Week 28: Christmas in July
Texture? Muted colors? That’s not my style at all. Well.. exactly! Each week’s photo in my 2010 challenge has been a different and new perspective, a new theme or concept. But this week I wanted to try something that is totally not even my style.
A few years ago I stumbled across a photo with christmas lights reflected in the eye, and I’ve always wanted to try that. What better time than July, right? Strange I know. But I always go with my hunches when it comes to these weekly photos. I uncovered the lights from the garage, blew off the dust, and went to work.
I sat on the ground and arranged the two strands of christmas lights around me. The ones reflected in my eye are wrapped around a chair, just to the right of frame, almost next to the camera. The ones making the cool bokeh in the background are draped over two more chairs covered in a silky fabric, a few feet behind me.
I covered up the window to my studio so I could control all of the light. Set up a speedlight, camera left and behind me. Bounced the light off a big white bounce card placed behind the christmas lights. This created a little bit of fill light in the eye coming from camera right.
Abe was nice enough to push the shutter for me. At f1.8 aperture, I had to be sure that the focus was exactly on my eye.
Took about five shots and found the right one. Did a touch of editing in Lightroom to mute the colors. Then brought it in to Photoshop to apply the texture. Pretty fun.. I’ve always enjoyed a textured photo (when it’s done well) but it’s not something I’ve really played around with. As of today.. it’s my new favorite toy 
Thanks for looking,
dani
P.S. Here are both versions of this week’s photo. I really could not decide between the two! I even called in Abe to get his opinion, and he told me good luck. What do you think?
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4 comments on “Week 28: Christmas in July”
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In the blue one I notice the lights first. In the muted, I notice the texture first. Cool idea!
Definitely the one with the muted colors. Good choice, and a great execution of the concept.
Can’t pick
<3
[...] Week 28: Christmas in July This image was a test in balance. I learned, on one hand, the simplest of things can make a very interesting photograph. The reflections in the eye are made from a strand of Christmas lights. The lights creating the bokeh in the background are from the same strand of Christmas lights. On the other hand, I learned that adding texture to images can take it from good to great. The minute I layered texture over this image, I was hooked! [...]