Boone Loc: Groundhog Town USA

Last week a Musician called me.
He had seen some of my work, and ask me to shoot him. He ask me what my rates were...I told him my fees. He was from the Pittsburgh Pa. area, and he would have to travel about 65 miles.

He insisted on his attire...(which was fine with me).
I took about 50 shots. I liked most of them. The only thing was that after I processed the best of the best, and emailed him the proofs, he called again and ask me if I could transform the one he liked the most into B & W. I told him that I did not do a lot of B & W, but I would do my best.

I also told him (he was a really cool Dude) that if I couldn't come up with something he liked, that I would refund his deposit since he had to drive so far. He insisted that that was not necessary, and for me to give it my best shot. (I always try to do my best, but I was at a loss for ideas)

So...I sat back in my easy chair and smoked a good cigar...had a cup of coffee and thought about it.

I was looking up at the ceiling, when I got intrigued with the "SMOKE"!!!!!!!! (From the cigar, of course) My mind went wild. I took a few shots of the smoke. And..., well you get the idea! A little PS...and presto!

I sent him the proof via email. He called me 2 hours later and was so thrilled that we talked for a half hour. He OK'd the print, and it arrived from MPIX today. (16 x 20)

The best part is..."His check also came today for the balance".
To my (great surprise) he made the check out for the balance + $100.00 as a bonus!!!

Life is good today!
Regardless if this is good or not to some, it was good to me!

Just thought this (the story) was to good not to share with my friends.

Thanks, Boone. :roll: :thumbup:

(Download)

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

Nice work Boone...really great p/p.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

You have done a great job..well done.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Excellent, and B&W is perfect for that shot. So how did you work the smoke into the shot?

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Great work, very impressive lighting.

steveo52 Loc: Rhode Island and Ocala Florida

Excellent!

Bill_de Loc: US

Now that is a happy customer! And he should be. Great work.

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randave2001 Loc: Richmond

Well done. Love the lighting.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Love it.

bigwolf40 Loc: Effort, Pa.

Excellent photo. Great PP....Rich

ronsipus Loc: Mission Viejo, CA

Excellent - tells an amazing story!

Treepusher Loc: Kingston, Massachusetts

Gorgeous shot! Super job and creativity. He got his money's worth and then some!

Treepusher Loc: Kingston, Massachusetts

oops-double post

alggomas Loc: Wales, United Kingdom.

Great photo. The guys character also adds a lot to the photo.

Boone Loc: Groundhog Town USA

Thanks Jerry, appreciate the complement!

I shot the smoke with a red gelled flash using 1/128 power, side lighting, camera pre-focused at "arms length", f 5.6, ISO of 200.

Took just two shots. used the polygonal lasso tool to make random selections of the smoke, randomly copied parts of the smoke, (still red image from the gel) pasted into the color shot, converted the image to B & W.

I then used the Dodge and Burn to accentuate some areas in the smoke. Next I used the "Smudge Tool" to blend the copied smoke areas together.

Next I added a light pink solid background (on another layer) lowed the opacity of that layer to about 17%, added a layer mask (hid the layer) and painted in the pink where I wanted it, then used the smudge tool again to do some more blending. Used selective sharpening + High Pass filter sharpening. Done.

Sorry, I got carried away with my answer to your question. Hope that is OK? Thanks, Boone. 8-)