Hands and a little creative use of lighting

[dkoyanagi]

Some of my experiments. What do you think?

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/14917144-M.jpg

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/14917145-M.jpg

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/14396408-M.jpg

[johno]

very nice :thumb I have taken some bw with my daughters hands... they're cool. They didn't turn out as nice as yours.

peace.
johno~

[LiquidOps]

Those are awesome!!!

hmmm... would you mind a little detail on your technique... this looks like fun

# 2 and 3 are my favs

[dkoyanagi]

These photos are incredibly easy to shoot. In fact, I'm almost embarrassed that I put them up. Anyway, here's how I did the first picture:

I used a simple clamp light for the lighting. I taped a piece of paper to keep the light from spreading out too much.

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15035625-S.jpg




I did the shots in a darkened room. It was easier to put the light on the floor and point it up rather than place it high and point it down. As a result I had to shoot the arms "upside down". I shot the downward arm while lying on my back

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15035816-M-1.jpg (http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15035816-M-1.jpg)

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15035817-M-1.jpg (http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15035817-M-1.jpg)

I then cut and pasted the photos into a new image file. I first cropped out any unwanted parts and rotated the photos so the arms lined up.

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15036123-M.jpg


filled in the background:

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15036120-M.jpg (http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15036120-M.jpg)



converted to black and white (you can use any method):

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15036121-M.jpg (http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15036121-M.jpg)



rotated, cropped, and adjusted the brightness and contrast (I used 30% dodge):

http://dkoyanagi.smugmug.com/photos/15036119-S.jpg


The second picture was pretty much the same method, except I used a flash.


The third picture was the easiest. I place a halogen desk lamp under the tripod and pointed it at a blank wall. I set the timer on the camera, fired the shutter and stood in front of the wall doing shadow puppets. Then I cropped and converted to black and white. I added a burn layer to darken the shadow.

[Nir]

Dan,

I really like the first one! It gives a sense of interaction between two. The viewer can try to guess if the interaction is love, assistance, whatever. It is very well done - the lighting and B&W compliment it. It's a thought and feeling provoking shot.

The 2nd shot arouses negative feelings for me, probably because it implies violence.

The 3rd :dunno

[dkoyanagi]

The 3rd :dunno The 3rd one represents being bored on a Friday night. :D

[pathfinder]

Nice shots and a nice tutorial!! It shows once again that you don't need a fancy camera to create compelling images. All you need is some good lighting and a little creativity. :thumb

[T4Tots]

fun shots and thanks for sharing how you did it!

[Nikolai]

Some of my experiments. What do you think?I'd play with the framing, but that's the area where you can never have a single opinion:-)
Thanks for sharing!:thumb

[fish]

fun shots and thanks for sharing how you did it!

I agree 100%. Thanks dkoyanagi...welcome to the asylum. Oh wait...that's a different forum. Welcome to da grin! :wink

[dkoyanagi]

Thanks for the thumbs up, everybody!