Ch 77: Blue Screen of Death

[Richard]

Old programmer that I am, when I read system the first thing that jumped into my mind was "crash." I know I would need to reshoot this for a number of reasons, but I'm wondering if it is worth the effort.

http://rsinmadrid.smugmug.com/photos/109132165-L.jpg

What do you think?

[hesaias]

Def worth it.

[Flyinggina]

I feel her pain!! Broken system works for me.

Virginia

[truth]

I think the idea has potential. I'd like to see much more dramatic lighting, something that plays up the medievil theme of the axe. I think B&W might work well here. I also think that the screen needs to be much more prominent in the image, perhaps even to the point of removing the person wielding the axe. I'd actually frame it so that it was the just the screen and the axe, possibly using a shutter speed that had some motion blur behind the in focus axe to give the impression of impending destruction. I'd also try and remove any background in favor of pure black, using the light from the screen to illuminate the axe.

[controld]

That was the first thing I thought of too - but was trying to figure out how to generate one these days! I agree with Truth that there is potential here - but the screen needs to be more of the central focus.

- Mike

[davidmigl]

yes, you have got our creative juices flowing.... I see a reshoot like this:

Laptop on either black backdrop or a desk that is completely dark except for a the area around the laptop. Laptop is on the right of the frame angled to the camera's left. Single light out of frame off to the left. Axe in upper RH corner of frame, either truly blurred by slow shutter speed, or motion blur photoshopped in.

[Richard]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. There are a few I might pursue here. B&W won't work because the screen needs to be blue. I tried a quick selective color version, which does make the screen stand out more. I dunno, hackneyed joke, hackneyed technique...

http://rsinmadrid.smugmug.com/photos/109157764-L.jpg

The main problems in the original are the lighting, the expression and the background clutter. The last one is easy to fix. I'm just not sure what I can do about the lighting. I don't have any off camera lights and I am pretty inexperienced with the flash I have. That was really why I thought this might be a good challenge to work on. I'm hoping I can do better than this first try, though.

I originally planned to have the axe in motion and might still go that route. The main problem with that is that the axe is real and is extremely heavy. Don't want to lose my computer in the process. Oh, and BTW, I actually didn't crash the machine...it's just an image of the BSOD that I found on the Web. :D

Thanks again for the comments.

[Dizzy]

throwing in my .02 here. What about an over the shoulder shot, b/w with the blue screen with the axe poised infront of the screen to make it look like a jab instead of a blade comeing down on it? With an over the shoulder shot, you would loose the frustrated look but it brings out the screen more in theme.:dunno

BTW, the axe is beautiful, could definately do some damage with that.:wink - Dizzy