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Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
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Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Yellow Revisited (Basic Editing II)
Collection: Favorites - Ribbons
Camera: Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Location: Easton, CT (in my dining room, actually)
Date: Dec 5, 2004
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/250
Galleries: Performance, Studio
Date Uploaded: Dec 6, 2004

 Flowers and lemons and bees- oh my! I tried to be different.

This shot has been in the works for literally months. My neighbor's Yorkshire Terrier, Darwin, sparked the idea back in May/June. A local photographer moved away in August, and I saved his very heavy brick facing backdrop specifically for this shot. All I had to do was wait for an appropriate challenge. Ah... Yellow!

My wife found the ruby slippers and picked up a couple strips of artificial turf (whatta' gal). I painted the bricks yellow, and my neighbor agreed to bring over Darwin.

The dog was extremely nervous (wouldn't stop shaking), and could only stay for 20 minutes. Crunch time! I quickly set up two strobe lights as low as possible to get shadows on the bricks and took a guess at the camera settings. My neighbor held Darwin from behind while another helper waved turkey in front of him. Meanwhile, I had my daughter holding on to a step ladder in order to keep one foot in the air. It was total chaos, but I got about 15 shots off. With all the people around, my cropping options were limited, and I had to shoot from above because I didn't have enough bricks & turf to show more background. It's a miracle I got anything usable at all.

Processing: USM, levels, +9 Shadow/Highlight adjustment to the green channel to bring out the turf, then played with HSL on yellow, red and green to get richer colors.

I'm pretty happy with it, but you would think with all the time I waited for this shot that I could have researched a little better. In the movie, Toto was darker and Dorothy had pale blue socks with no frills. Oops! ;-)

Statistics
Place: 9 out of 393
Avg (all users): 6.3860
Avg (commenters): 8.0909
Avg (participants): 6.3272
Avg (non-participants): 6.4634
Views since voting: 22126
Views during voting: 403
Votes: 285
Comments: 33
Favorites: 5 (view)

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AuthorThread
 04/18/2007 08:20:29 PM
Don't worry about the blue socks. That was only in the movie. I think the REAL dorothy's socks were just like this. Oh, and for the record, the REAL toto was an Afghan Bloodhound, but this just didn't work for the movie director.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/15/2004 09:31:04 PM
Shannon, Congrats on Your top ten with this amazing image. Thought this would score higher. Guess the Great and Powerful OZ has spoken or maybe some confused Munchkins. Great entry!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/15/2004 12:23:09 PM
awesome set up, nicely executed!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/15/2004 09:38:59 AM
Cairn Terriers are a difficult prop to build when you don't have one handy. As noted, the socks should have been blue, too. Oh, well. I did what I could with the materials available to me, so I can't complain. ;-)
 12/15/2004 09:00:06 AM
Not to rain on your parade, but it should have been a Cairn Terrier :-D

Brilliant photo! Congratulations on your top 10!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/15/2004 12:22:22 AM
Nicely done. Perfect lighting despite the chaos. You never cease to amaze.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/15/2004 12:16:32 AM
Shannon: this is a very nice entry and one that I have wanted to do for so long. Thank you for this nice rendition. Congratulations on your top 10 finish. Stunning.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/15/2004 12:16:01 AM
Congrats on 10th place Shannon! Keep up the great work...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/15/2004 12:03:24 AM
not bad, shannon! i will admit that i had picked another image as yours, though. as always, great effort!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
12/14/2004 08:50:29 PM
I couldn't stop smiling when I saw this, I can't believe you're the only one to think of this, great job!!! And where in the world did you find those shoes??? 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2004 01:36:07 PM
I got it without looking at your title. Another photo meeting the spirit of the challenge. 7 later bumped to 8.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2004 11:13:23 AM

I love it so mush .
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/14/2004 04:11:13 AM
classic! nice use of props.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/12/2004 12:05:02 PM
Great idea wish I'd thought of it. Good job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/12/2004 08:12:37 AM
I'm sometimes frightened by the amount of effort people put into their shots. ;-) But it was certainly worth it because this shot came out really well, with excellent colors and a great set of subjects. Very nice job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/11/2004 11:06:27 PM
very well done. perfect Toto dog and your Rubdy Slippers and socks are great. did yoiu hand paint all the bricks?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/11/2004 10:48:56 PM
Awesome photo, and idea. Too bad that's not real grass though, kind of distracts a bit. Still a great photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/11/2004 07:20:14 PM
returning for comments:
So very cute and attractive. The only distraction is the variation of skin tones on the legs. Outside of this minor snag, your image is very well composed and bears the magic of the movie. The bricks look stunning. Bumping way up

Message edited by author 2004-12-15 00:14:31.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/10/2004 08:07:28 PM
This one really made me smile! Great job.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/10/2004 05:49:51 PM
What a Great image! Coming back to review and comment...10. This Yellow Brick Road should lead to a ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/10/2004 01:36:27 PM
Very cool! Classic photo!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/10/2004 01:25:53 PM
This is excellent. The shoes, socks, Toto, road, and "grass." Reflecting light from the back of the models might have helped with the shadows on the road. A 10.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/10/2004 11:24:54 AM
Very cute! Your dog would qualify to play Toto in a production of the Wizard of Oz, and the shot is nicely composed and very sharp. Where is this road? It can't be purely a photoshop creation with basic editing rules. Or if it can, I'd sure like to learn how to do it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/10/2004 02:42:05 AM
What I like about this shot is the pose of Toto. She appears to be intently watching the road, and that adds much interest to this shot. There's a little bit of haloing around the heels of the ruby shoes but not quite enough to be distracting. I think your color balance is excellent too. Overall a great shot. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/09/2004 09:34:42 PM
Perfect!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/09/2004 09:17:01 PM
Holy &^%^%& !! You win. Just added this to my favorites and desktop. Brilliant concept if a might predictable. Lighting, colour, composition, concept, nails the challenge. I haven't given out a 10 yet but I'm struggling with this one.
Hope you are happy and proud.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/09/2004 01:44:17 PM
I can't see any room for improvement. You've got a 9 from me, and I'll probably come back later and bump it up. The good news is that I like it, the bad news is that I rarely pick a winner. :( Hope I haven't jinxed you by liking it so much.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/09/2004 01:15:16 PM
Toto, you bleached your hair! Nice image, 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/08/2004 08:51:34 PM
Wonderful shot, the sharpness is just right. this is top 10 material.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/08/2004 08:42:45 PM
Nice idea. Nice shot. Good luck to you! "...and your little dog, too!" ;-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/08/2004 01:11:10 PM
BRILLIANT! composition, lighting, subject I hope you do really well
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/08/2004 03:45:12 AM
LOL. You have obviously put some effort into this entry. Very good. You deserve to do well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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