum): there is a lot of "coloring inside/outside the lines in some of these images: background texture over skin, coloring outside the pupil (last image), etc. Watch that. Really, really good stuff, though.

thank you dray.... yes still need to play and practice more on accurate selection.... really hard to do it manually.

[Skyman]

when I was at uni we used dishwashing liquid (preferably a thick dark green variety) and red food die to make blood. The beauty was that you could add more die to make it darker and the dishwashing liquid would stay in place but could be dried with a hair drier to look like scabbed blood as well. The only problem is that you can't eat it. I had an argument with a make up artist once about fake blood. She swore that the only thing to do was to by costume blood (no idea where she bought it from) as she said there were health and safety issues with home recipes. She is probably right, but when making student films those sorts of concerns really didn't worry us.

[draymorton]

Corn syrup + food coloring works. Add water to alter viscosity.

[jetrim]

..... please if you can... would really appreciate the recipe.

Found it! I knew it wasn't corn syrup:

My recipe doesn't use any corn syrup. I usually just use Hershey Chocolate syrup and McCormick red food coloring and sometimes I use water(it depends on how thick i want it). I remember that i once used a generic brand of chocolate syrup and god a muddy darn brown.

I use one bottle of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup and usually about 3/4 of a bottle of McCormick's red food coloring. It's important to use brand names, VERY IMPORTANT.

I get a mixing bowl and pour all of the syrup into it .. I then slowly add the coloring .. stir constantly and I test the mixture by dipping my finger in and checking to see if i have the right color... when it's the right color, I then funnel it back in to the Hershey's bottle and store.

Through testing we discovered that you need to use the whole bottle of syrup for the blood mixture not to stain.

[daq7]

Dont care much for the theme, but really nice shots within it.

[PhilF]

Found it! I knew it wasn't corn syrup:

thank you so much , Jet!!! You are the man !!!