Celestial Meditation

Celestial Meditation

Back in December, I wrote a blog article entitled The Moon, Jupiter, and the Improbable End of Mankind. (I know it sounds all doom and gloom, but there were a few tender moments as well). That article centered around a picture that I took of the Moon and the planet Jupiter as they proudly set-up camp in the sky.

Rain Photographs the Moon & Its Little Friend

Because of the whole Mayan prophecy shenanigans, I considered the possibility that Jupiter could indeed crash into the Earth. As luck would have it, both me and the Mayans were wrong (yeah!!). In celebration, I decided to put my moon picture to good use by pairing it up with a Yoga themed shoot that I did last year. I call it Celestial Meditation.

My Celestial Meditation image has already won merit in an ad-hoc photo critiquing session and I plan to enter it into other national and international photo contests.

Here are the technical highlights:

• Find a nimble model familiar with Yoga.
• Place model on a sheet of plexiglass (reflection)
• Rim-light model from both sides (aperture f11)
• Add a little diffused light from the front to fill in shadows (aperture f6.3)
• White balance around 7k-8k to simulate a cool night sky (yes you can do this in Camera Raw, but I like immediate gratification).
• Use a Photoshop plugin like Alien Skins’ Exposure that can add random dust and scratches to the image (looks like stars).