Is this chaotic enough?! (#20) [Sitemap] - Digital Grin Photography Forum

divamum

Feb-24-2009, 09:51 AM

pyroPrints.com

Feb-24-2009, 10:11 AM

It is indeed very chaotic

slpollett

Feb-24-2009, 10:17 AM

LOL, I was going to say that your daughter's room looks a lot like my daughter's room.

I think the tilt is fine--adds to the chaos imho. I would like to see more of your daughter on the bed (you're right--I couldn't tell she is using a laptop). I would say you're definitely on the right track with this one.

Sherry

dnie

Feb-24-2009, 11:16 AM

My son's room makes that look like a suite at the Hilton.

300m

Feb-25-2009, 06:07 AM

looks just like my daughters room and her pose :D My poor laptop get used and abused by her and the room well................
The clean room threat never works for me.

divamum

Feb-25-2009, 06:39 AM

You guys are cracking me up.... and making me feel SO MUCH BETTER!!! Given that I'm not a tidy person myself ::cough:: I'm always convinced that it's my Bad Mom 101 example that has led her to this slovenly nightmare (and no, I am NOT as bad as she is!!!!!) so it's actually quite comforting to know that it's not only me.... They will learn to do this so in time, right? RIGHT?! :rofl

On a positive note, I do find it very sweet at this age that the things of childhood are still terribly important even while the tween/teen stuff starts to emerge. She MUST have her soft toys, her American Girl dolls (about the only thing she truly keeps organised) and still prefers to go to sleep with the light on even as Miley Cyrus, fashion ideas and fantasies of starting middle school next year to occupy her... Ah me. They grow up too fast! :lust

divamum

Feb-25-2009, 08:59 AM

Any better?

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/480630252_jwXaX-L-0.jpg

PaulThomasMcKee

Feb-25-2009, 11:54 AM

Any better?

I think I like the first image a little better...having the boots so tidily placed together in the second image kind of diminishes the chaos for me.

Tango

Feb-25-2009, 12:29 PM

#2 with a re-shoot inmind because of the boots.!! (just as Paul stated)

also, one odd thing.... for some reason i want to see where the bed touches the floor...
but maybe that is because this image is chaotic, and i am not allowed... so you have done your job...

sweet caroline

Feb-25-2009, 01:59 PM

I agree about the boots. I also don't like the vignette in #2. I think you're onto something here, though.

I have to admit that both my daughter's rooms tend to resemble these photos. Even after cleaning, the organization doesn't last more than half a day.

Caroline

richtersl

Feb-25-2009, 02:16 PM

I also agree about the boots. They need to be strewn carelessly on the floor: knocked over and nowhere near each other.

You can also add some clothes strewn on the floor, i.e., dirty socks, jeans, sweatshirt, etc.

I like the tilt but I'm not so sure about the vignette. :scratch

divamum

Feb-25-2009, 03:05 PM

The really funny thing? She has wanted Uggs for AGES and I said no for all sorts of reasons (starting with the $110 price tag). We finally found a pair real sheepskin knockoffs on sale and she paid for half of them and is soooo fastidious about them - they're about the only thing she takes care of (well, those and the American Girl dolls - I actually had to put Samantha there for the effect :)

Shame about the vignette -it solved so many of the cropping problems... :rofl

Ah well - back tot eh drawing board on this I think. A reshoot at the minimum, and maybe I'll have a brainwave for a better idea..... :scratch:scratch:scratch Thanks for the comments, folks (and the reassurance that it is not only in my house that this kind of chaos reigns!)

BillyTom

Feb-25-2009, 03:25 PM

Ah well - back tot eh drawing board on this I think. A reshoot at the minimum, and maybe I'll have a brainwave for a better idea..... :scratch:scratch:scratch Thanks for the comments, folks (and the reassurance that it is not only in my house that this kind of chaos reigns!)

For me I think it all has great possibilities, including the vignette...its only the chaos that needs a little organization!! (I know....that's a contridiction isn't it :dunno :rofl )....don't throw it away yet!!

divamum

Feb-25-2009, 04:06 PM

Thanks Billy Tom! I think I've persuaded her to help me out again (bless her!) so we'll see what we come up with over the next few days..... :scratch

sandman_78

Feb-25-2009, 10:08 PM

I like where you are going with this shot!!!!

In the first shot the Hanna Montana book was too much in focus. My eye kept getting drawn back to it. In the second shot the boots were too neatly placed to convey "chaos" but after hearing why you put them in the shot I like having them organized among the "chaos." (maybe they just need to be moved?) And it may just be me but I still have a hard time making out the laptop in both photos.

