Friday Hometown Shootout - Delicate

Ooops.

Ran out of time again this week.  But I did take a few pictures so I should post them.

BAGMAN: "Hey!  You can't just ignore US!"

BUTLER:  "He said he didn't have much time.  We need to respect that."

So here is my delicate shoot:

An orchid that bloomed this week

And it wouldn't be the deep South without Spanish moss

I wasn't sure if the plant on top of the old palm trunk was actually "delicate"

but it looked delicate in relation to the rough palm.

Wait a minute!  Is everything delicate only in relation to something that is not so delicate?  Is delicacy, like everything else, just a matter of relativity?

BUTLER: "Of course.  Just as dark colors wouldn't look so dark unless they are seen in relation to light colors."

BAGMAN: "And politicians wouldn't sound like such idiots if they weren't seen in relation to normal human beings.  Hey! Maybe when they are all in a group -- like in Congress -- they only see each other and don't realize what idiots they are!"

BUTLER: "Shhh.  Mark's trying to get through this before he falls asleep or one of the kids wakes up."

Kay's eyelashes and eyebrows

Nah.  I think there are some absolutes.  Kay's eyelashes are delicate no matter what.

And that's really the end of my delicate pictures.  The next picture is delicate only because of the process of what I need to do with it. 

Kay on neutral (sort of) background

Why this is a delicate challenge

I put this Coca Cola suit on Kay yesterday and took around 40 different shots, lighting, exposure, expressions, etc., before she drew the shoot to a close by throwing up all over the suit.

Karen has saved this suit for over twenty years - since Kay's dad, Brian, was our own little formula-spewing babe.

Scan of a non-digital shot of Kay's Dad

And when Conner came along three and half years ago, we started a tradition.

Conner

We put Conner in the same suit, on the same quilt and put the two photographs in a double picture frame.

Then Noah came along.

Noah

We still had the suit, of course, but somehow we had misplaced the quilt, so I had to photoshop him onto the background of the Conner picture.  It's a bit obvious but in a three-picture frame from a distance it doesn't really matter.

So the delicate challenge is to see if I can now do a better job photoshopping Kay -- the neutral (sort of) background helps the process of cutting her out.  Then comes the delicate piece of reconstructing parts of the quilt since her legs are in a different position and I will have to use the clone tool to fill in the gaps.  Then find a way of adding some shadows to make it look three dimensional.  Then adjust the brightness and contrast of all four shots so they more or less match.  I haven't decided yet if I might try changing the hue of Kay's suit to a pinkish tone. 

As I said, the photos aren't really delicate but some of the process can get detailed.

And then I need to go out and find a four-picture frame.

But first I'm going to go to sleep.