Day 6: The theme presented for today is “Connect.” As the assignment post mentioned, “There are many ways to interpret this theme: from a gadget to a handshake, from a bridge to a gathering among friends.”
The first image that came to my mind for this word was a face-to-face conversation between two friends, maybe sitting at a small cafe table. Part of the connection people feel when talking this way is made through their eyes, so I decided to make that the subject of my photos.
Thankfully, some friends and family members are willing to humor me for this project. I was surprised with decent results from the “Super Macro” setting on my Canon Power Shot S3 IS.
This first photo is unretouched. All I did was crop it.
The lighting in the photo seems a little harsh to me, but it takes ridiculously bright light to photograph an eye! Since it was after dark when I took these first two photos, I used this small, battery operated LED light.
With the camera lens about an inch or two from each eye and the light perched near the edge of the camera lens, I was able to bring out the color and detail in the iris. (Watching people stumble around afterward while they were practically blind in one eye was a fun bonus to this approach. Ha ha!)
One thing I did not expect was that placing the light below the eye gave better results for the eyelashes and details around the eyelids.
After photographing the first two eyes, I decided to see what fun I could have with the PicMonkey.com photo editor. I liked this partially black and white effect, which was achieved by making the entire photo black and white and then using the eraser function on the iris to bring the color back.
It’s a little creepy, huh? This next eye has such a blue-gray iris that you can hardly tell it’s in color:
I plan to add more photos to this post later this week, so please come back and check them out, too! One friend of mine in particular, who has agreed to be photographed in a couple of days, has three or four different colors in her eyes. They are amazing to see when she looks toward the sun or a bright window. So pretty!
Do you have any tips, tricks, or advice to help me with my macro shooting before I temporarily blind the next subject?
~~~~~{A few days later}~~~~~
Well, I got a couple more volunteers before I finished torturing people, and here are the results:
She was the only person lucky enough to not be blinded with the flashlight. Her eyes didn’t “pop” with color as much as I expected or show as many reflections due to clouds and failing daylight. We may try this with her again on a sunny day, if the chance arises.
Here are some effects she liked. The eyes are actually the original color, but the “Warhol” colorization effect from PicMonkey.com makes them appear different.
Here’s my last person for this post:
Here’s a combination of his favorite effect (“Sketch”) with mine (“Focal Zoom”):
My daughter finds the focal zoom effect to be “creepy.” It’s great fun to watch her face when I alter photos with it. Ha ha!
Thanks to those of you who came back to see my updates! Any other recommendations, my fellow photo enthusiasts?
Very different. Hope your friend is not blind now.
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I think everyone has recovered by now. ha ha If the sun would ever come out, I would try an outdoor shot with some interesting reflections in the eye.
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Beautiful photos!!
Interesting concept
I’ll follow you!
Congratulations!
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Thanks so much, that’s very nice of you! 🙂
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Put a piece of tissue paper (or paper towel) over the light to diffuse the brightness!
Unless of course you’re having too much fun blinding your friends – in that case, carry on! 😉
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I tried that the other day with typing paper for a distance shot, which was of course a complete failure. I didn’t think about tissue paper. Thanks for the tip. (It IS fun to see the faces my blinded friends make. haha)
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Wow! That is great. I need to try this!
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Thanks! 😀 I was surprised at the outcome, myself. I basically used intense lighting, put the camera on Super Macro setting, practically stuck the lens in their eyes, and snapped away until I got something good.
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I am on a mission 😉
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Ooo, after looking at the photos on your site some more, I’d say you will do well on your mission! If you think of it, let me know when you are finished, so I can see the results!
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Just took a pic from one of my daughters eyes. She has such beautiful green eyes. I will have a look at it tomorrow. It’s getting late here 😉
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I love looking into peoples eyes, you can sense their goodness of their soul.
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What a sweet comment. Very poetic.
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