Gelatin sticks to wine glasses very well. :) Buy dry gelatin packets at the store, mix with boiling water, and put it in the fridge to solidify. I don't know whether actual Jell-o would stick as well with all the sugar and flavorings. This is just pure gelatin, so it's not sweet.
I was waiting for a still life challenge, or something like it, to try this again. To get the gelatin at an angle, I lay the glasses down on an egg carton, with the base on the shelf and the top up on the carton. To make the middle glass, I started out just like the other two. I had extra gelatin liquid that I kept out of the fridge while the three glasses set. Then I pulled one out and added just enough extra to be able to tip it the other way and have the angle match. Back in the fridge for an hour, and I had nicely double-angled gelatin.
The lighting was the same as I used for Sonata in Blue:
The background is a piece of posterboard that was just big enough to cover the frame. I shot this with my zoom lens to narrow the field of view, so the camera was across the room from the glasses.
This was another typical last-minute rush, despite having the idea a few days earlier. I made the gelatin Monday night, but didn't look closely at the glasses until 9:00 Tuesday night, when I noticed some smudges on the glasses. Warning if you try this: there will likely be a thin, transparent film of gelatin that starts far away from the colored parts, and if you rub at it, it makes a big splotch on the glass! Initially, the edges of the gelatin in the top glass were perfect, but after I was done cleaning up the blotches, I'd messed them up a bit, which is visible in the shot.
With cleaned glasses, I start setting up about 10:30 pm Tuesday night. Started shooting at 11:00 and tried three different background colors. Pulled up the images in Photoshop, liked this color background best, and edited it for submission.
Then I noticed a couple of imperfections, like the top glass was turned so the angle didn't line up vertically with the glass' stem. Took one more shot correcting the problems at 11:51. Edited, entered at 11:59. Unlike some past mistakes, this one didn't have any major problems I noticed after midnight. :)
Post-challenge: wahoooo!!!!!!!!!! My first blue ribbon. :)
Oh, for the commenter who said it'd have looked better without the bowls in the middle, I agree. But I needed to get the middle glass up in the air somehow. Anyway, those are two cereal bowls, with the top one flipped over.
With this entry, I survived week 1 of the Better than Average side tourney, where we have to beat our own overall average score. My target this week was 5.6865.
Statistics
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Well... now this presents a problem... your ribbon no longer matches your photograph. I suppose you'll just have to live with that at this point, huh? :-)
'Grats Jeffrey. So sorry I was lazy and didn't vote on this challenge, otherwise I'm sure you'd have had another 10 for this still.
You've become the master of gelatin stills ... and are on the road to becoming the master of still challenges.
OK, since I haven't heard you bust on me in a while for not stepping out of my comfort zone, I'll refrain from doing the same to you. ;) Oh wait...too late. Where've you been these days? I haven't seen you much on the boards.
Jeffrey, congrats!! I saw the thumb on the front page and said to myself "hey that's jeffrey's idea. who stole it?" Looks like you put in quite an effort for this one. Worth it, I think! Congrats again.
really awesome shot Jeff, congrats on the ribbon, sorry i didn't get around to entering for this month, I should be able to get some in for next month, but who knows. once again though, congrats on the great shot.
Congrats on your red ribbon, Jeffrey. It suits your beautiful Rondo in Red to a "T". I had a feeling this was yours, you're so darned good at these shots.
Congratulations, Jeffrey! I like the blue one better. The colors in that one appeal to me more and the composition is more delicate. But, hey, whose going to quibble with a ribbon winning image.
Congrats... good one :) You don't have gravity where you are, no? Of course not, it's Washington DC, where politicians release all that gas... people flying in the air LOL
LOL! I didn't comment but was going to say this looked like you learned something from levyj413's Blue Sonata. I can see why now! Congrats on the pretty red ribbon to match the pretty red gelatin!
I gave this one a 6 when I first saw it. I don't think I've seen jello done that way before so that was clever and the execution was good. I wasn't crazy about the color you chose for the background (just too much of the same color) but otherwise a good shot. Since it's not my favorite thing and it offers no emotive value the best score I've ever given for this type of shot is an 8 so keep that in mind.
Oh and yes I guessed this was yours. Now fix your email!
fun composition. I might have preferred a simpler composition without the whatever that's below the middle glass. Would have worked fine with just the 3 glasses.
Don't really know how you did this... but I like it! I'm looking forward seeing how you did it after the challenge, I'm guessing some type double exposure? Good luck!
Rondo in Red
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