This was very difficult to do, but was really fun!
:::After Challenge:::
I'm pretty satisfied with this one, I at least got in the top 20. This is the third challenge I've entered. This is definitely my best score yet, with my "Straight from the camera" being in 182nd place and my "10" being at 125th place, 18th place in this challenge is a real improvement.
Ok, I bet you want to know more details about this other than "it was fun" (I only wrote that b/c I was trying to make the deadline). So, first off...no snails were killed in the making of this pic. I needed it alive, duh. The stick/fishing pole is actually a straightened paper clip I dipped in brown paint. The string is really just thread. The arrow is just a paper arrow. And the snail...is really just a snail. Pretty basic, huh?
(The Creation)
Well, it may have been basic, but it was the hardest thing I've ever shot. First I did the paper clip and arrow, which was the easiest part. Then, I had to attach the thread to the paper clip, JUST right with super glue. I then took a very small pebble and put it on the end of the thread(for weight) and then glued on the arrow. Then I took the snail and wrapped thread around it's shell, making sure that it wasn't in the snails way at all. Then I glued the paper clip onto the snail's shell. I didn't actually tie on the "fishing pole" onto the snail b/c I knew I'd never be able to get it off. Then I took it outside and began to shoot...which was even harder!
(The Shoot)
OK, so originally, I wanted to have the snail with the arrow crawling/sliding on a stick in front of a road sign (I made) that was pointing in the opposite direction than the snail was heading. I really like this idea, but soon found it impossible due to heavy winds and my snail's apparent inner ear problem that didn't allow him to stay on a stick for more than 2 seconds. Plan B: I told myself to "think simple" which of course, usually isn't hard for me :)
I put the little guy on my driveway, which caused that crooked horizon people were commenting about. I wanted to have some significant DOF and a nice, easy background. The problem was that the stupid sun has a mind of its own and thinks it can move whenever the hell it wants to, therefore causing over exposure on anything but the grass. That was pretty much it, but also keep in mind that the wind was blowing that arrow around like crazy; and the snail actually had to be looking and GOING in the direction that the arrow was pointing. It kept heading for the grass...I wonder why :)
(Editing)
Yeah, that was hard too, especially since I waited until the half hour before the challenge ended to do so. Since there was bright light at the top of the pic, I could only lighten the snail so much with out totally washing out the grass color. I compromised by sharpening it more than usual, which at least helped. The only reason I didn't fix the horizon was b/c I was running out of time, and didn't realize until 4 days later that you could tilt the horizon in smaller incriments than I thought.
Alright, I think that's it. Thank you all for voting and commenting, especially the commenting b/c I never thought I'd have so many!
P.S. I DID take the stick and arrow off the snail when I was done. I didn't want it to be wandering around for eternity never getting anywhere...I'm not cruel you know.
;p
Here's the better version:
Statistics
Place: 18 out of 152 Avg (all users): 6.1742 Avg (commenters): 6.9032 Avg (participants): 6.0351 Avg (non-participants): 6.2126 Views since voting: 1946 Views during voting: 430 Votes: 264 Comments: 40 Favorites: 6 (view)
Wow Leah, what a wonderfully creative and funny idea!
In my opinion, the only thing you did wrong was the setting. The texture of the driveway and the grass in the background are merely distractions from the real story, which is, of course, the snail with its funny little fishing pole and sign. You could have simplified the image and focused the viewer's attention on the snail by shooting it on a sheet of blank paper or smooth plastic. Some yellow poster board probably would have worked great.
Anyway, it was a great idea and a funny image. Congrats!
nice image but Iwish the file size was bigger. The max allowable is 150 kb, your image is 35 kb. This means you could have had nearly five times the detail in the shell sould have been much better. Here is a link to the preparing submissions for challenges tutorial. This tutorial is based on using photoshop, but I think it would help your scores to look into whatever software you are using to get the biggest file size you can for images. You obviously put in some work to this photo, and I notice alt of photos get scored low solely because is altillte too small or is alittle jaggedy which comes from small file size, hope this helps you out.
Dude, that´s just mean! Like picking wings of flies or something, lol! Poor fella never knew what hit him, just suddenly had a dart in front of his face, hehe :) I actually laughed out loud with this one, we apparently have the same sense of humor! 7 from me.
This is my life! I was a little distracted by thshallow depth of field, but must've been tough with such tiny subject matter. If your camera lens won't do it, screw on close-up lenses are an inexpensive way to go.
Gotta give you an 8 for humor. You need to watch your unlevel horizon, and some more use of basic post processing tools would help. But a good laugh. Thanks.
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