<<< o >>>... and in with the new 23 comments + add yours
chromasia.com

Well, 32 soldered joints and 11 compression joints later we now have the new cold water pipes for the kitchen and utility room, hence this shot. I had hoped to get the hot water pipes plumbed in too, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow. Today has been: plumbing (9 hours), shower (10 minutes), buying and eating Kebab (20 minutes), photography (30 minutes), post-processing (30 minutes) – and I'm knackered.

So my apologies, but I haven't even read the comments on yesterday's shot yet or even looked at my email. Hopefully I'll catch up over the next couple of days.

Oh, and in case it's not obvious this is a 15mm shut-off valve.

capture date
camera
lens
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
cropped?
8.22pm on 2/4/05
Canon 20D
EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
f/4.0
1/6
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
100
no
RAW
C1 Pro
no
 
3x2
comment by dave at 11:10 PM (GMT) on 2 April, 2005

You make plumbing look interesting. Perhaps I'll become a plumber, and have Chromasia to thank. You never know. Nice photo, anyway.

comment by moscon at 11:10 PM (GMT) on 2 April, 2005

looks nice, what's the red?

comment by Daaave at 11:31 PM (GMT) on 2 April, 2005

Cool photo, but you had a kebab? Tell me it wasn't a greasy doner...

;)

comment by Raffi at 11:35 PM (GMT) on 2 April, 2005

OOoooooh nice shades of red.

And also, nice kebab. hah that made me hungry *stomach growls*

comment by paul at 12:04 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

"eating kebab (20 minutes)".....had one last night, too much chilli and had a torrid time on the john........love that background. Now did you think for one moment that the water might come shooting out of that isolation valve? right into your 20D ..... ;)

comment by m at 12:21 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

:-)
1 hour of photography! That could have been the hot water system started ;-)

comment by Chris at 12:28 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

I like this shot. It reminds me of stock photography.

comment by Fellow Eskimo at 12:34 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Again I like the background...and if it wasnt for the metal around it, I would say it almost looked like a camera lens, aperture and all. Maybe thats just me...

comment by Greg Wilker at 02:50 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Yeah the orange/red color background is almost the same as my new bedroom color.
thats some really shallow depth of field /cheers

comment by Markus Hartel at 05:53 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

nice shot - wassup with the red tho...
that's faked, no?

comment by nobleviola at 09:14 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Love that macro lens (I'm borrowing one from a friend for the weekend) - keep up the great work!

Charles

comment by djn1 at 10:45 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Daaave: no, it's was a well-cooked, tasty doner ;-)

paul: no, I wasn't worried. Well, not much.

m: :-P

moscon and Markus: the colour isn't faked, but it is exaggerated. The overall image was adjusted with quite a strong 'S' curve, the blend mode for which varied. The background blend mode was set to 'Normal', but for the in-focus bit it was set to 'Luminosity'. This increases the contrast but doesn't affect the saturation.

comment by pierre-nelson at 11:39 AM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Hi man,

Yes, by the way, what's the red?....
Excellent picture. Not usual, I like it, like every day.

Pierrot.

comment by tomas at 12:22 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

is this plumbing?

comment by Catorze.foto at 01:02 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Guapa combinación, me gustan los tonos

comment by tobias at 02:10 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

This image is amazing, the vibrancy the clarity, the deep red hue...

Another question directly to Dave:

"The overall image was adjusted with quite a strong ‘S’ curve, the blend mode for which varied. The background blend mode was set to ‘Normal’, but for the in-focus bit it was set to ‘Luminosity’. This increases the contrast but doesn’t affect the saturation."

I am halfway though photoshop CS for Dummies, all of which still doesn't make any sense but what you did to this image jsut goes over my head. S curve? Now I presume you did that on the "curves" adjustment" and subsequently made it an S shape, so three points of adjustment or two? Blend modes, how many?

Then the luminosity was used, how many layers did you create for all these adjustments. How did you just choose the bolt for the luminosity setting?

If you culd answer these questions I would be ost greatful.

comment by Beth at 05:08 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Ooh, I have some shut-off valve shots from the plumbing we've been doing in the bathroom! I like yours better, tho!

comment by Jorge Lesmes at 05:23 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Those backgrounds look awesome in your pictures.. Great.

comment by hungaro at 05:55 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

nice shot
great red in the background

this feels like a combat report - approached the enemy 1 hour, major combat 2 hours, enemy retreat 1 hour, warm food delivered and eaten 20 minutes, organizing advanced posts 2 hours, all quiet on the plumbin' front

comment by Mexipickle at 07:33 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

It looked like a bullet shot into a wall to me when the image first came up.

comment by VPra at 08:51 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Nice red. As moscon asked, what is it?

comment by LunaSol at 09:54 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

I thought it was someone looking through a peephole in the door!

comment by djn1 at 11:34 PM (GMT) on 3 April, 2005

Thanks everyone.

As for the red: it's a combination of the ambient light (and an inaccurate white-balance) and the copper pipe beneath the isolation valve.