My suggestion would be to keep the items of immediate interest to your daughter (laptop, dolls, boots) organized & positioned around her & the bed while letting everything else of secondary importance lay sporadically around the room. Displaying a sort of adolescent collateral that ties into the chaos theme of the challenge while keeping your "Transition of Adolesence" theme for the picture.

divamum

Feb-26-2009, 02:49 PM

Sick of shots of my kid's messy room yet?! :giggle

Still more. Not sure I'm there yet, but having some fun with it (even if I'm now being blackmailed. "If you win anything, you can never ask me to clean my room EVER. AGAIN.". Umm... :huh:rofl)

The hardest thing is trying to come up with something that resembles organised comp WITHOUT overstaging the scenario. Not quite hitting my stride on this one :scratch

1 http://www.smugmug.com/photos/481345598_pbVjV-L.jpg

2 http://www.smugmug.com/photos/481354215_GPCDt-L.jpg

3 http://www.smugmug.com/photos/481389682_VoChQ-L.jpg

AnnasPhotos

Feb-26-2009, 05:04 PM

I like number 2 also. My daughters room looks worse than that, and she is 25!:D

dnie

Feb-26-2009, 05:22 PM

I like #2. I like the darkness of the room, but then it isn't too dark. I also like the stay out sign laying down. I can see it, but it doesn't look posed, just thrown in with the rest.

sweet caroline

Feb-26-2009, 05:53 PM

#3. I like that she has more light on her face than #2. I like the lower to the ground perspective- it's as if you're in the midst of the chaos rather than an outside observer. I also think #2 is a little too dark

goldilocksandmy3bears

Feb-27-2009, 12:33 PM

Ok, so yes, it needs a reshoot. I actually need to organise the RUBBLE in her rooom enough that I can get a relatively clear shot - at the moment, any crop which might be photographically acceptable chops off one of the many items on the floor. I think I overtilted this, too (alas, in my favorite of the batch the flash didn't fire so it's blurred. Phooey. :deal) The other nit I see is that in BW it doesn't really show up that she's using a laptop on the bed; I probably need to explore other conversion techniques to see if I can do that better.....

However, I was thinking of "Pre-adolescence" or "Transition to Adolescence" as a title. Worth pursuing? (Alternatively, I can just tell her that I died of shame and am abandoning the shoot so she MUST CLEAN HER ROOM :rofl)

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/480023092_Rf9CB-L.jpg
I love this photo - it reminds me of a picture I took of my son when he was 3years old. He had dumped out ALL of his toys and when i say all I mean there was literally no room to walk he was wearing his superman cape with a hoodie and he had fallen asleep on top of his toys. The title was: "Even superheros must sleep" I wish I still had it but the photo was taken on one of those really old digital cameras that take floppy disks and was lost when we moved.:cry

HoofClix

Feb-27-2009, 04:35 PM

I would like your first image, with the disorganized boots, but pp'd to the contrast levels of the second one you posted..

Do you know how crazy you are???:smo

divamum

Feb-27-2009, 06:02 PM

Thanks all - I'm actually working on a variation on this idea if I can get it to work, but it has been an endless day and I'm too tired to post it tonight. But I'll be back (said in best Terminator voice :D)

I would like your first image, with the disorganized boots, but pp'd to the contrast levels of the second one you posted..

Do you know how crazy you are???:smo

Moi?????!!!!????

:rofl:encore:giggle

The Curious Camel

Feb-27-2009, 06:24 PM

For my 2cents I really love number one.

Good luck.

peace,gail:D

divamum

Feb-28-2009, 07:25 AM

Man, I'm hitting the brick wall on this one... Despite two reshoots, I can't quite seem to nail it!

I think I know what I want from this particular shot, but I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how I can do it.

The title would be "How She Sees It". The intention is the child in a distorted clear bubble with the things of importance and relevance also clear within it (sphere + some blending glows) with the mess outside and irrelevant (distortion filter), but... Bleeeaaahhhh. This one's making me crazy cuz I can't do what I want with it.... :rofl

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/482217251_bYbMz-L.jpg

divamum

Feb-28-2009, 08:38 AM

Or a more "purist" shot for the original title...

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/482250956_RPESV-L-0.jpg

richtersl

Feb-28-2009, 08:52 AM

That last shot of your daughter on her bed has the most authentic-looking mess/chaos on the floor. :thumb It looks like my nieces tore through her room. :eek1 :rofl If you're going to go with the messy room idea, this is the one to enter. :wink Maybe crop it just a tad from the right to remove the black thing touching the book?

