This image is of a young girl, maybe almost a teenager, after she had just had her face painted and was admiring herself in the mirror. I think the uncropped version tells the story better, but the closeup lets you see her eyes a little more clearly, so I couldn't choose.Camera info: Nikon D200, 70 -200mm 2.8 lens at f4 and 1/50th, ISO 100, cloudy whitebalance
Post processing: duplicated the background layer and cloned out some bright neon string bracelets on her wrist, duplicated that layer in softlight at 70%, selected and attempted (unsuccessfully!) to change the blue lines in the upper right but did manage to darken them, Touch of Light on her face, Levels for global brightening, Creamsickle by Kubota but masked off skin, Bring Out the Eyes, the Edge for global sharpening, the High Pass filter in Overlay for more detail.
To me, what is missing from these photos is perspective--I really do not know that you are taking photographs of a mirror. I think you need to back-out a little to give the viewer a better feel for the environment. Without that, the hair in the foreground seems to be something that the photographer accidently got into the frame.
ReplyDeleteWith all that said, I must admit, I have no mirror reflection photographs that I am willing to show anyone. I think this is tough one.
Enjoyed thinking about how I might do this one.
Cindi, of the two images that you show, I like the close-up one better. You were there, so you know more than the viewer. We are just seeing a moment of time as limited by your camera frame.
ReplyDeleteThe story seems to be about the girl's face (mask, face paint and feather) but not her image in a mirror. This view is a good story and image, just not the one you thought you had. If you had not told me I would not have easily known that the foreground was her hair and the image was in a mirror. [I guess women know more about mirrors than men. (;->} Now I will be in trouble with Sherri.]
What did you lose when you cropped? You lost part of the left mirror frame, some blue lines on the right and part of what I now know is hair. Because it is not in focus, I did not realize that it was hair until I looked very closely. If you want the story to be about a mirror, I agree with Larry, you need to show more of the mirror and real girl in addition to her image.
Yes, I do have a tendency to crop too closely in the camera and in this case I did not leave enough room around the mirror for the story to be more obvious. Something to remember in the future! Thanks for your comments guys.
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