CLOSED: Real World Challenge - Win Windows Vista Ultimate

[Steve Paxton]

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This challenge is now closed. A big thank you goes out to everyone who participated. All the entries were very well done, but there can only be one winner! jlbrainard79 edged the others out with her creative processing and wins the ever-so coveted Windows Vista Ultimate! Great work to everyone! This is a great community! For those who are interested, here is how I processed the shots for my clients.
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This challenge has been reopened and is available to everyone (including the moderators). I will send the winner a brand new copy of Windows Vista Ultimate. The challenge closes at the end of the day on August 15, 2009. Shortly thereafter I will choose the winner and send them Windows Vista Ultimate! Now on to the challenge!

I took the following two images for clients on their wedding day. It was raining so hard that we were literally soaked in a matter of a few minutes. The weather was dark and gloomy and time was short. Several obvious and not so obvious problems exist in each image that need to be dealt with. Here are the facts:

Your clients are young, hip newlyweds. They love black and white processing; however they are also happy with vibrant color. They have indicated that they want something "different" and "unique" to hang in their home. They particularly like these two images and thought they would hang them side-by-side in their living room. Their life long best friends are in the images making them particularly special to them.

There are several known problems with both shots. For starters, the images are slightly underexposed - this was done on purpose to capture the full range of the scene (notice that cloud detail is available). Other issues include rain streaks covering critical details in the image, white tags under the umbrellas, a Redbull can in the grass, etc.

You are the photographer and artist! Your job is to process these images for your clients and show the results!

You can process the images in black and white, split tone, sepia - however you want. Crop them down or grunge them up if you feel like it. Use Photoshop, GIMP, Lightroom, or Paint! It is totally up to you! Display the results here with a short description of what you did and why. This zip file contains high resolution JPGs and DNGs. Use whichever format you wish. Just be sure to save the final (processed) images as JPEGs and present them here (1000 pixels wide or less). Have fun with this and show off your creativity! The winner will be selected based on their ability to create something "different" that the clients can hang on their wall at home. Remember that "different" and "unique" doesn't necessarily mean you have to go over the top. Come up with something tasteful that your clients can proudly hang on their wall indefinitely.

Here are the images you will be working on:

[Chris-T-Photography]

Very Very awesome challenge :-). This will definately be fun. :-)

[jrome]

This should be fun. Just curious, do our "clients" like the background/dead plants or is that also up to us? Or.. am I asking too many questions? ;)

Edit: I've never played with RAW's before!! I like this!!

[Steve Paxton]

It's totally up to you Jrome!

[yannickraw]

Great idea! Are the "clients" real? Will you send them the winner pic or not? One last thing, I'm on a mac, so if I win, will I get a copy of Snow Leopard!? :P

[jrome]

Haha, I was just thinking if I do get this Windows Vista Ultimate (which I already have) does this come with a Windows 7 release too? Here I am dreaming again.. :roll:

Snow Leopard wouldn't be a bad deal either! I'm running Leopard right now and am excited to get Snow Leopard when it comes out!

[JohnB]

What I'd like to know is if that Windows Vista comes with an upgrade to Linux. :D

[Steve Paxton]

Admittedly "Windows Vista" is a bit of a non-prize, but it does help add some fun to the contest! The Apple users can run it virtually (boot camp). There's not much we can do for the Linux users! They are a lost cause. ;)

[JohnB]

There's not much we can do for the Linux users! They are a lost cause. ;)

[jrome]

I second Steve's comment *cough*... I mean.. let's not pick on the lost souls. ;)