This week Anne presented us with a new theme for the weekly challenge: “Fairly Tale”. My first notion was to take my bag and disappear in the woods, where I was certain to find something fitting. But alas, the week was suddenly at an end and I had not taken any images fitting at all.
But a youth spent in the world of fantasy has left me some items I could use, such as this sword. I bought this when I was about 16 years of age. It cost me more than I earned each month on my paper route, but I felt it was a good deal back then. Not too sure nowadays, but it is still a cool sword. Even when kept hidden away. I don’t want my eldest running after her little brother with this… Not that I think she is able to wield it. It is quite heavy.
Nikon D80 with Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG Macro at 105mm;ISO200;1/60 sec at f/11
I guess we all had a period like that in our teens. Mine was dragons, I just sold all of it, though. Just didn’t fit my new decorating style
I must say that the sword does look good, and probably will come in handy for a few shoots, as it proved today =)
The picture is really good. The light and shadows makes it look really magic, just like the Excalibur!
I believe there we still have 5 or 6 dragons in the apartment, with the rest being stocked away. There are 3 bigger dragons and some smaller. I also have 15 or so plates with different dragons on them, that I just couldn’t find a place to put when we last moved.
I am a little unsure which fairy tale this points to, but there are many fitting, like the sword in the stone for instance, although the stone is lacking. The image itself is very well lit. I would maybe have played around a little with the angle of view, and tried to get some more light on the sword blade, but that is me. I like this.
I decided not to point this to a specific fairy tale, since so many fairy tales include swords. The sword is actually a replica from the movie “Dragonheart”.
I wanted a dark background, but this proved difficult with the sword well lit. I decided to use a flash to add a kind of rim light, but to be honest I feel the image got too dark. The colour is also not quite how I wanted it to be. When I was working with the image in Photoshop I used adobe RGB, and when saving to srgb colour space I got more red than I wanted. (I’m still not sure about adobe rgb vs srgb – maybe it’s pointless and I should stick to srgb all the way?)
Also, vertical images does not present themselves well on this theme. All in all, not my favourite image by far and I certainly appreciate the feedback.
Love the sword, and with a 15 year old boy who collects swords i can imagine why you had to have this;O) The pitcures is great, but i do miss feks that it was placed so it looked like the woonderfull fairytale, the sword in the stone. That would have made a great pitcure perfeckt for the topick;O) But i like it anyway, and i just imagine that story to this pitcure so it is realy no problem, only constructive feedback that i know you like;O)
Thank you, Line. The sword is attached to a baby chair to make it stand, my first thought was the sword in the stone as well. Maybe I could have taken the sword outside, stuck it in the ground close to a stone, and taken the image from close to the ground and up. That could work and give the illusion of a sword in the stone. Or maybe not.
I’m glad to see my views on constructive critique have reached the comments. And the comments are spot on to how critique can be given in a good way.
Nevil Longbottom killed the snake with that sword in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2, I think
I like the dark background, but maybe the sword is a bit dark. Anyway, you’ve explained why above.
If I could take the image again, I would bounce some light from the flash to brighten the sword. Maybe I should try that, and upload a second version. Since this is a ongoing project, I don’t want to remove the original image because the comments are based on it. But I might upload a new version later.
Don’t get me started on Harry Potter… The first was ok (but nothing more), then it was a steep downhill from there. I haven’t seen the last two (or maybe three, I don’t know).
Harry Potter is a kind of escapism. But this last movie is ok, quite brilliant, actually. I read the first three books and have seen a few movies, until yesterday: Film 7, part 2. Like I said: brilliant
And with that sword.
I would like to see your second version.
I visited imdb.com to count how many of the movies I had seen, and it seems I have seen all but the last two; Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2. Not quite sure about the Halb-blood prince, but I think I’ve seen it. Guess I have to see the last two now. I might be in for a surprise, but I doubt it…
I will do another version for this sword. When I find the time.
So I decided to see the the half-blood prince (I hadn’t seen it before) and Deathly Hallows part 1, since I nearly had seen every movie anyways. The half-blood prince was ok, but Deathly Hallows part 1 was not a good movie. I’m not sure what it is, but Harry Potter movies seems to be more about excuses for magic gimmicks and beautiful scenery than good story. I will have to see Deathly Hallows part 2, if only just to say I’ve seen it. If the reviews can be trusted I understand part 2 is much better than part 1. I hope they are right…