This started out as a simple idea (I already had the brick road and ruby slippers from the Yellow challenge), and turned into an exercise in determination. First, I had to find striped socks, and they're not exactly in fashion. Time to improvise. You're looking at a pair of children's white leggings filled with polyester pillow stuffing and wrapped with electrical tape. The "dress" is a loose piece of the black fabric that I use for backdrops.
Next, I had to find something to cover the edges of the board (that's real brick facing on 3/4" plywood). Home Depot doesn't carry artificial turf in the Fall, so I just arranged clumps of grass around the edges. It's tedious, and I was a little sloppy in my haste to finish before I lost the sun. The colored leaves could have been distributed better, too.
Finally, I waited until deadline day to shoot so I could get some nice morning light. I woke up to heavy fog. Grrr!! It was supposed to rain later in the day, so I carried everything across the street to a vacant farm house to shoot whatever I could under the gloomy clouds. The flat lighting made it really hard to see the bricks. Naturally, the sun came out in the late afternoon, so I dragged everything back down there and set it up all over again (that brick panel weighs well over 100 lbs). I took about 250 shots to get this one, all in RAW because I figured I'd have to do a Photoshop War Dance to compensate for the lousy light (it wasn't as bad as I thought).
Processing: Saturation, Exposure and White Balance in RAW. Saturation and color shifting on the yellow brick, Levels, HSL, Curves and USM throughout. I cloned out marks on the brick, a few blades of grass, and touched up the black tape, legs, and a support under one shoe. I wanted to scrunch the dress completely under the siding, but settled for smoothing out the top edge.
Whew... I hope it was worth the effort!
(I guess it was) ;-)
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 173 Avg (all users): 6.9231 Avg (commenters): 8.3056 Avg (participants): 6.7129 Avg (non-participants): 7.1215 Views since voting: 16086 Views during voting: 480 Votes: 208 Comments: 103 Favorites: 24 (view)
With all of the time and work that went into this arrangement, not to mention the lighting, exposure and so forth, you should have gotten first place.
Great work.
HOLLLLY COW! Well, that WAS a lot of work. I was just mentioning on another site how much some of us really do for a good turnout in a contest so it is sad when someone low balls you in voting. I can't BELIEVE someone gave you a 3 and 4's! I gave this a ten, and I was wondering how you did it! LOL...Now that I know, it all makes sense. Thank you. You are a genius!!
Terrific, Shannon--like Bear, I am not construction-oriented, and admire people who can concpetualize, build and shoot their visions. Congrats on your payoff!
Brilliant, congrats! For some reason I didn't get to vote on this one, I didn't see it. I think I only voted on 50% of the entries for this challenge. Good one!
Congrats on another ribbon Shannon! I had this pinned as yours just by the creativity alone before I remembered the yellow bricks and slippers from your other one. Great job, and I'm glad to hear that it's not your house... I was ready to bring paint and brushes over Thanksgiving weekend when we're out that way!
Worth the effort, indeed! It's always interesting to read about the great lengths you go through for your entries -- good to see it pays off! Congrats!
Ha! I thought that was yours! I read up on your red slippers shot from a while ago, and so when I saw the yellow brick road, I had a clue it was you. Nice work on the ribbon. Excellent shot!
Your creativity imagination and effort you put into your creations always amazes me. I am always fascinated by your work. Congratulations on a well deserved ribbon.
I remember those bricks from your other submission, and knew this was you! :-) Congrats and I'm so glad you didn't give up with the weather, your the man, man.
Humorous capture, very well presented. I love the idea, which is surely creative for this challenge and the colours as well. As I am a summer phanatic, autumn also means me the end of the best days of a year.
Good luck!
I gave out two 10s in this challenge and this would be my pick for first place. I absolutely love it. It cracked me up. Colors are terrific and it's easily recognizable. Good luck!
One of the truly original shots in this challenge in my opinion. Very well composed and shot. Focus is spot on and colors are great. PLacement of the subject is very nice as well. I hope this ribbons! Well done!
ROFL This is pretty darn funny. The shininess of the yellow brick road seems a bit plastic and fake. Maybe if you did a slight desat and maybe did some dodge and burn to it. Just a thought. I still like it and love the old building's peeling paint along with the strewn sycamore (? ) leaves. Fun and entertaining.
Another great example of the creative mind of SCalvert? (please excuse me if I'm wrong.) This is GREAT, and an excellent take on the challenge!!! Composition, lighting are all superb, and the fall leaves are a nice touch. Well done!
End of the Road in Oz
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