that Chipolte Girl

You might remember this picture from yesterday. The subject's name is Chris and it was taken at Duke University in the Sarah Duke Gardens on the Eastern edge of the campus.

I've received two Emails asking how I achieved the affect in this picture and a few comments on the blog as well. Even Chris wondered how much Photoshop magic was involved. Well, none to be exact. The picture to the left has been shrunk down a little to fit on the page--the original file size was 2 meg and was 2200 something pixels across--but that's the only adjustment I made.

The affect was actually the result of clumsy happenstance. I had been taking a few pictures in a shaded glen of small blue flowers so I was using the flash to light them up. I then decided to take a closeup of Chris' face with the glen as a backdrop. I kept the camera setting on macro but forgot to shut down the flash--so when I took the picture Chris' face was extremely overexposed. It was an oversight--I simply forgot to turn off the flash.

The picture below was taken immediately afterwards with the flash off and as you can see, Chris' facial detail appears quite normal in that one. I really like the affect of the overexposed skin on the first picture but it was just a happy accident. I can't claim to have achieved that affect through skill or planning. Just dumb luck.


Now you can't see the green in her eyes at all. And that's a shame!

Comments

SassyAssy said…
The second photo is definitely not as exotic looking. Your skill as photographer amaze me even with happenstance and luck involved.
2:32 PM
OldLady Of The Hills said…
Sometimes the most wonderful things occur through 'happenstance', don't you think? I love that you kept the picture....Some people might have just decided it was too off...but, in fact, it is much more interesting than the one without the flash! I LOVE things like this.

I've been having trouble getting to your site from my blogroll...I am not sure why, unless you made some change in the address OR, a gremlin has crept into my Template...I will check in my template, Dave....But just wanted to say, I have tried and finally I went to Michele and scrolled through the weekend M&G...! (lol)
3:11 PM
OldLady Of The Hills said…
The problem was in my Template, my dear...! Now fixed! Hooray.
3:15 PM
kenju said…
I like both photos, Dave.But the top one looks a little ghosty!
3:45 PM
Diane Mandy said…
Both photos are lovely, as is the subject!
8:05 PM
Anonymous said…
I love it when this happens. Which is why I only delete pictures off the computer and not the camera, ya just never know.

Very COOL!
7:39 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nitroflex at home

Image
I mentioned a few days ago that I'd purchased off of Craig's List an exercise machine. A Nitroflex, to be more specific, for the grand sum of $75. The boxes you see to the left were bought by the seller as discontinued merchandise over a year ago and stored in his back yard storage shed. You might be able to see some of the bugs and such that had made their homes on these boxes. I left them out on my deck for a few days before opening them to allow the insects to leave gracefully or die in the sun. The picture to the left is the pieces from the box, unboxed, and up in one of my upstairs bedrooms. For the most part it wasn't difficult to move it around though two pieces were heavy and a number of them were kinda long and bulky to be wandering about the house with. Surprisingly, this kit didn't require any extra tools. There were two allen keys and one combo wrench included in the boxes and that was all it took to put it together. The whole thing only took about half an h...
Read more

ankle update

S ince a few people object to seeing my feet --poor misdirected souls--I have the two pictures below hidden behind links. Behold them at your own risk! *evil laugh* Actually they're not scary though the first one is a little colorful. T he first picture shows my ankle and foot from the side, as labeled. You can see a lot of general edema of the entire foot. There's also a good bit of discoloration of the ankle area and to a lesser degree the top of the foot all the way down to the toes. The side view is a lot worse in this regard than the top view. T he second picture shows the two feet from the top so you can compare the somewhat normal looking right foot to the injured left foot. There's not much abnormal color on this view but you can see the "sausage like" swelling of the left foot. It's this swelling that is causing my main problem--I can't get the foot into my boots and I need the boots to support the ankle. Damn Catch-22. Side view, looking inward ...
Read more

Ostrich poop found here

Image
I took these pictures last Fall while visiting the NC Zoo. On the left you can see what appears to be a nice polite ostrich just wandering around. This impression soon turns out to be false when her dowdy tail feathers raise up and reveal a puckered anus. Ewwww! If you look carefully, you can see that she's made a deposit on the ground. More ewwww! Feel free to click on the image to make them bigger. Details can make all the difference in these shots. In other matters, aren't those really bony legs they have? And couldn't they have a little more color?
Read more