RandomConnections
02-10-2007, 07:18 PM
Sometimes, even accidents can have cool results...
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/randomconnections/384293041/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/141/384293041_4a04d09a42.jpg" width="384" height="500" alt="Ghostly Self Portrait" /></a>
In the photo above, I was trying to take a color shot so I could do something like this...
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/randomconnections/384168853/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/131/384168853_8f75be577c_m.jpg" width="182" height="240" alt="Self Portrait on Gold" /></a>
This was shot with a Nikon D50 and 50mm f/1.8 lens. I was shooting in low light and with no flash so that I wouldn't create harsh shadows from the matte I was holding. I also couldn't use as wide an aperture as I might have liked because that would have caused either my face or the matte to be out of focus, and I needed both. Therefore, I was using fairly long exposures. I thought the shutter had closed, and leaned forward to get up just as it actually did snap. The result was the ghostly image over my shoulder.
I created a new layer and did a Gaussian blur overlay, dialing it back to about 43% opacity. On the base layer I did a B&W gradient adjustment layer. The Guassian overlay was on top, and retained just enough of the color to add interest.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/randomconnections/384293041/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/141/384293041_4a04d09a42.jpg" width="384" height="500" alt="Ghostly Self Portrait" /></a>
In the photo above, I was trying to take a color shot so I could do something like this...
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/randomconnections/384168853/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/131/384168853_8f75be577c_m.jpg" width="182" height="240" alt="Self Portrait on Gold" /></a>
This was shot with a Nikon D50 and 50mm f/1.8 lens. I was shooting in low light and with no flash so that I wouldn't create harsh shadows from the matte I was holding. I also couldn't use as wide an aperture as I might have liked because that would have caused either my face or the matte to be out of focus, and I needed both. Therefore, I was using fairly long exposures. I thought the shutter had closed, and leaned forward to get up just as it actually did snap. The result was the ghostly image over my shoulder.
I created a new layer and did a Gaussian blur overlay, dialing it back to about 43% opacity. On the base layer I did a B&W gradient adjustment layer. The Guassian overlay was on top, and retained just enough of the color to add interest.