Silhouette Chess board
Silhouette Chess board, chess pieces from the collectors edition of Shogun Total War PC game. Fire background is from a ball that is part of one of my girls toy...
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Silhouette Chess board, chess pieces from the collectors edition of Shogun Total War PC game. Fire background is from a ball that is part of one of my girls toys with me swinging it back and forth to create the effect.
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Jul, 2013Views
1891
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Awards
Chatter Award
People's Choice in Toys Toys and more TOYS Photo Challenge
Well Done
Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Exceptional Contrast
Superior Skill
Jaw Dropping
Love it
All Star
Magnificent Capture
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in my Kitchen on top of the kitchen table, I live in Holyhead which is in North Wales UK.Time
I remember I waited for night time to roll as I wanted the kitchen to be as dark as possible, my kitchen faces the north west and it very light in the evenings as it faces the sunset, so it was late evening when I took this photo.Lighting
I took this photo in almost complete darkness, the only light is the toy I was swinging around in the background. Before I took this photo I had the lights on so I could use the manual focus and focus on the horse in the centre. The background light is one of my daughters toys which I put on a flashing orange and yellow light and then swung back and forth to create the fire effectEquipment
This was taken on a Canon 600D with a 18-55mm EFS lens, I was also using a Manfrotto tripod and a shutter release cable. No other photography equipment was usedInspiration
I have seen many great photos of chess pieces but they are all similar, chess pieces lined up on the left and right. I just wanted to do something different from the others and tried it with the horse in the middle, it looked ok but not great and I sat looking at it thinking how could it be better, no sooner than I thought that my daughter walked in swinging this toy which had many changing colours. The idea popped into my head to use a long exposure and use this toy as a backlight, so I waited until night time. I tired a few of the colours but none of them looked as good as the orange and yellow colour.Editing
I am learning photography all the time and this photo was taken as a time when I had no knowledge of processing images in the likes of Photoshop, so in a basic editor I cropped the photo a small amount so there was not a lot of negative space at the top on the photo.In my camera bag
My bag is packed with all sorts but normally I have a Canon 6D, Canon Ef 100mm L Macro lens, iPad pro, Ring flash, Canon Speedlite 270ex, shutter release cable. Depending on what I am doing I will also have my Manfrotto tripod which is in a separate Tripod bag. If I am out walking I will always have some water with me in the bag and either fruit or a bag of Haribo sweetsFeedback
Use the light and get your focus spot on, then to take time and try with as many different colours as possible. Chess pieces tend to be all the same so look for a different set which has different pieces to the main ones. I used a limited edition chess set that I got with a PC game 'Total War'. If the set has been out give the pieces a good clean as even the small specs of dust will show up in the final photo.
