[Leica] IMG: "Solarized" Fire Dancer

[pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein)]

> Does this work?
>
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/VacationAug2011/L1008345_BWcrop-w.jpg.html>
>
> This is from the series of "Fire Dancers" I took a few days ago. In this
> one, the freshly-lit torches were brighter than in most of the other
> shots, so the face in the initial color image was very bright yellow.
> But actually, only the flames were at the sensor's limit.  The face had
> information. I liked the look of the woman's eyes, so I decided to see
> what I could do with the image.
>
> I darkened the image a bit and converted to B&W, experimenting with
> various color channel combinations in the conversion.  A yellow-green
> mix worked best.  I got these weird black lines around the transitions
> between the bright yellow and dull red portions of the illumination on
> the arms and legs.  This, and the motion of the arms created a
> "solarized" effect.  It's weird, but I kind of like it.

> I love the shot, but I don't really like the 'rings' of light on her
arms,
> which I assume is the solarization effect. Can you post it without?

> Cheers

> alastair

Thanks, Alastair. The problem is that without changing the proportions 
of the color channels, it looks completely washed out. And when I change 
the proportions, the dark "rings" appear at the transition between 
bright yellow and dull red light. The arm motion complicates it. Unless 
I use a red (digital) filter, in which case it's washed out and the eyes 
don't stand out at all. And the eyes were what made me want to salvage 
the image in the first place.

This was a case of making lemonade out of lemons, but I kind of like the 
effect. Back in the 70s we would half-develop a print, then turn the 
room light on briefly to get this solarization. Psychidelic, man...

Here's the original color version, in case you or anyone else wants to 
play with it.
<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/VacationAug2011/L1008345color-w.jpg.html>

I'll look at it again in a couple of days, and see if I missed something.

--Peter