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Heart Squeeze

As the tears fell to the ground, a profound calm washed over him.

As the tears fell to the ground, a profound calm washed over him.
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NIKON D7000

settings

Aperture f/2.8 ISO 400 Shutter 1/200

upload_date

Sep, 2014

Views

2485

Likes

+217

Awards

Contest Finalist in Male Portraits Photo Contest

Achievement in Originality

Peer Award

+562

Outstanding Creativity

+19

Superb Composition

Absolute Masterpiece

Top Choice

All Star

Superior Skill

Magnificent Capture

Genius

Emotions

Impressed

Top Ranks

Top 20 rank

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 20 rank week 2

Top 20 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken of the wonderful and talented Rob Woodcox during a "Wild Ones" photography workshop in Portland, Oregon. I was traveling through the area and was lucky enough to take one of their workshops, it was such an amazing and inspiring opportunity.

Time

The workshop was held about forty-five minuets outside of Portland, next to this huge waterfall in a deep, steep ravine. This meant, that even though it was mid-day, full sun, the whole area was bathed in a lovely soft shadow, perfect for shooting. It also meant, that even though it was about ninety degrees outside of the canyon, by the time we left, we were damp and absolutely freezing!

Lighting

The light is all natural shadow light that has a lovely blue tone. This allowed me to add a little warmth to the heart and make it look as if it were glowing.

Equipment

I hand held the camera, a Nikon D7000, and it was shot with a Nikkor 24-70 lens.

Inspiration

It is pretty corny, but I wasn't getting along with my boyfriend at the time, and it felt like someone was just squeezing my heart. I think we both felt that way, and I wanted to make an image that came out of that emotion. For part of the workshop, we were encouraged to pick a prop out of a pile of random items and use it as inspiration for an image. When I saw a tiny little bag of red balloons, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. At first, I thought I would be able to use photoshop to make the water look like blood, but it looked and felt so unnatural. Then I realized it had been tears all along, the tears I had cried over this relationship.

Editing

Actually, there is a lot of post-processing in this image. It might surprise the reader to know that this is a composite of about twenty different images! First, I shot Rob holding the balloon dry until I got a facial expression I liked, then I shot the scene again as Sarah Ann Loreth poured water over his hands, finally I shot the background to expand the scene. I then composited all of these images together to get the final image and did some color correction to make the heart glow. It is a really long process, and in many ways I now feel more like an illustrator than a traditional photographer.

In my camera bag

I have a lot in my bag because I shoot fine art as well as documentary photography. Normally, this includes: Nikon d7000 and a Nikon D90, fixed 50mm 1.2, fixed 16mm 1.2, nikkor 10-24, nikkor 24-70, sigma 70-300. A speed light, a few remotes for self-portraits, a few UV filers, a few polarized filters, a 10 stop neutral density filter, a gorilla pod, a cheap lightweight tripod, a medium intuos pro pen pad, and my 17" MacBook Pro.

Feedback

Take a workshop with the "Wilds Ones!" Actually, its all about creative thinking and figuring everything out backwards. You have to know what the image looks like in your head first and then you have to shoot all the different elements separately in order to combine them later in photoshop. It takes a lot of practice getting it right, and I still make mistakes all the time or sit at home struggling with photoshop. I think its all about inspiration and practice. I get better every image I make, but sometimes it is a really frustrating process. The rewards are worth the struggle when you do finally put together an image like this. Don't get discouraged! Keep trying!

See more amazing photos, follow exploredexposure

exploredexposure

exploredexposure

Heart Squeeze

As the tears fell to the ground, a profound calm washed over him.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow exploredexposure

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