The Dubai Chronicles

Saturday, June 02, 2007

l e a f

in the previous weeks, my online photo buddies decided to put up another contest and the subject this time is about a single leaf. the prizes are much bigger (with $325 as first prize and $100 as second), more well-knowned participants in community and the pressure.

so it gave us a week to come with the idea. i decided to literally freeze the subject by putting it into the ice. i called this cryogenesis.



i tried freezing the leaf between the container but all i got is hazy/whitish ice in between. i then researched on how to freeze a clear ice. after reading some articles, i bought a bottle of distilled water and boiled it. using distilled water has a reduced salts and by putting it to boil will release oxygen in water (that gives more or less clear look). after i picked a big and greenish leaf nearby my flat, i put it in front side of the hard plastic container, upside down position. the challenge here is to keep it still. i used sticks behind the leaf, staked up to the container's width for support. next was putting the hot water into the container slowly then instantly sealed. finally i put into a freezer setting it to a slow freeze.

after a day...

preset


i invited my friend to come over and asked to be my model. the concept here is some sort of a chic, villain-looking lab girl holding an experimental block of ice with a subject into it. i told her to wear something white, to clip her hair, put on her sunglasses, and gave her sanitary gloves. using my trusty dark blanket as a backdrop, i prefocused the subject, set the camera to manual, mounted on a tripod. next was setting my sb800 to remote setting, placing it behind the subject that caused backlight. i also used long flourescent lighting and served as fill in front of her and catchlights to her sunglasses. after i got the desired setting, i replaced the container and put on the frozen leaf into her hands.

cryogenesis entry

f7.1, 1/50sec, 50mm, iso200

the final stage of this project was the post processing. since i was contented with the preliminary shoot, i desaturated her clothes, removed facial scars and sunglasses' brand name, added a mist in the ice and adjusted the levels, saturation.

another version (cropped)


my leaf entry didn't make it to the finals but i learned a lot from this project. my guess here was it caused confusion on the subject with both the model and leaf in perspective. since the subject is directing his gesture towards the leaf, it made a little sense that the frozen block is the main subject. if i submitted the other version, it would have the chance (but the subject is oof) to make it. well, there's always a next time. :)

up next, leaf outtakes.

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