...To Burn
by mchalmers

Comment by sivart:
a Shame to waste a 20 dollar

...To Burn
by mchalmers

Comment by Anachronite:
awesome. while I like shallow depth at times, I'd be interested to see this with a deep field. might be even better if we could see the girl better

...To Burn
by mchalmers

Comment by M_Jayne:
Good concept for this challenge! Nicely pulled off too!

...To Burn
by mchalmers

Comment by beckydi:
Great idea for this challenge! Great lighting as well!

...To Burn
by mchalmers

Comment by WeJay:
Wonderful conceptualization! Hits you hard. 9.

Looking from the Inside Out
by mchalmers

Comment by krnodil:
Very creative idea for this challenge, nice humor to it too.

As for your lighting concern that you would get too much glare/reflection in your attempt to blow out the background - it looks like your subject was fairly close to your background, and perhaps moving the background much farther back and lighting it separately with a flash would avoid the issue of reflection, or at least make it more manageable. I'm guessing, no expert advice - I've been reading up on lighting lately and that's what comes to mind when reading of your difficulty.

Looking from the Inside Out
by mchalmers

Comment by LadyK:
lol

...To Burn
by mchalmers

Comment by bradshaw:
that's just a terrible way to light a cigar would ruin it...

Looking from the Inside Out
by mchalmers

Comment by Hipychik:
Very creative! I'd like to think no one voted this down because they thought it was illegal but I'm sure they did!

Looking from the Inside Out
by mchalmers

Comment by Kavey:
Goodness, I'm surprised so many people assumed illegality here. It's a cute and clever use of cutouts but hardly difficult to spot/ work out! Sorry you were voted down for it!