Thursday, 27 February 2014

Straight Out Of Camera Week 8 "Promise"

This weeks theme was chosen by "The Viking" And although it seems like it's a little late considering Valentines day is just a distant memory, it's because David joined our group so his theme was added to the end of the cycle and that knocked Eje's theme back a week, and not because the old boy is having memory issues !

Love was a tricky one for me, deciding what to shoot and how to represent such a massive emotion is not as easy as it seems. I thought about maybe choosing an item I loved (Camera) or a thing I loved (Beer) or a person I loved ( Myself  The Wife) and then of course my Kids.These are all things quite obviously important to me, but I couldn't get my creative mind working with any of these ideas.

After chatting to Ali (The Wife) about possible concepts I decided to use one of the "Willow Tree"® figurines that we were given as a gift. I love these little sculptures, because of their simplicity and we've acquired quite a few over the years.
So here's the image.

I also placed our wedding rings in the image because that;s why this particular sculpture represents my thoughts of Love. We made a promise on the day we got the gift, and that promise was sealed with us giving each other these rings. It's 9 years this year since we got married, and it still seems like yesterday.

This was shot using a manual 80mm Canon FDn prime lens given to me by my Dad, and it's fitted to my DSLR with an adapter. It's not sharp wide open because of this, but once you hit F/2.8 it's shaper than any of the EOS lenses I currently own. It was lit with a single flash from above fitted with a DIY grid, and the hearts in the BG for interest are achieved by putting a heart shaped aperture on the front of the lens.
Settings were

85mm (136mm with crop factor)
F/ 2.8
1/50th Second
ISO 100
And it is of course Straight out of camera with no post processing.

As usual, please check out the stuff from the other inmates, the links are below, I'm sure they haven't all written a load of romantic blah like me because they're all cynical buggers ;-)












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3 comments:

  1. Chris Lane2/27/2014

    cynical bugger? I resent that! Because I'm a resentful bugger, not a cynical bugger!
    Great image Pete, especially like the dance (heart shaped) lights in the background, really adds to the image. How do you achieve that? you said a heart shaped aperture...
    Melissa and I have some of these willow sculptures too, they are pretty nice. We don't have this one, mostly we have ones with kids in them. Especially nice when you put a personal meaning to them.
    We are also 9 years together in May.

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  2. Eje Gustafsson2/28/2014

    This is a lovely image on so many levels. Awesome lit, greatly composed and arranged. Just the figuring was nice but to kick it way up by adding the rings and not only that but those great hearts in the background. Great work and amazing it was done all in the camera. You killed it this week. I sure glad I got my image already posted ;)

    BTW sounds like May will be a busy month between anniversaries and birthdays ;)

    Inmate 626 (Not a cynical bugger but a cheekie bugger ;) )

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  3. Bruce A. Ulrich2/28/2014

    Good job, Pete! I really like this. I believe we own the same figurine. We have not been together quite as long, but I feel the same way about having taken vows and that meaning something.

    I really like the hearts in the background. However, I think one of my favorite subtleties is how you made the white balance toward the cool side, which played to the blueish theme of the little hearts. Bravo!

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