Last Throw of the Dice?

[John Perriment]

OK, is this me trying to rekindle some interest and creativity in my hobby or does it just prove I have too much time on my hands?

[Tom Holle]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

I like picture #1 very much.

[Pol]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

OK, is this me trying to rekindle some interest and creativity in my hobby or does it just prove I have too much time on my hands?

They're great! I especially like the first two but they're all fascinating.

I particularly like your choice of colours too. The blue and white work well together and are pleasant on the eye when studying the patterns of the dice.

Pol

[Ian]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

Nice work, John - these would make great stock images I would think.

Ian

[Phill D]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

No 1 is the best imho. How did you do it John?

[Caz]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

Nice work - number 2 for me

[John Perriment]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

No 1 is the best imho. How did you do it John?

I did it with a little help from my two friends, Trial and Error. I wanted to capture the movement of the dice but ending with a reasonably still image, which meant that the exposure had to be longer than the time it took the dice to settle when I tossed them in a bowl. I found that the bowl had to be deep, partly to stop the dice bouncing out and partly so that they gravitated towards a small area to keep them within the frame. As Pol said, the blue bowl also made a nice contrast with the dice.

I found that the effects were completely random and there is no right or wrong shutter speed. The first and last were taken at 1.3 seconds, the second picture at 10 seconds and the third at 1/6th second.

I set up with camera on a tripod (of course) and focussed on the dice in a resting position at the bottom of the bowl before switching to manual focus. I did a test shot to establish that + 0.7 exposure was needed. White balance (tricky because of the blue bowl) was easily corrected in pp by using the dropper on the white dice.

I found it best to use a 4 second anti-shock delay so that I could be ready to throw the dice when I heard the shutter open and used this technique for the 1st, 3rd and 4th pictures. For the 2nd picture I used a longer shutter speed (10 seconds) and started with the dice already in the bowl. I left them stationary for a few seconds after the shutter opened, then shook the bowl and let them rest again. I took 75 frames in total and this is an example of digital making easy something that would be very difficult (and expensive!) with film.

The bowl is plastic and quite scratched in places. I'm sufficiently encouraged by this experiment to invest in a new bowl!

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

Looks like you are on a roll...

Did you cast many aside to get these

At least you didn't crap out...

Good shots, exhibiting skillfull techniques. Look like old habits die hard

[John Perriment]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

Looks like you are on a roll...

Did you cast many aside to get these

At least you didn't crap out...

Good shots, exhibiting skillfull techniques. Look like old habits die hard

Well, these are 4 out of 75!

[ekkl]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

Well thought! Excellent pictures.

[Horacio]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

Very nice pics John. I like them all but the third is somewhat intriguing. It looks like knots beeing made in the air. Regards H

[Barr1e]

Re: Last Throw of the Dice?

Well, these are 4 out of 75!

It paid off well John - I like them.

Regards. Barr1e