# The Richter Scale



## KmH (Aug 3, 2010)

It's way easier shooting people! :camera:  Sheesh!


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## Josh66 (Aug 3, 2010)

That's pretty cool!


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## KmH (Aug 3, 2010)

O|||||||O said:


> That's pretty cool!


Thanks!

Eight sheets of medium weight sketch pad paper, acid-free, lignin-free. One Nikon SB-600 speedlight. 6 thumbtacks. One 20oz Diet Mountain Dew.

The 50 sheet pad cost me $4.72 + tax at Wally World.


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## Scatterbrained (Aug 3, 2010)

Good stuff.  :thumbup:


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## Josh66 (Aug 3, 2010)

KmH said:


> One 20oz Diet Mountian Dew.



LOL


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## mishele (Aug 3, 2010)

Very creative......nice job!


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## pbelarge (Aug 3, 2010)

Keith
I love the treatment of this image. I am not really sure how you got all of the sheets of paper to fall that way, but is sure is a great image to view.

What made you think of this project?


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## Josh66 (Aug 3, 2010)

^^^  I think that's what the thumbtacks were for.

What I can't figure out is that top page, which seems to be intersecting the page beneath it...


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## pbelarge (Aug 3, 2010)

It looks like the light position is such that the taller last page is casting a shadow, but part of the light has shown on the right hand side of the  second sheet of paper..........


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## KmH (Aug 4, 2010)

I conceived the project several months ago but it had a low priority. It finally moved far enough up the list that I finally added the sketchpad to my shopping list. The pad sat around the studio for 4 more weeks before I did the first setup. http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/black-white-gallery/212119-tubularcongruence.html

Camera right, you are seeing the underside of the top sheet of paper. It's the only sheet that reveals it's underside.

Yep, 3 thumbtacks on each side, are holding the sheets in place.

I used a piece of white foamboard as a base to thumbtack the sheets of paper to. The bottom sheet is flat and is there just for it's texture. It's all sitting on a small round table I use to shoot small products.

The background is Thunder Gray seamless paper. Camera left is a large, bare, north facing window and camera right is a 42", round, black 5-in-1 to subtract light.

I used a Nikon D300, with a Nikon AF 24-85 mm f/2.8-4D lens set to 35mm and in Macro mode. The lens was on a tripod with the front of the lens about 6 inches from the front of the setup.
The camera settings were: f/16 - 1/160 - ISO 200. 

The SB-600 was in manual mode set to 14 mm zoom, had the wide angle diffuser down, and a blue gel on it. The power was set to 1/64 and the light was pointing towards the camera. I used eBay iShoot radio triggers (Seller: lilyrst) PT-04 C Radio Wireless Remote Double-Flash Trigger?3Rx - eBay (item 280402884186 end time Aug-24-10 01:50:11 PDT)

The original was a RAW file post processed using ACR 6.1 and CS 5. I duplicated the background layer and then made a new, blank layer from it. I filled the new blank layer with 50% gray. This new layer was for dodging and burning.
I then made a Curves Adjustment layer, a Black & White Adjustment layer, flipped the image 180 degrees (right to left), did my dodging and burning, straightened the 'horizon', did my final crop, made a final Exposure Adjustment layer, and added the borders.

Here is the original image:


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## HikinMike (Aug 4, 2010)

Definitely better than people...that's why I'm a nature photographer...LOL! I really like this one Keith!


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## Stillwater (Aug 4, 2010)

Wow, beautiful idea and composition!


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## pbelarge (Aug 4, 2010)

I now understand the method. I really like it. If I had to make a choice between the negative or the blue rendition, I would choose the negative one.
 Great Job!


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## Derrel (Aug 4, 2010)

I like the original, blue-hued shot also....

But I am intrigued--how does the 20 ounce Diet Mountain Dew figure into the equation? 

I know you're an experienced photographer KmH, so your opinion matters to me. I'm considering buying either a 20 ounce screw-cap bottle of soda from a local vending machine,and wanted to know your opinion: is the 20 oz. Mountain Dew a better choice than the 20 oz. Coke Classic or the 20 oz. Orange Crush orange soda that they have at the bottom? The price is $1.25 from the vending machine, but I have seen some cut-price vending machines selling 12 ounce cans of Shasta-brand cola,root beer, various clear Un-cola type sodas, and orange sodas for 35 cents per can, which is significantly cheaper than the $1.25 for the name-brand, 20 oz. sodas.

My questions are: is it worth more for the name brand sodas in the bigger,screw-cap plastic bottles? Or are the smaller, open-only-once 12 oz. cans a better deal? Is it worth it to pay for the big name brands, or is Shasta as good as say, Orange Crush, or Coca~Cola? Which would be better at a wedding or for a portrait session? What about can versus bottle deposit? The bottle deposit is 10 cents, the can is 5 cents where I live: is this a significant factor, in your experience KmH? Is it safe to buy from a cut-rate, 3rd party soda pop vending machine, or is it usually better to buy from a well-known, "name brand" vending machine?

And also, what flavor or flavors would you suggest for daytime, hot-weather soda-drinking? I am tempted to go with the lower-cost, smaller 12 oz cans of Shasta soda, but am worried that people will think my soda is cheap--and so I am tempted to spend the extra to get the 20 oz, bottled, name brand soda. Your thoughts?


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## KmH (Aug 4, 2010)

pbelarge said:


> I now understand the method. I really like it. If I had to make a choice between the negative or the blue rendition, I would choose the negative one.
> Great Job!


No negative, just a B&W version of the blue one, that got flipped.

The TubularCongruence shot _is_ a negative though.


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## KmH (Aug 4, 2010)

Derrel said:


> I like the original, blue-hued shot also....
> 
> But I am intrigued--how does the 20 ounce Diet Mountain Dew figure into the equation?  Replenishment of fluid loss from bouncing around trying to get the sheets of paper looking the way I wanted.
> 
> ...


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## Derrel (Aug 4, 2010)

Thank you Mr. KmH...I shall print out your advices and ponder them before going to the vending machines to make my next soda purchase. Thank you very much!


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## KmH (Aug 10, 2010)

And now, back to the photograph.


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## Buckster (Aug 10, 2010)

Beautiful work!  Quite inspiring!


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## johngpt (Aug 14, 2010)

Great work Keith. And Derrel, thank you for that. I'm still chuckling.


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## oldmacman (Aug 14, 2010)

I'm loving the blue version of this shot. Each one I see of these seems better than the last. Although, with forums, I'm not sure of the chronology.


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## KmH (Aug 14, 2010)

Thanks Buckster.

Thanks oldmacman, I've posted them in pretty much chronological order. I'm definately learning to manipulate the medium as I go.


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## peaches0516 (Aug 15, 2010)

:thumbup:


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## andreasng (Aug 16, 2010)

this is beautiful


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## timethief (Nov 30, 2010)

thanks for details.


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## timethief (Nov 30, 2010)

very nice shot.


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