Theme: Red Silhouettes
Exposure: f/2.0, 1/100s, ISO 400
Editing: Lightroom for exposure & color; Topaz Details to bring out texture in the hair and cape while reducing noise and also keeping the smoke looking smooth.
I went for kind of a graphic novel look while not stylizing it too much. I reddened the highlights, reduced saturation and lightened the red to increase the contrast of the back-lighting. Topaz Details was really helpful for managing levels of texture for different components of the image.
When we left for our vacation to California in mid-June I was anxious because I would have limited gear to try and catch a contest-worthy photo. One night while I was cooking bacon for dinner at my sister-in-law's house, the house filled with smoke, and in the living room I saw an intriguing array of lines caused by the setting sun shining through the window blinds and illuminating the smoke. I thought, "hmm, this has the making of a neat photo, I wonder what I can add to it..." and on cue, my niece danced into room, flapping her red bat cape. I saw broken-up back-lighting coming through her cape and knew I had something, but before I could grab my camera she fled the room. I ran to find her and told her dance and flap through the room one more time. I fired off a few shots, hoping I caught something decent, and went back to making dinner.
This shot stood out for me because it had all of the elements I saw when she first danced through - the smoky lines, the back-lit cape with lines on one side, the "bat-wing" pose. As an added bonus I noticed later that her hair puffs look like bat ears. If I had more time to compose I might have angled her a little more to add depth, and I also might have played around with slower shutter speeds. But I'm happy I was able to at least capture this moment.
Last edited by raybird; 07-08-2014 at 08:17 PM.
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