Ash Tray

how does the color strike you?

another example of wonderful photographic seeing and presenting the ordinary in a fun way.

colors look fine. nice repeating patterns.

 

Knicki

The ashtray really is critical to the composition.

but that's what makes all those red striped really pop! The green boothes seem pretty dark and therefore sort of muted, yet the reds are VERY alive in contrast to it. I think it works, however I find the image to be a little too small to appreciate the ashtray, without the title I may have thought it was just a small bowl. I do like the repeating patterns going on and the ashtray just adds enough "differentness" to the image. Well seen, regards,

 

Todd

Carl, the color strikes me just fine. The comp with the lone ashtray strikes me even better. Someone mentioned too dark. My monitor is calibrated and it's not dark at all

Thank you all for your comments. I'm quite surprised at the positive reception, especially compared to the last half dozen or so images from the same shoot.

 

Does anybody else see green bench seats? They're black and I dropped the yellow quite a bit due to color temperature of the lighting, but left green unchanged since there wasn't any to speak of. There are large dark areas, and it's true there is no texture in the seat covering, so no 'shadow detail'. For this reason, I'm not sure this would look great as an extra large print, but there is some nice detail in the table top and floor that I worked hard to preserve.

 

The ash tray, alas, is a set up, which I would do more carefully next time. I would move it towards the camera so it stays within the boundaries of the table. It doesn't really matter what it is. I find that a lot of rhythm shots benefit from one small point of interest. If I'd had a model, I can think of all kinds of alternative shots, but I don't have one readily available.

 

yes, green bench seats with blackened head rests.

 

 

The red piping is the bomb Carl. Enhanced or as shot? I love some of the subtler colors here. And as always your sense of composition is so interesting. The ashtray is a nice touch... Dave

The red was boosted a hair . . . . +3 on the highlights and midtones.

 

I checked the color on the bench seats, and sure enough, parts of it do have more green than blue or red, but the value doesn't go much higher than 13 ( out of 255) as I recall. That's pretty dark.

Effective rhythm shot. The ashtry, though, doesn't grab my attention as much as I would like. I agree, this setting screams for a person. With your skills, I think you could get some great shots with a model (I think a woman would work well here-- kind of film noir).

a woman in the shot? I was thinking more along the lines of a naked male lying face down.

 

 

You know I have to ask you why 'face down' . . . or is this a modesty issue?

 

Actually, I had in mind someone sitting in a booth with just the left leg and torso showing, or perhaps sitting sideways with just feet. If you're ever in Gaithersburg with your modeling wardrobe, we'll redo the shoot. :-)

face down. first thought is it would be more like a carpet, something to tread on, no face makes it impersonal. male? because isnt that what you guys are for? ;)

 

although, a nice pair of womens legs and torso sitting would be a nice touch.

OK, so we have a guy in a bear rug sort of pose with a lovely young thing sitting sideways on the bench with one foot on his (it's?) head.

 

You're not married are you? . . . just a wild guess. . . . such a high opinion of guys you have. :-)

My eye first perceived these benches as a deep olive green (maybe because they would work aesthetically with the red accents in that color), I had to look really closely before I realized they are, indeed, black.

 

This image is stand-alone but would certainly make a tremendous backdrop for a fashion shoot.

The bench seats do have a green hue to them Carl

On my monitor, they're black. The green only shows up with a sampling . . and just barely. (It's the color temp of the lighting. They really are black.)

Excellent colors and perspective