Nutcracker Ballet No. 3 Photo

Photographer’s Note

I have added this miniature nutcracker doll, which less than four inches tall, to my "Nutcracker Ballet" theme to add some variety and some atmosphere to my series. I took this photo back in December, 2000 when the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Denver Pavilions shopping center hired me to photograph the annual Christkindl Market. This was a marvelous outdoor market featuring beautiful handmade gifts and ornaments from German, Russian, and merchants from the Baltic States and the Ukraine. I loved this assignment. I met many nice merchants and I ate more than my share of bratwurst. The event has been greatly scaled down and is now a much smaller venue at a different location. Too bad.

I used my Nikon 60mm macro lens for this closeup and I fired the flash using my sync cord at an angle to the left side and slightly above the doll. I set the ambient light to -1/3 and the flash to about -2/3 (for slide film).

Brian, japiey, emjleclercq, sevy, feather, JorgeCK has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Brian (1) 2007-12-19 20:02

Hi Stan,
AFter reading the tail end of your note, your rather complex technological note, I gotta say.. I love the effects of it all. The nutcracter provokes emotions only given by the actual ballet which I do adore. I'm glad you wrote these notes and took this wonderful photo to match.

Merry Christmas!
Brian

emjleclercq (14514) 2007-12-19 23:03

A nice close up of that wooden figurine, with excellent details, but I would have liked to know where it came from: Germany or elsewhere. You are surely aware there is a very old tradition of wooden work in Germany, espcially for toys, but also now Christmas decorations. Which is the reason for my question.

All the best,

Emmanuel

sevy (13954) 2007-12-20 1:03

Hello Stan,

Nice close up and thanks for the details of how you practiced: it remembers me when I was practicing in slides.
Good lightning: the sync cord allowed a more natural light.
The red color of the doll and the long time exposure kept the red tones of the tungsten lights. It puts a nice harmony of colors.

Yves.

pcp (3368) 2007-12-20 4:02

nice colors ... but bit scary :) very creative.

well done :)

senthil

japiey (9521) 2007-12-20 6:20

Dear Stan,

This makes a day bright.. Excellent frame vision, and well sensed technical vision..
It projects out to us...
Lovely to know you had a good time during the shoot.

Happy days, dear friend.

Namasthe:)

jean paul

feather (50154) 2007-12-20 8:43

A perfect complement to your Nutcracker series. Your flash technique certainly paid off as it looks very natural to my eyes. Flash is still a big gap in my knowledge that I still haven't got around to rectifying. Your experience is really telling as the DOF is perfect and at f11 that shows just how close you must have been. So many of us would have chosen a wider aperture and ended up with a mess. Well done
Kath

Photo65Net (43096) 2007-12-20 10:59

Stan,
Colors and DOF are very pleasant here.
The tones are nice, and the way you framed it brings nice depth and beautiful details to look at.
Regards,
JB.

JorgeCK (2600) 2007-12-20 13:46