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Archive 2017 · Chloe

  
 
beavens
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Chloe


IR shot of a very interest sculpture titled 'Chloe'. She's probably about 20-30 feet tall and somewhat of an optical illusion. While she appears to be fully three-dimensional it's merely a play on your eyes based upon your perspective.

Thoughts?

Jeff












Dec 03, 2017 at 02:39 PM
RustyBug
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Chloe


Do you have any non-IR shots of it?

I don't think the IR is helping your subject (i.e. the sculpture). But, if you are wanting the IR for the BG tree, etc. then I might look to increase your contrast / darken your shadows to bring about more of the modeling on the sculpture.



Dec 03, 2017 at 03:28 PM
beavens
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Chloe


RustyBug wrote:
Do you have any non-IR shots of it?

I don't think the IR is helping your subject (i.e. the sculpture). But, if you are wanting the IR for the BG tree, etc. then I might look to increase your contrast / darken your shadows to bring about more of the modeling on the sculpture.


Nope, to be honest I don't have a lot of interest in this scene without the IR. Going for the surreal over technical perfection here.

Jeff



Dec 03, 2017 at 03:50 PM
eeneryma
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Chloe


beavens wrote:
IR shot of a very interest sculpture titled 'Chloe'. She's probably about 20-30 feet tall and somewhat of an optical illusion. While she appears to be fully three-dimensional it's merely a play on your eyes based upon your perspective.

Thoughts?

Jeff


Magnificent sculpture Jeff I assume by your title that this is Chloe. The artist's daughter perhaps? Is there a story behind it's creation, and why it is placed where it is?

Agree with Kent on the "modeling" aspect due to your IR presentation. Would be interested in seeing a B&W rendering as a comparison, if you were game.

What are the little white streaks in the sky in the second photo? Clean up in pp?

Last, I could see going back and shooting this at different times of the day. The second photo would be really cool with a very long shadow.

Steve



Dec 03, 2017 at 06:42 PM
beavens
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Chloe


eeneryma wrote:
Magnificent sculpture Jeff I assume by your title that this is Chloe. The artist's daughter perhaps? Is there a story behind it's creation, and why it is placed where it is?

Agree with Kent on the "modeling" aspect due to your IR presentation. Would be interested in seeing a B&W rendering as a comparison, if you were game.

What are the little white streaks in the sky in the second photo? Clean up in pp?

Last, I could see going back and shooting this at different times of the day. The second photo would be really cool with a very long shadow.

Steve


Here's an article with some info: http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/new-chloe-sculpture-turning-heads-at-vmfa/article_b7ac23e5-65b4-52d1-8632-34e363f82909.html

The shots posted are BW, just in the IR spectrum.

The streaks in #2 are falling leafs - hard to tell at this res? Need to be removed?

Ah the crux with IR is that you want max sun and that generally involves midday shooting.

Here's a cell pic from the first time I saw her after getting to view some awesome Terracotta Army pieces.









Dec 03, 2017 at 09:57 PM
DaleBerlin
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Chloe


Jeff, I like the 1st one with that beautiful IR tree in the background. Is it possible to center the tree trunk behind the head, and position the camera lower so the tree fills the entire background? I think it might look kind of cool if the branches shoot out from behind the head, and the IR leaves fills all the background (or as much as possible).


Dec 03, 2017 at 10:49 PM
beavens
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Chloe


DaleBerlin wrote:
Jeff, I like the 1st one with that beautiful IR tree in the background. Is it possible to center the tree trunk behind the head, and position the camera lower so the tree fills the entire background? I think it might look kind of cool if the branches shoot out from behind the head, and the IR leaves fills all the background (or as much as possible).


Dale, anything is possible!! I just need to get back out there before the grass dies off.

I was hoping to avoid the tree "growing" out to the head, which is why I composed with the truck visible, but looking at this more I'm not sure that this will be an issue. Even so, having an IR afro could be interesting.

Thanks for the feedback (as well to Steve @eeneryma and Kent @Rustybug)!!

Jeff



Dec 04, 2017 at 10:45 AM
lighthound
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Chloe


Very cool find! What material is this made from? It has a very unique look to it but perhaps it's caused by the IR?

I wanted to play a little. I thought maybe play up on the odd narrow front view by going with a tall narrow aspect ratio and tossed in a little D&B and clarity and a little contrast.

On the side profile image, which is my favorite in this set, I took it into NIK CEP and had some fun with it using the midnight filter with a few control points then hit it with a slight curve adjustment. Trying to bring out the surreal vibe you mentioned you were going for and to separate it from the BG a little by adjusting the tonal values.

Anywho... just a few pennies worth from the goofy guy.

If you don't have any captures your happy with, I definitely think this is worth a revisit if you can because this is really neat.