That sphere-looking effect on the former isn't doing much for me. You're losing the chaotic element (her mess), IMO by using that. :dunno

redleash

Feb-28-2009, 09:02 AM

I agree with richters--the last one is the one to use! Honestly, I like the very first one best, but #2 is probably technically a better shot. In most of the others, your daughter looks posed to me. In this last one, she looks like you just caught her unaware. I like the lighting better in the last one also.

You've put in a lot of work and it's been fun to watch the evolution! Good luck!!

Lauren

divamum

Feb-28-2009, 09:08 AM

Thanks both - my feeling too. The sphere idea worked GREAT on a different shot, with one major technical flaw which I tried to "shoot out" of the original in this last batch, but it just doesn't work. Good idea but I either don't have the skill to execute it well enough, or maybe it's just one of those "only great in my mind" kind of ideas :rofl

Thanks! I'll clean up this last one and post it. I need to be DONE with this one, if only so I can get her to clean her room properly! (hhmmm... maybe there's an idea, a triptych of clean transitioning to messy..... :yikes :giggle)

darkdragon

Mar-01-2009, 12:03 PM

divamum

Mar-01-2009, 01:26 PM

Divamum,

I really like the current entry you have in the gallery. One thing, because I don't want you to get disqualified - it looks more sepia to me then b/w. My monitor is calibrated, and yours looked sepia (lightly) where as all the rest of the images looked greyscale. Just thought I'd let you know in case it is really an issue and not my imagination.:D

Oooo.... thanks. It's actually a standard bw conversion as far as I know, so I'm not sure what to do about that! I'll post in the thread and see if the mods have an opinion on that issue...

Thanks for the heads up!! :thumb

JAG

Mar-01-2009, 02:10 PM

I also like the one you have entered. I see what dg is saying about just a tad red. If you look at it in comparason to the rest of the shots in the album there is a very minute red to it...albiet ever so slight. On its own it looked b/w

divamum

Mar-01-2009, 02:42 PM

Oooo.... thanks. It's actually a standard bw conversion as far as I know, so I'm not sure what to do about that! I'll post in the thread and see if the mods have an opinion on that issue...

Thanks for the heads up!! :thumb

Lisa, you're absolutely right - I found it buried in a LR preset, just a hint of split toning. So, in the interests of honesty... back to the drawing board. The frustrating thing on this is that that preset was the ONLY one that seemed to convert it attractively, and I can't figure out what in the conversion it was that worked so well (the others all keep giving me really nasty pixelation and contrast problems)

Ah well... time to go figure it out! Thanks for the heads up :thumb

pyry

Mar-01-2009, 08:08 PM

Lisa, you're absolutely right - I found it buried in a LR preset, just a hint of split toning. So, in the interests of honesty... back to the drawing board. The frustrating thing on this is that that preset was the ONLY one that seemed to convert it attractively, and I can't figure out what in the conversion it was that worked so well (the others all keep giving me really nasty pixelation and contrast problems)

Ah well... time to go figure it out! Thanks for the heads up :thumb

Just turn the toner off and enter the picture already!

And lucky you with an ace like that up your sleeve. I still need a break in the clouds and a horse...

divamum

Mar-01-2009, 08:11 PM

Just turn the toner off and enter the picture already!

And lucky you with an ace like that up your sleeve. I still need a break in the clouds and a horse...

Unfortunately, I didn't figure that out until I had made so many other trial and error changes that I got completely lost (even with the history listing). And anyway, when I changed that leeeeettllle bit of toning and saturation it changed the contrast and ... the entire house o' cards came a'tumbling down. :cry

So I started from scratch. :bash Ah well - I've learned a lot about bw converting (and also to check ALL elements of a preset to see what it's doing even if it doesn't LOOK like it changed certain things!!!!)

"Ace up my sleeve" - what, you mean "Messiest 10 year-old the world has ever known"??!!?? I only wish I could say she was a throwback but no, i fear she comes by her untidiness all too honestly. (You know that adage about "a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind"? That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!! :rofl)

darkdragon

Mar-02-2009, 08:28 AM

Sorry that it made things worse to try and take the tint out. Better to find out now with time to fix then to get DQ's right? :cry

you could try your original entry (if you can still make it) and then take that entry and run it through the greyscale filter. That shouldn't change much and then you can bump up the contrast if you need to. Just an idea. good luck :)

pyry

Mar-02-2009, 10:44 AM

"Ace up my sleeve" - what, you mean "Messiest 10 year-old the world has ever known"??!!?? I only wish I could say she was a throwback but no, i fear she comes by her untidiness all too honestly. (You know that adage about "a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind"? That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!! :rofl)

Not The Child, the picture :wink

Get her an eat-everything pet? A rabbit worked wonders with my untidy habits at that age.