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Ilman-Lintu — Addiction to Coffee
Published: 2010-09-08 15:36:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 1425; Favourites: 34; Downloads: 11
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another experimantal shot and i would say i'm pretty content with finally doing this little trick quite nicely.What do you think about it in general? I'm only starting to experiment with b&w -so ALL the comments and advices are very valuable!
he-he) 'gimme coffee and no one gets hurt' - Lintu-style
ps. now i am justified to buy a couple of new coffee-mugs or cups when something turns up - i'm running out of un-shot cups
-- how do you like the concept implementation? how does this shot look as a b&w conceptual shot? what i can improve in making shots of such category in future?
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Comments: 33
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It was tone work and effective composition that first caught my eye here, and I think you are onto an interesting idea.
You have used the downward diagonal well - a far less common compositional feature, but effective here. You may have wanted to give the hand and cup a little more space by including some more wall on the left. The whole thing feels a little 'full' to me. But that said, it does give it an immediacy and a closeness. But overall, a little more space would have been better, I think.
Nicely done in keeping the detail on the cup - don't sell it too soon - you know how to photograph this one now! Nicely captured table texture too. It's a pity though that you have blown the whites behind. Bright light, or direct sunlight can be tricky, but certainly in this case I think it needs to be managed. Either use a HDR technique, layering an image with the correct exposure in at those points, or, if there is sufficient detail in the original, layer it off and adjust the intensity curves until you have some detail in the top end there.
The moving hand idea? (At least, that's what I think you meant to achieve!?) I would say blur the hand more - stop right down, set you ISO as low as it goes, tripod mount the camera (or put it on a table on a soft, mouldable pillow), use the self timer, and get a nice sweeping motion to the hand. And then, for me, let it be seen more. Blurred may work better this faint, and sharp may be better darker, but somewhere between the sharpness and the faintness, it is too lost for me. Blurring it from the stationery hand would work better for me.
And since you referred to coffee, and the lighting would make it work, it would be good to see the coffee, and a little steam. This comes across as a bit too sterile for an addiction image.
Great potential and idea though
Grant H
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thank you for the critique! 
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Pleasure. Hope some of it was helpful
G
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i hope that as well
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I love this! At first I thought the shadow was the steamy aroma from the hot coffee, and I was like, "Oh yeah! Nothing beats that aroma early in morning, or any time, for that first cup of coffee!"
And then I stared a little longer (as I always do for shots I love, so as to enjoy them a bit longer) and noticed it was a ghostly double of the same hand reaching for the cup, and I thought, "Yes! If there is a cup there, I am always reaching, long after it's empty, even when I know it's empty, I still forget and automatically reach, anticipating another sip -- only to be so disappointed, and wondering if it's the right time to make more coffee."
I'm not sure if that was your intention, but that is what came to my mind. Oddly the thought of an actual ghost or spirit didn't enter my mind until after I typed all this. Anyhow, really do love the visual of it.
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well - something like that was in my initial plan. i usually have lots of concepts, inspirations and links to something in my hand - but well i never know how visible and understandable they're for others.
your comments are warming my heart ^^ that means that at least something goes through!
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This shot is great! The only thing I would change is the hand: I think it takes to much space in the picture before the cup. I think that maybe it would look better if the hand was round the cup. Anyway, it's lovely! I like it a lot.
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well?? i inititally thought of doing it the way you describe BUT it didn't look nice. and it's very hard to do that shooting holding camera with one hand and putting the other hand round the cup. unfortunately i'm not a snake and even not a cat to twist that way.
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What's the meaning of the butterfly?
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Delete this one, please, it was for another one of your deviations, sorry!!!
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Your work has been featured in the monthly photography related news article from #TheFavouriteShowcase 
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whoa! that's so unexpected! thank you so much!
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Veeeery good !!! I love the idea and how you realized it ! Excellent work !
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oh! thank you so much! that's really nice to hear!
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great!! looks amzing in black / white 
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I like the ghosted trail of your hand reaching for the cup, almost looks like steam or smoke but isn't. Very dramatic, and I love BW photography, seems to hold so much more ... depth and silent beauty. Well done!
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wow! thanks for sharing your impressions!
i also like b&w photography - it conveys strong concepts better than color-photography. but unfortunately i'm so far not that good at it.
sooo - reading your comment i assume that the goal and the concept i wanted to implement is reached!
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nice ghost I AM! that's my hand in fact.
does it look nice on the whole?
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