El Dave Photography

You know, I could get these entries written much faster if I'd stop reading the Wikipedia entries about my subjects. I start off looking for a cool quote or something interesting to lead with, but I end up spending 45 minutes reading about the culture and Klingon-like language of the Predators.

Things like, "Though reptilian in appearance, Predators possess mammary glands like mammals. Their hair is apparently sensitive to touch and young warriors have it braided into dreadlocks in an extremely painful ritual which takes days to perform. Predators are sexually dimorphic with females being larger and stronger than males and sporting more prominent mammory glands (like human females). Females give off a strong musk when in estrus. Males give off a musk to signify aggression. This musk can be detected by other Predators and canidae, though it is imperceptible to humans. Predators are not monogamous, and it is not uncommon for veteran warriors to sire hundreds of offspring (known as sucklings) with multiple mates."

I didn't need to know that. You didn't need to know that. Nobody needs to know that Predators have boobs.

Ok, let's get down to business. What I wanted to do here was try and recreate that first hunt for a young Predator, and try and capture not only the tension but the sudden burst of movement that comes from realizing you've been discovered. I could've done the cheesy thing and start throwing motion blurs around like there's no tomorrow, but I want to learn about poses and get better at making these toys look as natural as possible.

So picture if you will, a grown man standing in his kitchen, trying to imagine he was a Predator about to get jumped by some horrible monster hiding a few feet above. I tried to make notes about my posture, the angle of my head, how my back was arched, that sort of thing. Had April seen me, the mocking laughter would still ring in my ears.

Once I had my pose, I had to get the Predator in as close a position as possible. Then I set up the back wall, found the ceramic drink tiles and candle for the wall/pillar, and reached for something to put up top. I have no idea where my Xenomorphs are, which I suppose is cause for alarm. I'm not exactly comfortable knowing that Aliens are running loose in my apartment. Especially when the photo I'm about to shoot is the Predator about to get killed by them...

Lighting for this was provided by four tea lights (yeah, yeah, I'm back to using fire. I'm sorry!). If I were going to go back and reshoot this, I would move the candles closest to the bottom left away from the pillar and maybe shift them to the other side. The light there is a little too harsh, almost like a camera flash just went off.

Wow, was this rambling or what?

You're one ugly EXIF:

Camera:	Fujifilm FinePixS2Pro
Exposure:	2 sec (2)
Aperture:	f/4.5
Focal Length:	50 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0/100 EV

Orientation:	Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution:	72 dpi
Y-Resolution:	72 dpi
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Date and Time:	2008:02:20 20:26:49
Tag::TIFF::0x882A:	-6, -6
Exposure Program:	Manual
Date and Time (Original):	2008:02:20 19:25:17
Date and Time (Digitized):	2008:02:20 19:25:17
Shutter Speed:	-1/1
Brightness:	-333/100
Metering Mode:	Center Weighted Average
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Focal Plane X-Resolution:	630 dpc
Focal Plane Y-Resolution:	630 dpc
Sensing Method:	One-chip colour area sensor
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Focal Length In 35mm Film:	75
Saturation:	High saturation
Compression:	JPEG
Image Width:	2024 pixels
Image Height:	3024 pixels

Be good,
-Dave

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