Funeral Urn
by John Clulow
You might think the title is "funeral um", but it's "funeral URN". I should have capitalized it that way to begin with, I suppose, and thus have avoided this explanation.
Anyway, necessito help; I've received some excellent suggestions, adivce and critique on this subject here on NPN in the past, so I'm hoping you can help me now.
My wife makes this stuff, hand thrown from mica clay with lids made of copper with cast bronze hendles from, in this instance, a wild grape vine. Now that I'm retired, I am in the midst of a "conversation" with one of her customers, my "client", regarding how to provide what she wants. That being a "dramatic image that incorporates 'gods light'". There has been a lot of back-and-forth and gnashing of teeth on my part. And this is where I'm at right now, and I need any suggestions on things to try: This is an HDR on a graduated background with a single softbox at about 45° on the right. If I try to light the foot, it screws up the shadow, which the client considers critical to the "drama", so I tried using some dodge to provide detail in that area.
Any other ideas would be greately appreciated, and if I try them, I'll post my results here. Anyone else heard of "gods light"? The other thing she wants is for me to leave as much room as possible around the photo so she can insert langauge etc.... <sigh> I literally have 20 hours in on this one and I'm not used to physical labor.
HELP
Comments
3 comments"Dramatic" light is usually, well, more dramatic than this. And by "god's light," I would suspect she means some sort of a "beam" of light coming down from above. Here's my suggestions -
Adding a specular spot light from high above and behind, and probably to the side a little would certainly improve the drama effect. You would need to cut down your main exposure from the softbox by a stop or two in addition, but keeping the same f-stop you're using now. Make the urn darker, but still retain detail. Then the beam would outline the urn, giving it a "halo" effect, and end up being much more dramatic. You could then add a little soft focus which would help flare the halo a bit, which again would add to the drama. As for the "beam" of light itself, you'd probably have to add something to the atmosphere in order to see the beam, or create one in PS. Youtube has some video instructions on doing this. Anyway, that's my take on what she's after. And what's 20 more hours!? You're retired! Good luck.