After looking over some of the available photo assignments this week. (links available on my info page), I decided to keep an open mind and focus on “Free Study” over at DP Challenge. I actually came up with a different idea but I had to order a small prop to achieve the shot I originally wanted. It will arrive in a couple of days and I’m looking forward to the shoot. In the mean time I wanted to shoot something but I had already blown my brain cells on the first idea and I was at a loss. :/

When all else fails and I need some inspiration I surf the web for those great photos that may just spark an idea. I came across a simple photo of some backlit bottles. I thought to myself, my hourglass might look nice in that type of setting. I proceeded to set up the shot and fired off a few rounds. The results were acceptable but it just wasn’t speaking to me. I felt it needed something more. I left the setup as is and I went to bed. A bit frustrated, trying to fall asleep, I thought.. what if the sand were spilling out as if time was slipping away? That might be pretty cool.. What do I call it?.. The other shot I have with the hourglass is called “Haste“… what if I called this Waste… Waste of Time.. That’s it!  You’ll have to forgive my excitement but the title of a shot for me can be just as important as the shot itself. :)

Next morning… What can I shoot until my prop gets here?…hmm Oh yea, The hourglass!  God, I really need to write down some of the stuff I think about before falling asleep. hehe.

Back in the studio things were as I left them. This is one reason I never break down until I am 100% sure the shot is shelved or finalized. There is nothing worse than needing to go back for a re-shoot and you moved a light. Even with this basic setup as seen in the picture on the left, trying to get anything back to exactly the way it was is impossible.

Ok, so do I really break my nice hourglass?.. ummm. Hell yea!! :)  but first things first. I double check the lighting and the focus in camera. It all looked good. I decided to break the glass right where it sat so I didn’t change the scene to much. Crossed fingers…“SMACK”  Whew, good clean break but I needed to add some catch light for the sand. A folded piece of printer paper just to the left seemed to do the trick. I should have put it a bit further away as it caused the sand to blow out just a tad. I took many shots throughout the period of time that the sand was pouring but the feeling of the empty hourglass in the end felt best to me.

Into Photoshop we go! This is my favorite part. Not to alter or change the image, that I like to do in my setup, but to enhance it’s character. Every shot I have taken has it's own personality and requires it's own personal touch. I have no regular workflow. This piece out of the camera needed to be cooled down a bit in temperature and some dodge/burn applied mainly to the glass areas. I then enhanced the vignetting around the outside to bring out the center main subject a little.

Well that concludes this weeks Mindset. I hope you enjoyed it to some extent or at least got a laugh out of it. I mentioned on my home page that I usually learn something, well I learned that I should have removed the shards off glass before they got burred by the sand so I could have placed them in the foreground for some cool factor. Oh wait! My scene is still setup, hmmm… ;)

Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by.

Mike