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@benborp
Cheers!
First idea was for an amusing picture of a person trapped in a twisted hammock. Brought the hammock inside to get more control over lighting and a cleaner background and realised suspending someone from a wooden beam is quite twisted in itself. So I wanted something grotesque. Done stuff before with snooted lights and long exposures that does the job. Trouble is all my lighting kit is in storage in another country and I don't have anyone to model. Cable tied a pair of Ay-ups to an armchair to give two cross light spots that I kept off the back wall but bounced off a wall to the right, used the hammock to get a test shot for levels and then tied a belt to the rope to make a wrist loop, set up the radio trigger for the camera and got naked apart from two cords lightly looped around my ankles. I had three or four shots to experiment with - hang from wrist, place ankles in front of wrists to hide strap, little bit of swing good, rotation bad, move hands and feet a fair amount, one big move of head and shoulders. The lights were overheating and cutting out so I had to get down and turn them off, wait and turn them back on between shots. Gave up after eight shots. Picked one where the shape was good and the details were intriguing without being too distinct.
ISO-100
f 13
6 secs exposure
54mm
Minor colour correction (Ay-ups are cool and quite pleasing)
Standard sharpening (to pick out rope detail)
Partially desaturated yellow channel
Heal ruddy great dust spot right in the middle of the image.
Curves adjustment to boost contrast
Posted the image and when I saw it scrolling on the page thought it worked much better without the beam and rope telling the story so cropped it tighter.
Would have liked to get a shot with the same general shape but with more distinct feet and hands sprouting like petals. Would be nice to get a smear of teeth and redness from the face but that would need someone aiming an incandescent source at my head for the last two seconds of the exposure.
Took about forty minutes all in.