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chromasia.com

I'm not normally a great fan of still-life photographs, but I quite like how this one turned out. It's shot under natural light in front of a purple chair; and the post-processing involved the addition of a Gaussian blurred copy of the image set to 'overlay' blend mode, a minor curves adjustment, and a very minor change to the hue for the greens and yellows.

captured
camera
lens
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
cropped?
4.28pm on 15/9/05
Canon 20D
EF 50mm f/1.8 II
f/5.0
1/50
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
400
no
RAW
C1 Pro
minor distortion
 
3x2
comment by Christopher at 08:50 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

Wow this image it outstanding! The green and purple perfectly compliment each-other. The symmetry really works well here with the cactus. This is already one of my favorites of yours :)


after about a year i'm finally first :)

Keep up the great shots

comment by Monika at 08:57 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

gorgeous! The colors are exquisite!

comment by Adriana at 09:11 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

I am not fan of that kind of cactus either but I love the stones that are used on the container. In this case the combination an contrast of colors turned out pretty well. I also like the square container that is not that usual for me. I usually see rounds. :p

comment by Beth at 09:12 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

I love the composition, but I'm not a big fan of the purple - I don't know, it gives it an 80's feel.

comment by Brian at 09:17 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

Wonderful.. the green draws me in, but I think it's the purple background that really makes it for me. Great job.

comment by Kevin at 09:24 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

The cactus looks furry as opposed to spicky.
Great colours.

comment by GP at 09:38 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

I like the colours and especially the background one. Great work as usual! ;-)

comment by Rock at 09:50 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

The yellow "crown" is outstanding and the background is even better. I would have liked to have seent he green of the cactus a little less vibrant - it has a kind of mutant look. The stones have a lovely soft feel to them in stark contrast toe the cactus.

comment by markus from aut at 10:18 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

i´m visiting this site for a long time now and got suprised several times but i wanted to wait for my first c o m m e n d till i get blown away by one of your shots!!!!!!
and here it is: wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow
(sorry for my english)

comment by A.R. at 10:26 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

Stunning with the black chromasia skin.

comment by :::ARMOKS::: at 10:36 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

Very nicely done...love the contrast of colors...

comment by Max at 10:44 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

Awesome photo...so much going on that compliments the shot.

Thank you SO much for describing your Photoshop processing technique as well. This is very useful for us beginners. I'd like to try doing some layer blurs on some of my photos to see how they turn out.

comment by Skauce at 10:49 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

Please stop with the gaussian blur............man. please.
Nice colours though.

comment by Patrick Gage at 11:14 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

color is a weapon

comment by cool daddio at 11:30 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

"Damn! "
It just came right out of my mouth as the picture loaded.
I guess it's why I keeping stopping by.

comment by Shane at 11:34 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

I'm looking at buying a 50mm 1.8 and i was wondering is that the lens you use the most often? your pictures with it are amazing and its one of the reasons why i want one

comment by angela at 11:40 PM (GMT) on 15 September, 2005

All the opposites compliment each other beautifully in this image;

form - ovals/squares, texture - smooth/prickly, highlights/shadows and colour contrasts ... you sure have that woW factor happn'n again!

comment by Joe at 12:03 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Hey, I was wondering if the original source images are available for some of your shots? I'm learning photoshop and trying to practice techniques.

comment by lisa at 12:09 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

ouuuuuuuuuuu. I love the richness of the colours.

comment by Tubby at 12:10 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Fantastic. It looks like Prince would look (if he were vegetable)

comment by Neil at 12:42 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

I love the colours & the cactus, but I'm really not a fan of the Gaussian blur overlay, very occasionally it will work, but I find it quite distracting.

comment by Bryan G at 04:07 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

excellent

comment by f.d. rahman at 04:39 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

man, I love this shot.. its so cute and perfect.

comment by sari at 06:14 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

this is great! wonderful colors

comment by Leo at 07:52 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

First of all, according to a friend, purple and green are the international Horny colors. Horny being US slang for randy I believe.

But yes, great colors. The background is intriguing. Composition works well. I like the DOF. But mainly I like the colors.

comment by SteveO at 09:23 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

This is great, i love the colours, i like the use of the overlay layer to get the kind of dreamy soft focus effect, very nice.

comment by stefan at 09:46 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

That's a bit different to the usual image - gave me quite a surprise. Whilst there's a lot I like about it - it feels a bit over processed. I'd like to see a version without the gaussian blur.

