Wave
Only the face has been added to form this composite; all else consists of water, sunlight, and coincidence.
Only the face has been added to form this composite; all else consists of water, sunlight, and coincidence.
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Feb, 2014Views
505
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Awards
Winner in Waves Photo Challenge
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Jaw Dropping
Superior Skill
Exceptional Contrast
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Top Ranks
Top 30 rank month 1
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is a composite photo. I took the film picture of a standing wave forming beneath the "artificial rapids" on river Sava (Zagreb, Croatia), built to mantain a constant water level for industrial purposes. The female face belongs to a friend, that picture was taken digitally, and a part of it has been merged into the final version.Time
Late in the day the setting Sun was adding various reflections and transparences over and through the ever-changing watery shapes. I think it was about half an hour before the Sundown.Lighting
Lighting was absolutely the best, or should I say ultimate? It was daylight, and it is the kind of light I like the most. Any other kind of light might be interesting, but it will never be able to replace the Original.Equipment
The water photo was shot by Olympus IS-3000 (I think), to Fujichrome Sensia (100 ASA). It was shot out of hand without any add-ons. The digitally shot face profile (taken with Olympus SP-570UZ) is the only segment of another photo that has been added, thanks to the peculiar water shapes. Both image parts were merged in Corel PhotoPaint (v.X3).Inspiration
Obviously the shapes of water are mainly responsible for the associative process that gave me the idea about the final image. What was needed was a bit of search through my archive to select the facial features that would fit into the idea. When I found it, the rest was simple.Editing
The wave picture was scanned from the slide frame, and the face profile was digitally photographed, so there was not much work needed to merge the mask-extracted face segment within the part of the wave where it (anatomically correctly) fits. The built-in face object was "sunk" into the background, and partially covered with some water and spray, using Clone tool with some degree of transparence.In my camera bag
Many years ago it took two small sturdy cases to transport all of my underwater photo equipment! During my days of professional photography I used to carry a photo bag loaded with extras and spares. Nowadays I hardly ever use anything more than what fits into my photo vest pockets. Usually there is a backup camera (always a watertight model), spare batteries, and possibly a CPL and several ND filters. Instead of tripod I use a sort of multi-purpose clamp with ballhead, and I use it to fasten the camera to whatever is handy, if there is a need for extra stability.Feedback
As always, imagination will play the major role, enabling one to combine various elements in similar pictures. There is hardly any better advice to share. What is also very much needed is to experiment a lot with various photo-editing programs, so as to be able to produce whatever is imagined. And the most important thing related to post-processing is moderation. It has become yet another thing where "less is more".
