other a 50 years old man having a heart attack after seeing the winning lottery numbers

thank you!

Excellent piece with a best title i have seen in a long time. nice post process work. Colours are just great. Best rgs Tero.

creative and fun - the muted colors in this really make the image rock for me - this image has my eyes wandering all over as it speaks volumes.

Awesome. Love what you have done with the color and overall feeling here.

Excellent masterpiece, congrats

Excelent, impresionant de real si suprareal in acelasi timp !

wonderful 7/7

solid... well done.

 

jim baker

Great!!!!

Wonderful expression on the man's face. Great capture of light too!

That was a good laugh))) Great photo and title!!! 777

sooo striking! excellent work

Tine-o tot asa Alex !! Da ba ce televizor bomba are acolo ca face o lumina de te orbeste...=)) ai putea sa vezi de pe trotuar...si dak te chinui bine...mai vezi si o sticla de jack acolo in spate pe raft =)).Fain de tot man.Flaviu

Great color.

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Very interesting but uhm... shadows look odd.

Softbox shadows are "too soft". And shadows from the lamp are totally missing (am I missing something too ? :).

Cute, but not particularly well done. A bit too "staged." the lettering and numbers in the lower left confuse me a bit. The flash reflects on the books or windows at the left rear which also bothers me. Use of the wide angle lens seems to distort the whole background. It could be cropped a bit closer on right and left making almost a square pic. Not my cup of tea. It might look better if it was two or three times this size, but difficult to read the man's face which is what the picture is all about.

 

Willie the Cropper

I haven't reached a final conclusion on this week's picture, but the comments so far seem more indicative of a subconscious reaction to the artificiality of some aspects of the picture than to what is actually happening here. Square format? Surely, whether you like the effect or not, cropping would destroy the intentionally weird perspective and the cluttered, claustrophobic atmosphere. I don't understand the comments on softbox use and the flash reflection in the 'window'. The main light source is surely meant to be the television screen (and that is what is reflected). I don't even have a problem reading his expression at my screen size. There is a need to 'read' small details in this kind of photo - for example, the dropped ticket - and that kind of detail doesn't perhaps display well at this small size, but I love pictures that tell a story with lots of detail to move my eyes around. Also, I enjoy seeing photoshop used to produce an atmosphere and enrich the story at a more human level for a change. So, no final opinion on this as a photo, but I do think it tells its story well.

this is the making of - >

Hi Alex,

first let me tell you i really like the image, i find it very well done. the colors might look a bit artificial, but as you prove with the making of, there has not been done much in PS. thanks for adding the link, this is usefull and interesting. it's a pitty though that there comes no info concerning the lighting with it. let me have a guess: it's lit with one flash which is hidden in the TV screen? maybe you hid another, weaker one, but i can't figure out where, so i guess it's only one. congratulations on your fabulous portfolio, too. best wishes, fr.

This shot does tell a story and irony it it's title, who does'nt want to win the lottery. How many times have you heard of a battler winning and you think good on you, good luck to you. Here is a battler who needs the money, his old TV is his table, light fittings broken, bad paint work, who better to win. Then the poor old bloke has a heart attack and probably dies, just his luck.

 

This is a doco type shot which has to tell a story in order to get a response from the viewer, it has an appeal in that sense. Colous and perfect lighting are not required in order to tell a story if anything these imperfections as some see it are necessary to add to the story.

I am interested to know the tech details on how this was acheived though, you know f settings, shutter speed, flashes used etc. If not this will just become a I don't like it forum and none of us will learn anything.

technical details:

 

a 420w flash 1/1 in the TV case (it was just a tv case) and a 45w 1/1 in the lamp beside him 430ex @ 1/32 (but this was used just to sync the lights)

 

tokina 12-24 f4 @12mm on a 400D

iso 100

1/200

f 9

 

PS... tonal rage and toning a few details retoutched - no cropping

The post processing is very good. His expression is great. There's humor in the tilted lampshade & his using the old TV as a dining table while watching the new wide-screen

The lyrics of "Ironic" song came to my mind:

An old man turned ninety-eight, he won the lottery and died the next day ... isn't it ironic ...

As for the photograph, I'm not sure if it would work without the explaining title. It's hard (if only possible) to read the "message". Some improvements are necessary to emphasize the details that actually tell the story, I think. Also I dont like the reddish (pinkish) cast much personally. There are some great photos in author's folder BTW.

Regards,

The light is impressive, as well as the colors. But truly, the feeling it provokes in me is ugly. Perhaps because it reminds me somehow of ex-communist years, and the way those poor people lived, especially as seen on Russian (or more likely - ex-Soviet Union) movies so long ago.