Catch the moment

Tick. All to often in life I find myself rushing from one thing to another. Rarely do I take the time to just sit down and enjoy things around me. There is so much to enjoy and be grateful for right now and right here. So why all this planning for things, scheduling, buying, slaving, struggling.... life is precious, and each moment counts. Each brief second wasted is a second that never comes back. The clock will never be the same again. Tick. In the time it has taken you to read this, 2,000 mosquitos have died. Each of them could have given you a perfect macro shot. Tick. The clouds have shifted noticeable on the sky, and the beautiful figures there are no more. Tick. Slow down, enjoy life and catch the moments, because your lifetime is made up of unique, individual moments which never comes back.

Taken for Active Assignment Weekly: Ephemeral

Assignment
Photograph the ephemeral: document the passing of things in life whose nature is transient and/or even short-lived. Despite the article I have linked to here, the subject matter does not at all have to relate to nature.

restrictions: Because of the potential similarities of this assignment to a previous assignment Time Passages, please avoid time-lapse, time-sequenced, or long exposure photographs.

dare: Compose an image that evokes an emotional response from your audience.

What it took
The assignment didn't mention anything about Photoshop, so this is actually a composite of 3 pictures:

1) a close up of my wrist watch
2) a picture of me holding a soup bowl
3) the picture of the clouds

1) and 2) were taken right after each other with the flash in the same position and the camera on a tripod so I knew the angle of view and angle of the light were constant. This should help ensure that the shadows looks genuine. For 3) I just took a photo where the sun was on the left hand side of the image.

1) was cut so all the background was deleted. I then in Photoshop duplicated the image into another layer. Added the blur. By now I had a blurred image with a sharp image underneath. I then added a layer mask to the blurred layer. On the layer mask, I painted where the hands of the watch were, which revealed the sharp version from below. The benefit of using a layer mask is that it's non-destructive. Paint black reveals the underlying layer. If you reveal to much, you just cover it with white which lets the top layer show again.

2) Pasted the completed clock in over the top of the soup bowl. The reason for having a soup bowl in the first place was to make sure my fingers were placed the way they are when you hold on to something. Applied a layer mask to the newly pasted-in clock and painted where the fingers were supposed to be on top of the watch (i.e., this removed the clock from these areas and let the fingers show through).

3) pasted it all onto a suitable picture of clouds. Again added a layer mask to hide bits and pieces such as hair from arms which were sticking out into the clouds.

Tick. In the time it has taken you to read this WIT, another unique species of flora or fauna has become extinct. Time to catch the moment and enjoy life.