Barn shadows

[Teewinot]

This past weekend I attended a wedding at a place called Gale Woods Farm in Minnesota. I was sitting on a picnic table with my husband at sunset and noticed our shadows on the opposite facing barn wall. Only having my husband's 5MP point and shoot, I improvised a bit and came up with a few decent shots. Below is one I picked out to share. I cloned out a few blemishes, increased contrast, added some more light, and altered the color balance a little. Then I added the frame because without it, the image just seemed too plain. I invite comments and suggestions!



My thoughts are that this idea might have been better executed on a different 'wall' such as bricks or something....in the moment I dealt with what I had. I also feel like perhaps the photo needs something more than just simple shadow silhouettes and a red wall. But I have ideas (and practice) for next time!

[clockdoc]

I like the concept and idea you have going here and could envision it on a greeting card. Not sure if I am that fond of the stark white border around the two of you though. Congratulations for coming up with something new and different.

[jiminyClickit]

Teewinot,

Indeed fodder for future applications. The wall material is a featureless metal, without the warmth old-wood has. Two thoughts come to mind: overlaying very transparent faceshots of the two of you in the shadow areas; or, create from this shot a template of your shadows, and use it to try out other photos as background for your poses. Select, Desaturate (or Uncontrast), Darken, Make Transparent. Thinking out loud.

[Teewinot]

clockdoc, thanks for the encouraging comments. I'll consider the white border. I actually spent quite a lot of time trying to pick a border out, so this was just one I finally settled with.

jiminyClickit, thank you also for your encouraging comments. I completely agree that the metal wall is pretty featureless. I rather wished it had been a 'real' barn with old textured wood. Thanks for your two ideas. Can you explain the first one? I'm not quite sure what you mean. As far as your second idea goes, are you suggesting that there is a way to pull the shadows out (as a template) and lose the red wall (within the shadows) altogether...hence 'transparent'? I guess I can see how the desaturate--darken--make transparent command could achieve this, I've just never done it before! Just trying to see where you are going...thanks again for the ideas!

[matthewchj]

I agree with clockdoc, it would look nice on a greeting card. Maybe you could try changing the frame shape a bit?

[jiminyClickit]

Teewinot,

It's always clearer in my head! Since the overall look is plain (in a good way), I wondered what subtly superimposing your individual facial features into shadows of your heads would look like.

Second idea is how the shadow for the "Salsa" dancers was created. Distortion brought it down to the background. You could do the same here if you have another photo with an open flat area, or just as something to play with.

Simple is not always easy, I'm finding.

[Teewinot]

matthewchj, thanks for your thoughts on the frame. I will play around with it a bit.

jiminyClickit, thanks for the explanations. It's always good to get new ideas from people 'thinking out loud.' Oh, and by the way, looks like you are dangerously close to 2,000 posts. Wow!

[jiminyClickit]

Holy Moly! How did that happen!? (I'm making up for a quiet period in the '90's)

[Teewinot]

OK, so I was experimenting with the frame a bit and decided to make a slight change based on above suggestions. I still liked the overall 'style' of the border so all I changed was to fill in the stark white borders around the subjects and the outside. Does this improve or now is it just way too much red?

[jiminyClickit]

Teewinot,

The shadows seem to gain importance this way. The wall seems less plain, too. Just noticed the light-to-dark nature of shadows. Interesting.