As soon as I read the challenge details I thought of this set up. Thanks to my daughter who helped me carve the pumpkins. If you look carefully each one depicts a different emotion. Happy,sad,angry,love(hard to see the heart eyes)evil,and surprised.
The extra rules allowed some photoshop work to clone out the lines holding up the pumpkins. And yes my neighbors think I am insane. Oh yea, thats me doing the juggling :)
I love this shot, I am very happy the way it turned out.
Coley
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Place: 1 out of 88 Avg (all users): 7.5431 Avg (commenters): 8.3125 Avg (participants): 7.3115 Avg (non-participants): 7.6257 Views since voting: 17542 Views during voting: 770 Votes: 232 Comments: 69 Favorites: 19 (view)
First, I have to shake my head at the strange luck I have - the last CC image I got was dead last in its challenge, and this time I get the blue ribbon image! I find myself now wondering what feedback I could give that's more than simply congratulatory; this image has obviously been well received and has communicated its message nearly perfectly.
As my somewhat tongue-in-cheek comment left during the challenge suggests, I'm familiar with your "Stopped Motion II" entry, done with the same technique. This strikes me as a more refined effort--it's compositionally stronger, imparting a much better sense of motion--and the carvings on the pumpkins not only tie the image directly to the challenge but give it a layer of meaning in itself.
To a certain extent, it seems possible that if you'd put the pumpkins in a smoother arc, it might look overly artificial. It might have been a better decision to do it as you did here. Clearly, your approach worked spectacularly, so perhaps no improvement is needed (if it's even possible). But for my own tastes, I think I would have preferred to see the pumpkins in an even arc, as they would be if you were, in fact, juggling them.
As you mentioned in your own comments, it's difficult to see the heart eyes on the "love" pumpkin. A bit of adjusting for better viewing angle on some of the pumpkins might have helped - not, of course, to the point that they're all facing the viewer, but just enough that all the expressions are discernable.
It might be unavoidable in an image that has so many active elements, but the photo seems a little bit crowded - perhaps a slightly looser crop on the top and left would have been appropriate. I feel like there should be a little bit more room, especially on top, which I think would help with the implied motion of the pumpkins, as if you were allowing for the possibility that a toss might send a pumpkin higher than anticipated.
... but all of this, really, is largely speculative; these describe other possible approaches, none of which are necessarily better, just different. You have every reason to be happy with this shot--it's a spectacular piece of work! And highest congratulations on the most coveted blue!
Again you have outdone yourself. This is a big visual impovement over the earlier attempt because here you took the pumpkin challenge and crowned it with a great delivery of the emotions. I am very happy for your success. CONGRATULATIONS on your BLUE!
Big thanks to everyone who looked at, commented on, and/or voted on this shot. Even bigger thanks to everyone for the nice comments following the challenge. As I stated in the thread detailing my setup, I think I will retire this setup for a while. I don't want to suffer any backlash :). Thanks again to all ... Love this site!
Awesome!!! Great idea & great execution!!! If I were to change one little thing, it would be to try for more of an arc or parabolic trajectory of the pumpkins for more realism. Other than that, SUPERB!!! Congratulations! :)
This was a wonderful idea!! And that's ok, my husband thinks I am nuts too. The other morning he woke up to me dropping brocolli in a glass of water! LOL...Last night? M&M's in milk! LOL......All he says is "WHAT'S the theme THIS time" and he starts laughing his butt off. LOL....Rose
My pick for a ribbon. Good use of the extra rules, could have been more realistic if you placed some pumpkins in between your hands, but oh well. Bumping up.
Nice execution and idea, Very deep. Very crisp. Nice comp. I believe we have a winner! I might've cropped out the dirty jeans(Or asked him to wear clean ones.)
i gave this a 10 because:it was different,someone took the time to carve all these pumpkins,colors and lighting was great, model was great-if i missed something holler at me cause i could go on and on -great concept!!
You've got an interesting concept here which takes this shot out of the common "shoot the pumpkin" image. I especially like the fact that the subject is male and is juggling emotion - nice. The technical aspects, the concept works - congratulations. I expect to see this shot on the front page. 8
Very cool! (I assume you took advantage of the fact that we could move major elements? If not, then you're one helluva juggler!) Either way - great shot! :-)
Always Having To Juggle My Emotions
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