Girl & Exhibit

[gahspidy]

Taken during a visit to the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
What do you think?
thanks

[fx101]

Oh wow... At first I thought...vignetting how could you, but unlike many photographers who exagerrate this technique you used it perfectly, to emphasize the subject cabinet. This seems like a split tone effect, right? There is no exif on the image, but I can deduce you shot at around 1000ish? The gradation to the shadow on the top left is grainy, but just enough that you might be able to smooth it, if its not a result of the colour process and not the iso. The lighting is very well done, giving the wood a dark feel and the person presence. As for the composition IMO you could have been a little further out or at a little more angle as you lose perspective somewhat. This is not a technique thing, but I guess more opinion. Also, there is some distortion on the wooding cabinet things, I would dxo it. Great work though, keep it up!

[Greg McCary]

Gary this is great. The lighting is perfect and the subject too. Well done.
Greg

[jkriminger]

There is a great sense of scale here...and the b/w with hint of brown cabinet works very nicely!

[GB1]

Looks a bit like trick photography, Gary. She seems so small compared to the cabinets! The lighting is very museum, and I like how the color is discreet and mysterious. Good posing,
GB

[Didache]

Gary - I think this is a cracker of a pic. The texture of the wardrobe and the lighting and the toning is just perfect for it. I honestly can't think of any way to make it better.

Cheers
Mike

[mdmc]

This is unpleaseant and uncomfortable to look at due to the apparent scale differences.
I don' like it at first but keep looking anyway. Color treatment is perfect imho.
This one is Better,
Mark.

[Overbeyond]

A very excellent and unusual picture Gary and I like it so much. It looks all wrong but it isn't. (I may not be able to explain that!)
I have two little problems though; the glare at the top of the cupboards is a definite interference in my opinion and toning it down would benefit the photograph. Also I was wondering if there was a little bit of detail to be extracted from the area where the bottom RH leg (as we look) of the cupboard meets the platform.
Great look of pride from the lady, nicely dwarfed by the enormous pieces, as though she was the artist proudly showing the fruit of her labours.
Tom

[gahspidy]

Thanks for the comments all.

fx101 . . .actually, the vignetting just happened as a result moreso of the lighting situation of the exhibit. The noise/grain is a result of 800iso and the fact that I exposed to prevent the highlighted area atop the cabinets from blowing out and then had to pull out detail from the rest of the scene. The noise was not really a concern for me while working on this because I felt it suited the image rather well. I would not try to lose it here.
I'm not sure that I would call this split toned, although it has the look. Conversion to b&w, gradiant mapping,and selective coloring are involved.(also one of my favorite tools. . .eraser brush) thanks for your comments and suggestions

Greg . . .thanks for your thoughts on this. Glad it worked for you. Actually Ii had a better title for this "girl with big chests" but naw.

jkriminger . . .yes, the girl adds the very much needed sense of scale to set off the impact of these monstrous cabinets. happy you feel the pp works well here. thanks

GB1 . . .I agree, it looks like some sort of distortion or manipulation because of the size of these things. As soon as we walked into the room we felt like it was a set for a giant.

Mike . . .thanks for the good words here. I appreciate your time to comment.

Mark . . .I can see the impact of the scale of these things sitting uncomfortably. sort of has the effect of a freak show where you may not like what you see, but have to keep looking. thanks

Tom . . .I had tried reducing the effect of the bright areas atop the cabinets and found the resulting image took on a "flat" look. The highlight had been recovered in the raw file (had to reduce exposure to prevent it from blowing out too much in the first place) As a result, the shadow areas were not all salvageable, although I could expose some more in the area you mention but the degradation of the file will become too evident.
I too was very happy with the womans pose . . .
thanks for the time, Tom

[Tuna]

Fantastic. Expertly done from conception to presentation. I wish I had taken this one...

Tuna

[swmdrayfan]

Gary, I can't think of anything to add. Everyone's pretty much chipped in. I like the scale presented here. Size does matter, I guess.
John

[Xia_Ke]

...I wish I had taken this one...

Tuna, funny you said that because the first thing I thought when I saw this was how it reminded me of something you would shoot...LOL

Gary, this is one of those shots that I keep getting drawn back to. When I first saw it, I couldn't help but wish that the girl wasn't so overpowered in the shot. After looking at this a few times, I realize that this shot just would not be the same if that was the case. I love the processing on it to. Just an excellent all around shot. Give yourself a sticky :thumbsup:

Don't suppose you would care to explain a bit of your processing on this one? It really has me intrigued. Any chance you would post the original for comparison?

Aaron

[Frog]

These are the kind of shots that inspire me to keep trying.
Thanks for sharing it.

[gahspidy]

Tuna . . .thanks, I thought of you after composing this shot as it seemd to me like a scene you would be interested in. I appreciate your good words . . .

John. . .yeah, size does matter here lol. girl with big chests . . .thanks for the thoughts

Frog. . . glad to hear it. I have been inspired by many people and works on this forum and happy to be able to give something back as well.

Aaron . . .I posted the original shot out of camera. I was happy with it but I had alot more in mind for the scene and so it was only the beginning.
Basically what I do, as I do with alot of my work, is get everything I can out of it in RAW first. then I open in PS, duplicate layer and convert layer to b&w using gradient map. I added another node in the center of the map (between b&w) and set it to a sepia likebrown color. I move it down below 50% to about 40 to open up some detail in the shadows and mids. I then reduce the opacity on this layer to about 80% to allow a bit of the original image to bleed through. I erase some of the effect in areas where I want more of the original image to show through, such as the cabinets ( this enhanced their brown reddish color) The, flatten layer and do some painting of light where I want with a dodge brush, some cloning if needed, and a few other small detail work, but thats basically it. Every image will require diffferent settings and amounts of adjustments.
thanks for the comments

[Xia_Ke]

Thank you very much for the tutorial and for posting the original Gary. Much appreciated

Aaron

[readingr]

Thank you very much for the tutorial and for posting the original Gary. Much appreciated

Aaron

Gary

Outstanding - what else is there to say other than to mimic Tuna's comment "wish it was mine"

My first impression was a comparison with the luggage my Wife, Daughter, and her Friend take on holiday on a sailing yacht. They need these to carry all the kit which means I need a bigger boat :lol: My daughters friend's bag would not fit through the hatch .

Roger

[gahspidy]

Gary

Outstanding - what else is there to say other than to mimic Tuna's comment "wish it was mine"

My first impression was a comparison with the luggage my Wife, Daughter, and her Friend take on holiday on a sailing yacht. They need these to carry all the kit which means I need a bigger boat :lol: My daughters friend's bag would not fit through the hatch .

Roger

Roger, thats a good laugh. . .but if you get a bigger boat they'll just bring bigger stuff!