It's been a steep learning curve. I've worked exclusively outdoors in natural light. I've done my best to control conditions with careful timing and positioning, and I've gradually learned how to realise practically what I can see in my mind's eye.
I've loved many of the resulting images, but they haven't tended to be very successful in competition. Maybe I love them mainly because they've entailed so much work, and they still don't look quite like I think they do. Maybe they seem strange and difficult to understand. But I'm determined to keep working on this theme regardless and to see what results.
'Naiads' is my most recent addition to the series, and the process of making this composite image has been great fun, though quite hard on my cloning finger (I should have used my Wacom tablet....).
I originally thought of a combination of four images. In each of these, Hopewell had been spinning around in the water, creating effective movement in both the water and the trailing pieces of her gown. I'd shot from above, standing quite precariously on a diving board above the pool.
But I felt that the one at the top left looked too weird and inelegant, so she had to go.
I kept the best three, and rearranged them.
While I loved the colours (the pink gown was a delight to photograph in the dark water), I knew that my compositing skills aren't yet up to combining all of these, and I converted the file to mono.
It also struck me at this point that the women were dancing in a circle, so I began to work towards this for my final image.
The many shots I'd taken around these particular images were plundered for extra sections of water surface. It would be impossible to show this as a natural scene, so I aimed to allow visible water movement around each of the women and to keep it very subtle in all other areas.
I had the finished image printed in Hahnemule's new metallic photo rag paper. It has an amazing glisten and gleam, creating the effect of a moonlit pool, with the women shining from the black water like pearls. I love it. It remains to be seen whether any judges will agree with me, but in this case, that really doesn't matter.
