Need Your Vote for Safety Razor of the Month - Merkurs - May 2012

**AABCDS** · 06-07-2012, 03:48 PM

Please vote for your favorite picture out of the six listed below. The person with the most votes will win a $25 gift certificate to the B&B supporting vendor of his choice! However, that's not all. A random voter will be chosen to win a $25 gift certificate!

Here are the six finalists in no particular order. If you are a finalist, feel free to vote for yourself. This way, you'll be entered to win a $25 gift certificate as a voter even if you don't get the most votes.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

**bhorsoft** · 06-07-2012, 06:19 PM

How do we know that's not a Mergress that Rex is chomping on?

**AABCDS** · 06-07-2012, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by bhorsoft

How do we know that's not a Mergress that Rex is chomping on?

Good question. I went back and looked at the other pictures and, luckily for me, it is a Progress.

**dannymayo** · 06-08-2012, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by bhorsoft

How do we know that's not a Mergress that Rex is chomping on?

If you look closely between the teeth you can see the yellowish Progress knob.

Speaking of number 1, number 1 is my favorite.

**bakerbarber** · 06-08-2012, 05:44 PM

#1 is my vote!!

**S'eth** · 06-08-2012, 07:27 PM

#2 for me. I've always been a sucker for B&W's. It's just very simple and classy. Truly a beautiful picture!

**T-Box215** · 06-08-2012, 08:18 PM

Thanks for the compliment and vote S'eth, I too love B&W. It actually started as three bracketed images then imported into Photmatix Pro where I generated a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image, and desaturated it. Sounds more complicated than it really is.

**echotron** · 06-09-2012, 07:58 AM

Originally Posted by T-Box215

Thanks for the compliment and vote S'eth, I too love B&W. It actually started as three bracketed images then imported into Photmatix Pro where I generated a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image, and desaturated it. Sounds more complicated than it really is.

Gee ... and I was going to ask the depth on your lense ... f2.8 or ?? ... but I reckon thats old school!

**T-Box215** · 06-09-2012, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by echotron

Gee ... and I was going to ask the depth on your lense ... f2.8 or ?? ... but I reckon thats old school!

echotron - It was actually taken with a Nikon D90 and a 35mm f1.8 thus the depth of field is very narrow. So definitely not old school. It's a modern digital, I did however use manual focus because when combining 3 images like that you want the only variable in the images to be the shutter speed. Essentially you take and underexposed, overexposed, and properly exposed images, merge them with a program like Photomatix, and tweak to get just the right amount of highlights and low-lights to make it pop. Pretty cool technique, but definitely not usable for all pics.

**Dennis324** · 06-09-2012, 06:26 PM

All are nice, but imo, the b&w photo (#2) is a wonderful pic! A real piece of artwork I think and thats the one I voted for. But I'm curious about the razor on photo #6. Is that vintage and is it made of bakelite? Its a beautiful razor. :)

(This was my 1st post here btw). :)

**AABCDS** · 06-09-2012, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Dennis324

All are nice, but imo, the b&w photo (#2) is a wonderful pic! A real piece of artwork I think and thats the one I voted for. But I'm curious about the razor on photo #6. Is that vintage and is it made of bakelite? Its a beautiful razor. :)

(This was my 1st post here btw). :)

Welcome to B&B. As for your question, the razor is a Merkur bakelite. It is not a vintage razor as it's still in production.

**Dennis324** · 06-09-2012, 07:11 PM

Wow! Beautiful razor. I'm going to have to look into that one. :)

**Anonymousoul** · 06-09-2012, 10:12 PM

The B&W #2 is my fav. Something classy and sophisticated about a DE in B&W

**DaveL** · 06-10-2012, 09:51 AM

All beautiful pics, my vote went with #2.

**TonyJoe** · 06-10-2012, 05:24 PM

Some here have said they were suckers for black and white photography. That is understandable; I too like to take and look at b&w photos. They seem to distill their subjects into purer more essential forms, and number 2 is a great example of this. But I'm really a sucker for whimsical gratuitous Photoshop-ing. John Henry gets my vote.

**Redstar** · 06-11-2012, 06:33 AM

Great pictures everyone! I had to vote for #2 because it's a picture I could really see hanging in my den. I love the focus depth and the many different ways I can interprete the class and nostalgia of wet shaving. I can see wet shaving as a manly art in the steel of the razors, the delicateness and class of it in the linen, the tradition of it in the brush and lather and I get the feeling of a quite, relaxed morning from the light and shadows. Thanks for sharing!

**mol81** · 06-12-2012, 06:32 AM

#2 is my favorite

**phule** · 06-12-2012, 06:07 PM

The b & w #2 is my pick

**Gam** · 06-13-2012, 08:14 AM

#4 is my favorite,John Henry would definately use a Slanthammer.

**DMT** · 06-13-2012, 10:17 AM

Hands down number two it th black and white picks up so many tones we don't perceive when we look at colour. Aesthetically it's the most pleasing and it just shouts luxury and class, it makes you want to try DE shaving for yourself.