Help please choosing Image for grading

Hi all again !!

So far I have passed 6 rounds Phew!! in my photo grading. The next round is shooting still life. We have been told it can be anything from flowers to bottles perfume etc.. to fruit candles jars etc..etc..

I have decided on this image which i took this morning using my black sided reflector the K10D and the F 50mm 1.7 Lens. I used two small boxes which I covered with the black reflector cover itself and in between put a tourch shining upwards from the base. It was bloody awkward to do as it would not balance. I added abit more second light using a second tourch hand held. I took the shot a 2 secs iso 100 at F8 spot metering. I then opened each shot in silkypix and played with the white balance/temperature to achieve these different effects.

Problem is which colour effect to choose so your opionions would help.

Cheers Pete

You've chosen a difficult subject to light because of the highlights, but I like the effect. Which colour you choose is anyone's guess - which do you like best?

A small flower would be a much easier subject to light and record without any exposure difficulties!

Good luck with the grading.

Thanks John

I like them all but need a few opinions of which one hits you most. I could have chose something a little more easier but wanted to be brave. I hope it pays off.

Pete

I like the last one the most.
Good luck!

Thanks Gywn

I have some other alternatives here

I like the last but one of the dolphin the most, FWIW. Not wild about the dice.

How about posting a picture of your setup? Would be nice to see the 'how' as well as the results.

First best.

Blue suits sea creatures.

G

could have some fun, stacking all your dolphin shot together, in a layer stack, then masking off different parts of each layer.

IE blues & purples in the dolphin, whites on the crest of the wave, blues and greens in the water.

The dice, are there, but why? there's no real holding power...for me anyways.

I'm going to clarify that dice comment a little more:

suppose the dice had all sixs facing up, and a yahtzee scorecard on the background....then it would tell a story, as opposed to just being a nice shot.

or three sixs and some glowing red eyes in the background...

You could always try something like this, which I happily admit to copying from Penatx User Mag a couple of editions ago.

Gwyn, that is an excellent shot!
btw, we don't say:
Repeat after me:
"Which I drew INSPIRATION from"

Nice one, Don.

G

Ok I was inspired by an article in Pentax User mag.
It was a great explanation of how to take pictures like this, and I had fun doing it - it filled a wet Sunday afternoon, whilst OH was watching rugby.

Agree with George, blue works best for me, the reflections are obtrusive.

I like the last blue dolphin the most, but the loss of detail is disappointing.

You say you are lighting from below, but can you try to get more even coverage?

An interesting trick if you have a LINEAR polarizer and an LCD monitor is to tip the monitor on its back and use as a light table.
With the linear polarizer, the LCD screen can be made to appear black. Yet the light being refracted through the glass shows up just as pain as day.
For example, this photo is lit only by the monitor displaying Photoshop with some colored squares to give color. I used a monitor privacy screen (one of those that keeps the person next to you from reading your stuff) for this shot, as my polarizer is pretty cheap and left things greenish/grey. But I have seen better results from other people using their polarizer. (remember must be linear, not circular)



Actually if you can dig up one of those privacy screen overlays, no polarizer is necessary. From an angle the whole pane goes black.

Anyway, that might make lighting from below a bit easier than the balancing act it sounds like you're using now.

@amoringello

That is a very interesting idea with the TFT.
I am going to give it a try as well, I have a spare TFT around which I don't use anymore so I could give it a try.
I have some glasswork which I could place on top of it. I just have to try if my polariser is linear or circular.

If a LCD screen goes black when turning the polariser then it is a linear?