Great lighting and capture. Are all the cards real?

I have the same question about the cards...

Excellent image, but my only crit is that the players dont seem to match "expression" with what is happening on the table..Take the guy on the left, he should look shocked in horror and leaning back..
One of them, whoever won the hand, should have a cheeky grin.

Its a great concept.

At exposure of 1/200 and having all cards "almost" sharp and floating in the air is amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!

Hope you have not added any afterwards...

I do like the setup even though there is one card that is sticking out in the air as it is overexposed.

@ moser.. they are floating cards not motorbikes,
1/200 is suffice

I wonder about the cards as well! If they weren't added it's one hell of a cool shot!!!

Hey guys, thanks for the comments and good/bad opinions.
There were 3 cards added - the 3 exposed cards that make up a triangle in the middle were pulled from the other shot. I think it's fair move to make photo stronger without doing 50 takes. I generally don't do a lot of retouching like that, but sometimes a minor change like that can make a dramatic difference. Don't beat me up =)

I think this is wonderful
good color
lots of movement

no crit
ps checked out your site
I really dig your gallery did you make that your self?


10+

Mr Smirnov can then add his 3 playing cards into the composition to give it that perfect look and feel and it is just fine?

I think it should be moved to photo manipulation even if I find it to be a great piece of work with lots of mood.

Still full respect for the photographer!

PS. Your website and work in your gallery is really great stuff btw

@  moserArtist: I disagree that adding three cards qualifies this as a "photo manipulation." If you're operating on that logic, then every photo where you remove (clone-out) information from the photo, no matter how small, should also be classified as a photo-manipulation. This would of course be ridiculous, and would no doubt classify quite a few of your own photos as "photo manipulations."

@  genesm: This is a really cool looking band-shot. My only crit would be that I kind of wish the band had coordinated their clothes a bit better -- i.e. all white shirts (at least they're all wearing suits. I've had the problem where all the band members show up in completely different outfits ). A bit more room on the right wouldn't hurt either. I'd like to see what this looks like split-toned, or in black and white. Nice work

It doesn't matter who thinks what is manipulation. Adding elements not previously there does make it fall into the catagory of manipulation for the purposes of GFX.

The term 'manip' gets too much of a negative connotation for some dumb reason. It's not bad...it just is.

I love this work Though I do agree with Brandon about the clothes.

A wonderful image. I think the clothing is a close enough match to work well. Brett is correct on the category according to GFX rules and it really matters little in judging the overall photograph. Very well done!

Cool work! great light and composition

I think it's fair to put it in manipulation. Thank you for all the input guys.

Excellent piece of work!

A very interesting and cool shot.

Agree with Almost-Human that their facial expressions dont really suit the moment... however nice lighting and details

Well done

Amazing!

+10

Mert

Great work!

Patrick, the amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing it´s copyrigth!!!
But really deserve a super AMAZING™ for the composition!!

Fantastic concept and final product. I like this image so much I decided to try some of the band's songs. Don't tell them I like your photo more than their musical stylings.
Personally I would like to see the fellow on the far right included fully within the frame, though it's hard to say how that would impact the composition without seeing it.

well done

Great!!!!