Most creative photo

[buzzsaw]

Okay, with all the people taking such nice pictures I figured we needed a different idea for posting pictures. Post your most creative photo and explain what makes it creative to you.

Heres mine.

It's an oriental stargazer in my backyard... I just figured a backgroung with the sky would be appropriate since after all it is a "Stargazer"

[Steve Foss]

Maybe this is cheating, because it's not a single photo. But, here goes. First the image, then the "how it worked."

The image is of a glassblower I featured in the paper last summer. I took a portrait of him in his cowboy hat against a white sky, and in photoshop removed everything but the face, neck and hat.

I superimposed it on another image to get this portrait. The other image was a collection of his bright glass work. He makes vases and other decorative glass. I set up a bunch of his pieces, put on my wide-angle zoom, slowed the shutter way down and, while the shutter was open, twisted the camera sharply and slightly counterclockwise and then clockwise. The resulting blur motion made an interesting background, and it was all of his work. With digital, I was able to look at the back of the camera to make sure I had a background that suited my purposes. Could have been done with film, too, but not with as much instant confidence that I'd gotten what I wanted.

It looks like his neck is coming up out of a T-shirt, but that's actually a bit of photoshop magic, too. The glass work toward the center of an image twisted the way I did it remains a bit sharper, so I made sure there was no glass in the middle, and the bottom center ended up looking like a tie-dyed T-shirt, so I just went with it.

It's not actually a photograph. In the newspaper business, it's considered a photo illustration.

Here's one the follows the rules. A single image of a clintonia.

Clintonia, or bluebead lily, is one of the most common of north country woodland flowers. The buds open into small pastel yellow nodding flowers. This one was taken in spring, and I purposefully opened the macro lens to its widest f-stop (shallowest focusing depth-of-field) so the only sharp parts of the image are the bud cluster and the purple leading edges of the leaves.

The flower was coming up through a hole in a sheet of birch bark with the white outside facing down, leaving the peach-colored inner bark facing the camera.

[jonny_redhorse]

great idea....Buzz!....it's been awhile since I've posted....here's a couple examples of some "creative" photos..not sure if they are necessarily my best photos but just "different" I guess...but it's fun anyway...I used "Picasa" to alter the photos..and resized them of course in photo elements...I used "focal black and white" in picasa to achieve this effect.....most programs have something similar I'm sure but I really like Picasa...fast, quick, gets the job done...here 's some examples...jonny

tortiseshell butterfly on goldenrod:

rose hips:

bee on a thistle:

[Tom Wilson]

Wow Buzz,

I like the idea of this post alot, but I can't narrow this down to one photo. I'm gonna post a couple with a narrative for each--hope that's OK.

As far as just plain old photographic hard work goes these three are from possibly the toughest I've ever worked to achieve a photo. This was done in my basement studio about three months ago. I had multiple flashtands set up, plus on camera flash, a large bowl of water, a tripod, cords and wires everywhere, and a makeshift stand to support the dropper I was using to make the splashes. I took over 400 photos that morning. I didn't have anything to turn the water a different color, so I used Grenadine. I didn't realize it at the time, but the Grenadine was extremely difficult to get back off of the internal parts of my Macro lens...

Here's one that I took earlier this summer as well. This was taken outdoors with both natural light and flash. I was trying to find ways to emphasize the color of this flower by using different colored backgrounds. The water was due to the fact that it had just rained, but in the time this took I ended up having to add water via a spray bottle. The background is colored construction paper...

[jonny_redhorse]

Great work guys!.....gotta appreciate the time and knowledge that went into these photos.....the anticipation of finding out what the end result will be.......just plain interesting and fun!.......jonny

[floating minnow]

Wow! Great images by everyone.Great macro work Tom.All your photo's lately have me thinking of making the switch to digital but I think I'll wait to see how Canon reacts to Nikon's latest prosumer DSLR.Once again great photo's

Bruce

[Tom Wilson]

The bright colors in the first one are very nice Steve. I also like the background ver ymuch in the second one.

[Tom Wilson]

Jonny,

I really like the Rose Hips photo.

[Steve Foss]

These are some great images. Those red images of Tom's are rich, rich, rich, and the others are very strong. My fave of Johnny's is the bumblebee/thistle, because the grayed out background is more uniform and less distracting to my eye, which draws me more quickly and firmly to the subject of the photo.

I'm also waiting to see if Canon responds to Nikon's 200D. Not because I'm in the market, just because I have a professional interest.