Shane - at £75 anyone who has a canon should buy the 50 1.8. If you're not at the widest aperture the sharpness is stunning and as you can see here it's fantastic for portraits. It's also quite useful at dusk when you can continue shooting without a flash for much longer.

comment by Charlotte at 10:18 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Great photo! I did a composition a bit like this once but with those "living stone" (lithops) cactus once - anyway, this looks great.

comment by Ioannis at 10:30 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Excellent colours and I love the softness. Thanks for sharing the technique.

comment by Neil at 11:02 AM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Outstanding! This is a marvelous image and a very welcome change from recent portraits, which haven't really moved me. This shot is one of your best. I hope you do more in similar vein.

comment by distilled eye at 12:28 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Marvelous, marvelous colors & DOF. All my efforts like this one fail to inspire.

comment by Rob at 01:28 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Wonderful! I love the complementary nature of the colours. Another great shot

comment by sanjin at 02:42 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

it is nice, but to me it looks very commercialized shot. it feels like it's shot for a magazine ad.
great site though.

comment by AT at 04:22 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

David,
I've always been a fan of your work but I've noticed lately that some of the pictures you post are pixilated. This one and the one from yesterday are very visible. This of course has nothing to do with your photography skills, which are an example of where I would like to be in a 100 years if I can :-); its the post processing.

Today's picture is pixilated on the left and right side above the purple haze (the right side is more visible). Yesterday's had a black hole right in front of your daughter's mouth.

I'm seeing this on a Powerbook G4 that I spent hours calibrating, to make sure I also viewed the picture on a DELL FPW2005 that is also well calibrated and got the same results.

Cheers,
AT

comment by Ed at 05:15 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Beautifully done. I love the colours. Good choice using the purple chair.

comment by Jan at 06:11 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

wow. i opened your page and wanted to stroke it and then saw what it was. ouch!

comment by David at 06:50 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Very, very, very, very beautiful -- truly exquisite. I love it. The rich colors, the selective blur, the composition. This shot brings elegance to a very commonplace piece. I must say, "WOW."

Ciao.

comment by mari at 07:31 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

The colors work wonderfully together. Complimentary colors. Love the details but it doesn't really give me any feeling. Not that you were trying to do that. I think I just don't like the subject matter enclosed in the vase.

comment by *~*flying cow*~* at 08:00 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

~the colours are exotic.
~the composition is fabulous.
~the shot is unique.

lovely~!

comment by Mike at 08:37 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Wow. I have seen so many of those little cactuses in those jars just like you have here. You make it look so fantastic!

comment by john [shots] at 09:08 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Great picture Dave, lovely tones

Yes this image is showing quite severe pixelation on my monitor as well which is also well calibrated.

Having said that it may not be apparent on every monitor.

comment by Vijay at 10:05 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

That's simply breath-taking... the colors complement each other quite well and the processing is just perfect!

comment by djn1 at 10:45 PM (GMT) on 16 September, 2005

Thanks everyone.

Shane: no, the lens I use most often is the 17-40, but it's a lot more expensive than the 50mm. To be honest though, and if I could afford it, I'd buy several more prime lenses as I much prefer them to zooms - they're just not as convenient.

Joe: I'm afraid that I don't have the time to put one up at the moment.

AT: I can't see the pixelation. Is there any chance you could send me a version of this shot with the areas you mention highlighted in some way?

John, and AT again: I'm puzzled as there's no pixelation – at all – on my screen. I'll ask for some advice on tomorrow's shot.

comment by AT at 01:27 AM (GMT) on 17 September, 2005

David,
I'd like to apologize about my calibration claim. for some reason my Mac was defaulting to the un-calibrated profiles for both monitors. I guess because I was expecting it to be calibrated my eyes didn't complain !! After switching to the correct profiles (on both monitors) the image looks vivid beyond imagination.


John: Check you calibration, you may have been victim to the same problem (if you're using a Mac I guess all the switching gets things confused after a while).

Cheers,
AT

comment by djn1 at 01:34 AM (GMT) on 17 September, 2005

AT: no worries, glad you got it sorted.

comment by Sirio at 12:39 PM (GMT) on 17 September, 2005

i had the same glass from ikea yesterday : )

comment by ezrider at 01:23 AM (GMT) on 18 September, 2005

nice !!

comment by Olegário Costa at 12:27 PM (GMT) on 21 September, 2005

Bela foto. As cores complementares relmente ficaram muito bem distribuídas. Só não entendi a necessidade de acrescentar o desfoque gaussiano.

comment by eugenio at 09:54 PM (GMT) on 1 October, 2005

Sorry, may be for low res and Jpeg detail, but I love 'hard' still-life and this pic doesn't seem (to me) to be the same level of other posted by you, especially concerning people and... 'landscapes'?. May be for the huge use of post production in developing this specific image. I saw today others from you (I was about a month late!) and they are great as usual. Sorry for this post about the cactus. Is the pot from IKEA?

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