Dave












Dec 04, 2017 at 12:20 PM
beavens
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Chloe


lighthound wrote:
Very cool find! What material is this made from? It has a very unique look to it but perhaps it's caused by the IR?

I wanted to play a little. I thought maybe play up on the odd narrow front view by going with a tall narrow aspect ratio and tossed in a little D&B and clarity and a little contrast.

On the side profile image, which is my favorite in this set, I took it into NIK CEP and had some fun with it using the midnight filter with a few control points then hit it with a slight
...Show more

Thanks for the comments, feedback and suggestions Dave!

The sculpture is comprised of polyester resin, marble dust, and a stainless-steel infrastructure.

You can see how things look without IR in the cell pic a couple posts up.

You know, I do like how your rework adds a lot of black to the background areas and puts further focus on the sculpture. I can look to tweak this selectively as I think adding too much black to IR mids can really muddy them up (see the tree in your rework).

I might have to get back out there and snap some more if I can find the time.

Jeff





Dec 04, 2017 at 12:32 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Chloe


Yep, I went a little heavy handed for illustrative purposes.
But... do you really want people looking at the bark of the tree here or push them back and focus them on the sculpture?

Case in point, here's a Photograph by a slightly famous guy you might have heard about.

But as we all know... It's your image, your call.

Dave







Dec 04, 2017 at 12:49 PM
beavens
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Chloe


lighthound wrote:
Yep, I went a little heavy handed for illustrative purposes.
But... do you really want people looking at the bark of the tree here or push them back and focus them on the sculpture?

Case in point, here's a Photograph by a slightly famous guy you might have heard about.

But as we all know... It's your image, your call.

Dave



Oh I'm not worried about losing details in the blacks, but making the mids/highs muddied - I actually dig losing the detail in the blacks as it makes those whites pop more!

Who is that Adams guy? Is he a photographer?

Let me put together a rework for ya.

Jeff



Dec 04, 2017 at 01:33 PM
beavens
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Chloe


@lighthound

This rework itself is also on the heavier-handed side for emphasis - not sure if I'll run with it, but it seems less flat than than OP.

The tree leaves and head are coming close to competing, but I feel there is still decent separation.

The rework is more striking, but OP is more dreamy. I might meet somewhere in the middle, but still want that dreamy/surreal look.

Jeff







Dec 04, 2017 at 01:58 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Chloe


I do like the brighter leaves in your edit, but like you mentioned, they are now competing.

Hmmm... I wonder if you worked the sculpture like Kent suggested to bring out more shadow and give it more tonal depth. Kinda bringing it back similar to your OP but a little further.

Dave



Dec 04, 2017 at 02:06 PM
beavens
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Chloe


lighthound wrote:
I do like the brighter leaves in your edit, but like you mentioned, they are now competing.

Hmmm... I wonder if you worked the sculpture like Kent suggested to bring out more shadow and give it more tonal depth. Kinda bringing it back similar to your OP but a little further.

Dave


Not a ton of shadow to work with as this baby was in full sun. I could look to drop the lack of clarity some and bring some detail back which may help. I could also lose some white/brightness in the tree leaves and keep them more around higher mids vs. highs.

Options!



Dec 04, 2017 at 02:10 PM
sbeme
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Chloe


This is an irresistible subject, and of course I like working with IR for an odd image like this.
To me the biggest challenge is dealing with the other man-made background elements and trying to extract the head from these elements, playing with the tree and sky dramatically.

The last rework works best overall for me. I just wish the tree's bark separated from the head a bit more on the left. The dark branches, small among the glowing leaves provide a bit of structure, contrast, and oddly remind me of veins which are absent in the alien form.

I really want to like the second image since the sky is curious and I like the darkness there, with the streaks. But for me there are just too many shadow and ground elements. And the odder profile is my pick.

What about shooting low to high, wide angle, grabbing either the sky or the tree behind and eliminating more of the ground?


Scott



Dec 04, 2017 at 03:40 PM
beavens
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Chloe


sbeme wrote:
This is an irresistible subject, and of course I like working with IR for an odd image like this.
To me the biggest challenge is dealing with the other man-made background elements and trying to extract the head from these elements, playing with the tree and sky dramatically.

The last rework works best overall for me. I just wish the tree's bark separated from the head a bit more on the left. The dark branches, small among the glowing leaves provide a bit of structure, contrast, and oddly remind me of veins which are absent in the alien form.

I really want to
...Show more

Thanks for the feedback and thoughts, Scott! I was wondering when you were gonna poke your head here as I had you in my thoughts when I was out shooting these.

Truth be told, the head-on shot was more to show off the peculiar nature of the sculpture that doesn't convey through the portrait profile angle.

I've got some other captures at 16mm (~24mm with cropper) that were pretty much right in front of Chloe. I haven't gone through all of them yet but perhaps I might have some others that you would prefer.

Stay tuned!

Jeff




Dec 05, 2017 at 09:55 AM





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