Canon already has newly released the 5D, a 12.8 Mp full-frame sensor DSLR, for about $3,300, putting it firmly in the realm of professional. That would be my buy if I was in the market for a new body (well, always in the market, just rarely in the budget.) Next step down from the 5D is the Canon 20D, the 8.2 Mp advanced amateur/professional body for about $1,300, and the 8 Mp Digital Rebel for a little under $800.

Nikons' D70 and D50 both are very affordable and high quality 6.1 Mp cameras with excellent features, and the new 200D, a 10.2 Mp advanced amateur/professional for about $1,700.

I doubt Canon will release a whole new body to compete, since they already have the 200D bracketed with distinct bodies (the 20D below and 5D above), but an upgrade to the 20D may fairly easily be accomplished. It'll be interesting to see what they do.

Buzz: On your image that started off this excellent thread, I see the exposure is about perfectly balanced. Try saturating it slightly and darkening it slightly in photoshop or whatever program you have using mid-range levels. I think that will make it pop, and add a bit of drama to an excellent image. That's always a judgment call, and what looks right to one doesn't look right to someone else. You'll see I've overdone the saturation just a bit to make the point. Beg your pardon if it hurts an image you liked best just as you posted it.

[jonny_redhorse]

Thanks tom!...and steve for the kind words........sitting at the monitor here just playing with outdoor photos...going over last summers pics..guess that's why I enjoy photography so much.....brings back memories of the day you were out.....here's another"fun image"....jonny

[jonny_redhorse]

OK....one more quick post(hard to stop )...which one of these 2 images is better?.....my two "twins" from last summer.....jonny

[WifeKidsandDog]

WOW, great photos. I liked them all but the bee and the thistle is my favorite!

I don't really have much but this is one I like --

[jonny_redhorse]

very nice Cheryl!...the colors are great plus love the photo itself and the way it's presented........again...very nice!....jonny

aspen:

[jonny_redhorse]

My wife says the following photo looks kinda like a butterfly that landed on a lightbulb........or a "night light " from wal-mart.... ...maybe she's right ...jonny

[WifeKidsandDog]

Wow, that butterfly is beautiful, too. I think it's a tie between that and the bee :-)

Cheryl

[Royce Aardahl]

Just a fun picture of me riding one of the bigger smallys in the Mississippi.

[Dbl]

Fall colors reflected on a river.

On a previous post but something different.

Two takes on the same photo using jonny's idea.

[Tom Wilson]

Cheryl,

I am now convinced that you have been fibbing just a little about you're photography skills. That photo is really great, and you're computer skills are obviously up to par. Are you sure you're not just toying with the rest of us who actually have to work hard to come up with photos? By the way the framed one leaning against the wall with the teddy bear in it is great as well. I get the feeling that only the wildlife photography is new for you. You have posted a couple photos that had people in them that are way above average. Very nice, I sure am glad you started posting.

Tom W

[Tom Wilson]

Mike I only have one nit with this photo. I would have loved it, if the tree were not in the background. Plain sky like on the right side of the photo would have really set this off nicely. You really should try this shot at night as well. google up "painting with light" and read about how people get color out of photos at night by using small flashlights to paint their subjects in the dark. You could actually get the photo you were thinking of with black sky and stars in the background. Just an idea.

Tom W

[Tom Wilson]

Dbl--love the first one man.

I'm also very taken by the second one--the light is beautiful. It looks like an ad out of a magazine.

Tom W

[buzzsaw]

Great idea Tom!! I'll try that next summer.

[jonny_redhorse]

Todays photo....took this a couple weeks ago....like the red against the grain of the wood......and the lone acorn..jonny.....

[Blaze]

Very cool, Jonny. Absolutely beautiful. What software do you use to isolate objects in the picture and retain their color? Are you doing layers in Photoshop and pasting a colored leaf over the B&W version of the photo?

[Blaze]

Quote:

---

...I used "Picasa" to alter the photos..and resized them of course in photo elements...I used "focal black and white" in picasa to achieve this effect.....most programs have something similar I'm sure but I really like Picasa...fast, quick, gets the job done...

---

Never mind...guess I should've read the previous posts instead of just ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over the pics.

[jonny_redhorse]

Thanks Blaze!......glad you enjoyed the photos!...Went through a few more photos this morning and found one of my (if one could say"favorites"...lol!)....I've always liked the striking colors of this image and the way the leaves just happened to be placed there by nature...(guess everyone can tell I like macro photos of leaves by now!)...jonny