Cthulhu Alley

[Skullbone]

Hello everyone. I am trying to get into themed shots and recently had a photoshoot with a young lady which I put the outfit together and took a picture in a old alley with a painted octopus of the wall which makes it look like an old cult may be lurking in the city somewhere. I added fog to the photo also and was wondering if the fog may distract to the overall image. Also, does the shot convey a feeling of creepiness/strangeness and evokes oa mood of suspense and awe? What is your opinion of the outfit?

Anyway thanks for your input and look forward to hearing back.

Equipment used: Nikon d3000, 1.8 35mm fixed lens, Adobe Photoshop CS5, eyecandy 6 for fog, and nik colorefex pro 3.0 tonal contrast filter

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[Skullbone]

No opinion here???

[Nicole]

I think it's kind of an interesting shot. I generally like the pose, and the concept. However, there were two things that really stood out to me. The first was that the lighting seems a bit strange to me. Like, she's really bright (and seems a bit orange on my monitor), compared to the darkness of the alley. So that seems to take away from the creepiness factor for me since it's almost like there's a spotlight on her. And then I guess following on from that I probably would have leaned towards desaturating her a bit, which would fit more in the creepiness part of things. It seems to me that when I see "creepy" photos, there tends to be more of a lack of colour rather than bright colours.

The other thing is her foot/right leg. Why is one boot tucked in and the other not? And I can't quite figure out if she's standing on something that's making part of her foot disappear or if somehow it got cut off in PS.

Hope that helps, I realise it's probably not necessarily all that useful for this time, but just my 2 cents.

[Skullbone]

Hmmm...well I guess I was trying to make it seem as if the lamp was illuminating her...I see your point of maybe desaturating her too.


However on her boot...I'm not sure where you see where one isn't tucked in? Both of her boots are tucked in, her right leg is just behind the rock?

[zona5101]

I think your lighting is awesome, very well done/well controlled. The smoke/fog is ok but i don't think it adds much - but it doesn't hurt either. A lot of space above the octopus that I don't feel balances the image - I think it would still be well composed/balanced if the frame ended above the doorway. I find the gun to be completely lost in the image. That is too bad because i think it would have more impact/influence if it was more readily visible (and no fingers inside trigger guards - trigger finger along side the frame - it makes her look like she knows whats she doing...and it appeases the gun safety gods). As mentioned she does look ompaloompa orange.

[Sterling]

I really like the lighting of the alley but not so much for the model.I agree with Nicole that the lighting on the model doesn't match the lighting in the alley. I also thought the same thing as Nicole about the right leg not being tucked into the boot. But, on further study, I see that that it is just the awkward positioning of the legs that makes it seem this way.

Regarding the outfit, the only thing I thought about was the hat which made me think of the leader of a marching band.

[Skullbone]

Thanks everyone for the replies i appreciate it.

However I don't see the orange she looks tan to me. lol

But yes thanks for all the feedback and i will try to implement your tips in the future