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5/6/10 UPDATE! CHANGES GALORE! tiki backdrop on the cheap needed for a photoshoot... |
hewey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 14, 2004
Posts: 4270
From: Sydney, Australia
|  Posted: 2010-03-23 8:12 pm Permalink
Looking great!
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DejaVoodoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 07, 2008
Posts: 135
From: Woodbridge, NJ
| Posted: 2010-03-25 3:48 pm Permalink
Just another progress shot to keep you all updated before I apply the glaze.
I think I went a little too bold with the left and right portions of the design in my haste to finish. It doesn't read as well in a photograph as the center, downward pointing triangle section does. Oh well, it's too late now!
What I do like about my design is that I didn't really repeat any patterns outright. I may have used similar patterns but they're all unique and different enough to keep the eye moving around the image.
Saturday, I glaze over the entire thing. That should be fun! 
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DejaVoodoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 07, 2008
Posts: 135
From: Woodbridge, NJ
| Posted: 2010-04-29 1:07 pm Permalink
Today was the day! For the photoshoot, that is. With my faux homemade tapa cloth in hand I set out for the darkness of the garage. There I assembled my cheap backdrop, thanks in no small part to Big Lots! As you'll see in the following pictures, I used my tapa cloth on the top and two faux grass table skirts on the bottom to give the backdrop some variety and interest. It was more economical for my purposes than any bamboo I could find in my area and truly suited the needs of this little project of mine perfectly. Once the backdrop was established, I began building my scene in front of it. First I positioned the large plants, then the carved tiki and dollar store torches, and finally the lighting that would make everything look like it all belonged together.
Here's the scene at its crudest. You'll see, as the pictures progress, that I added and subtracted plants as necessary, including some bright salmon colored hibiscus garland I also bought at Big Lots! It's between the tapa and grass skirting if you can't find it. The garland chair rail doesn't add much, but it does help to make the line between the two materials softer and less contrasty.
Here's another angle of the above picture. That styrofoam cooler in the foreground is my makeshift camera tripod. God bless TV snack trays. Where would we all be without them?
OK. Here's where things start to get interesting. As you can see, I've refined the arrangement of the scene and finally managed to achieve a lush jungle atmosphere. Moving on...
Lighting is EVERYTHING! The scene is still zoomed out too much at this point, and it's a tad blurry. However, of all the sots I took, this was the only one with the lighting where you could see the rough edges of the photoshoot. I continued refining my lighting and composition in take after take and ultimately arrived at...
With minimal Photoshop enhancement (you didn't think I was crazy enough to light those torches in the house, did you!?), here is the final (almost) shot. It was so cool to capture 90% of the detail and color saturation you see in the above photo live in the "studio." Doing so makes the finished product that much more real and believable.
Anyway, from this point I'm going to add some text in the top right hand corner and call it a day, although I'm sure I'll continue to tweak the small details over the next week or two. I'm quite pleased with the results so far and hope you all enjoyed seeing the process. Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions along the way!
[ This Message was edited by: DejaVoodoo 2010-04-29 16:58 ]
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4WDtiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 03, 2004
Posts: 1742
From: Omao, Kauai
| Posted: 2010-04-29 4:07 pm Permalink
LOVE IT!!! Great depth, great lighting and colors!
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Billy the Crud
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 02, 2007
Posts: 996
From: San Diego
| Posted: 2010-04-29 4:51 pm Permalink
Yeah, with that lighting, your photo looks like a Parker painting. Cool!
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DejaVoodoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 07, 2008
Posts: 135
From: Woodbridge, NJ
| Posted: 2010-04-29 5:05 pm Permalink
Thanks for the kind words, guys!
Lookin' at the photo now, you may wonder why it's severly cropped. Well, I'm using it as the base image for a CD label I'm designing. The blank space in the upper right hand corner is where the title text will go. And the cropping is tight because a good portion of the image gets hacked off when the square design translates to a circle during the printing process. It's all good though. I'm just having a difficult time picking a title font and color. I'm thinking orange will work well, but I'll have to test out a few options.
I'm glad you enjoy my work!
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Atomic Tiki Punk
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 4207
From: Costa Misery
| Posted: 2010-04-29 7:05 pm Permalink
Perfect for the Porno you are shooting, wink wink!
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zerostreet
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Feb 06, 2010
Posts: 1712
From: http://www.zerostreet.com
| Posted: 2010-04-29 7:19 pm Permalink
Great job!
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DejaVoodoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 07, 2008
Posts: 135
From: Woodbridge, NJ
| Posted: 2010-05-01 10:22 am Permalink
Just keeping everyone updated on the progess of my CD label project...
With the photoshoot finished, I'm now choosing font options for the title text. Here's what I've come up with so far:
and
I like the skinnier font, however I think it looks a little wimpy when combined with the other, more bold, elements in the photo. The thicker font may be the way to go in this case. Plus, with it's interlocking characters, it pays homage to Disney's "The Enchanted Tiki Room." Which do you prefer?
I just now decided that I don't like the subtitle font. Maybe something with a bamboo look to it? Hmmm...
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Hakalugi
Site Administrator
Joined: Aug 10, 2004
Posts: 2816
From: Redondo Beach, CA
| Posted: 2010-05-01 12:12 pm Permalink
Looks great!
I vote for the skinny font.
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4WDtiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 03, 2004
Posts: 1742
From: Omao, Kauai
| Posted: 2010-05-01 8:28 pm Permalink
Second one is hard to read. I vote the first, just beef up the lines a little.
Overall looks great!
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DejaVoodoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 07, 2008
Posts: 135
From: Woodbridge, NJ
| Posted: 2010-05-02 09:18 am Permalink
Thanks for the tips so far. Still more font options and other tweaks...
and
I actually like the second font a lot. It has a playful, retro vibe to it without being too cartoony and still looks exotic.
I'm torn between picking more elegant/classic fonts or totally playing up the kitsch factor of my design. The lighting is cool but with all the different colors, I fear the background photo suffers from a case of "Batman Forever" over-the-top comic book syndrome. Stay tuned as I'm sure there'll be more samples to peruse in the near future.
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Sophista-tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 13, 2005
Posts: 1603
From: Seattle WA
| Posted: 2010-05-02 11:57 am Permalink
I like the first type option
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hewey
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 14, 2004
Posts: 4270
From: Sydney, Australia
| Posted: 2010-05-03 05:47 am Permalink
I like the first of the last two. Nice work 
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swizzle
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 03, 2007
Posts: 648
From: Melbourne,Australia
| Posted: 2010-05-03 06:13 am Permalink
I agree with hewey.
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