marissa
simplification
here's the simplification I chose of the jade swan with candles. I know shooting into light sources is a general no-no, but I chose to do this because the ambient light showing through the swan gives it an interesting luminosity, and the tea light is gentle enough that it takes a foreground role without overexposing the swan. The other shiny things in the scene (mirror, lucite plaque) fade nicely into the background. I cropped this for shape in photoshop, and applied a softening filter to counteract the grainy quality of my camera in low light situations.
simplification
here's the simplification I chose of the jade swan with candles. I know shooting into light sources is a general no-no, but I chose to do this because the ambient light showing through the swan gives it an interesting luminosity, and the tea light is gentle enough that it takes a foreground role without overexposing the swan. The other shiny things in the scene (mirror, lucite plaque) fade nicely into the background. I cropped this for shape in photoshop, and applied a softening filter to counteract the grainy quality of my camera in low light situations.