Flash 1/8th power; focal length 200mm, 1/60 f8; white balance cloudy; aperture priority; ISO 100; saturation high;sharpness hard.
The Boomerangs: I love the absolute raw color, very wide spectrum of hue and saturation, on the opposite sides we have the two gourds, one with black background, the other pretty earthy. Both have nice white for the hieroglyphics. I was told a gourd this size of your hand has up to 21,000 images, very simple in color, very intricate in design. I'm at 200mm, about 45 inches from the subject, flash at 1/8 power, manual focus, would have better results with a soft box.
Flash 1/32 power; focal length 165mm; exposure 1/60 f8; white balance cloudy; manual focus; aperture priority; ISO 100; saturation high; sharpness hard.
The Dolphin: Laser etched into the center of a crystal cube that's 2" square by 3" long. I used a black backdrop, side lights from windows; camera flash dialed down to 1/32. I'm about 33" inches from the subject. My "AH HA" came when I dialed down to 1/32, got low enough to avoid flash flare, and acutally made the shot. The uncroped shot shows the whole cube. I played with different white balance and settled on cloudy to gently warm the colors in the etchings that comes from all the colors around the subject.
On the first image, there's lots of great color and details with your subject. Since the detail of the sketches are so small, it makes me want to pull in closer and see some more detail and texture of the fabric but then again I have a tendency to zoom in lots so it could just be a personal preference. Also, I looked at your image twice and didn't notice the second gourd until I read your description. I agree and think its good to not show all of the second gourd or even much of it but since there is hardly any contrast behind the black I would probably show just a little bit more.
ReplyDeleteThe gourd image is really interesting. I would not have thought of setting those things together, especially because the patterns on both types of objects are "busy." But I do think that this shows up the etching patterns on the gourd really well. Maybe is it because the red-toned colors in the boomerang complement the purple tones in the gourd? I dunno... I also think that something good is happening with the placement of the objects. Everything looks like it is emerging out of blackness, and so we get a good outline on the top right of the gourd and the bottom left of the boomerang(s). You made them emerge out of black (seemingly) and yet there is no flash flare or light spots reflecting off of the objects. Hmm.... Wish I could have been a fly on the wall to watch you set all of this up.
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