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A Colorful Subject
A Colorful Subject
Blue Moon


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Never Seen on DPC! (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Canon EOS-40D
Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM
Date: Jun 25, 2009
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 500
Shutter: 1/400
Date Uploaded: Jun 26, 2009

 So I was thinking...what has never been seen on DPC before?...hmmm. Besides genitalia (which of course is not allowed and I would not want to shoot anyway) all I could think of was tampons. Yes...tampons. Rainbow ones. With food coloring dropping into water :p

My mind works in mysterious ways sometimes, and when I have one of my crazy/random ideas, I just have to follow through because they don't come around very often. The last one was this image, which as you can see shares a slight resemblance to this entry (maybe I will make it a theme project for myself).



Anyway, I've never done a water shot where there is something above and below the water going on at the same time, so it was a learning process. I started by mixing the colors in tiny glass dishes (red, green, yellow, and blue) into all the colors of the rainbow. For future reference, indigo is the most difficult to produce. Then I dipped each tampon into the color and squeezed out the excess water, but it was very difficult to make them not be, er, lumpy looking as you can see. Next, I was originally trying to have the premixed rainbow food coloring drops lined up evenly on a piece of paper which I could carefully drop into the fish tank as I snapped the photo. Nice idea right? Ehh, not so good in the execution. When I had 30 minutes until the deadline, and everything set up except the coloring, I picked up the paper with the drops on it and they all spilled into one another, creating a brown mess and leaving me very panicked.

So, very frazzled, I just decided to squeeze the food coloring into the tank, while correctly mixing it at the same time, and snapping shots as soon as I could. I wasn't sure it would work, but since I could only try it once (if I did it more than once, I would have to change out the water, which takes 15 minutes) I just decided to go for it. I then dropped 2 drops of red, 2 drops of yellow and 1 drop of red, 2 drops yellow, 2 drops green, 1 drop blue, 2 drops blue 1 drop red, and finally 2 drops red and 1 drop blue...all within 15 seconds. To my amazement, it worked. But once I reached my camera, I saw I had a lighting problem. I had set up the lighting prior and it looked pretty good, but once I saw the water, I realized that the color wasn't illuminated at all. So, again, very rushed, I picked up one of my mini lights and moved my arm around until I thought the lighting was ok and snapped away quickly. I saw that all the red had sunk to the bottom (it was the 1st color to go in) I dropped in some more, which is why the red is higher and more condensed than everything else. As far as the water line goes, I wasn't sure what to do, I kind of liked the surface showing a little when the reflections of the tampons showed because it corresponded to the color beneath. My other thought was to show no surface and just have a straight line. Somehow this shot ended up in between. It bothers me a little, but out of the 5 acceptable shots I took, this one had the most "right" things going for it. Besides the processing, which I will re-do, I wish I had not taken this at an angle with everything bigger on the right. I also wish that the tampons were perfectly straight, but for some strange reason they weren't designed to do so :p


:::AFTER CHALLENGE:::
To answer your questions: "YES, they are what you think they are." lol

oooh, dropped .15 after rollover, ouchie.
I SWEAR I know how to edit. I think if I had started earlier in the day and had enough time to properly process this, I may have ended up with a 6.3+ BUT since it was my fault for being so last minute, I gladly accept my lower score. The main reason I entered this in its "unperfected" form was because I spent so much time and energy on the set-up and execution that I just wanted to turn in one of the better ones.

re-edited version:


As for the girls who were grossed out by this shot: If you think about it, it is just cotton on a string, and I made it rainbow for goodness sake! Get over it! ;)

As for the guys who were grossed out: I understand :)

Statistics
Place: 30 out of 110
Avg (all users): 5.7950
Avg (commenters): 6.7619
Avg (participants): 5.6800
Avg (non-participants): 5.8468
Views since voting: 1432
Views during voting: 461
Votes: 161
Comments: 32
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 07/03/2009 07:19:14 AM
Very unique and very creative. You should get extra points just for the set up and effort.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon
 07/03/2009 05:13:22 AM
Heh, can't see why sanitary tampons would gross anyone out when used like this... it's odd and surreal but hardly gross!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR
 07/03/2009 01:19:56 AM
OMG, when I saw this during voting I thought they were pop-sicles...my those tampons are wide...and a hell of a score btw.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Canon EOS-6D
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens
 07/02/2009 11:43:40 PM
haha, are those what i think they are?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony DSLR-A330
Sony DT 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM
07/02/2009 09:34:12 AM
is that what I think it is? ha
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony Alpha a1 II
Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS
 07/02/2009 06:00:29 AM
I really like the shot -- The colors look a little dull and lifeless because we know just how bright and wonderful they can be. I think this would have been a spectacular shot if you lightened it and brought the colors out a lot more.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM for Canon
 07/01/2009 06:08:33 PM
Not voting in this, just browsing... but felt i just had to say:

Oh no you didnt! :-o
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Pentax K-R
Pentax DA L 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL
 07/01/2009 05:24:00 PM
Wonderful!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-30D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
 06/29/2009 12:45:23 PM
tampons?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-50D
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM II
 06/28/2009 09:01:34 PM
um.
lol.
are those tampons??!!?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D90
Nikon AF-S DX 18-105 f/3.5-5.6 ED VR
 06/28/2009 05:03:55 PM
would have been nice if you had got the meniscus edge on - maybe. And the picture is so damn good and convincing I keep finding myself tilting my laptop.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-6D Mark II
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
 06/28/2009 04:29:34 PM
nice 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Canon EF 22-55mm f/4.0-5.6 USM
 06/27/2009 10:43:57 PM
Uhm... are those what I think they are? Lol - another creative idea. Point for making me laugh. I like the rainbow effect. Good luck in the challenge!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
 06/27/2009 08:15:30 PM
LOL! Well, that is different. I like the swirl of colors in the water but this is very dark and I feel that the lighting could use some work. It is hilarious that you even used the correct order of the rainbow! (ROYGBIV) Love love love that.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon PowerShot G10
Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II for Canon
 06/27/2009 06:53:36 PM
interesting use :) Cant say ive seen that before. love the colour
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
 06/27/2009 05:02:47 PM
Think this would have been great if you didnt show the top, just the water.
Nikon D700
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 06/27/2009 04:11:39 PM
;-) endles happynes
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-6D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM
 06/27/2009 12:28:18 PM
Could use some brightness/contrast to help this otherwise interesting and fun image, I think. The whites need to be white and fully contrasting with the colors. (not voting)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-50D
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 06/27/2009 12:16:04 PM
I had to do a double-take to see if those really were what I thought they were. I would have liked this much better if it was an abstract of the colored water.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/27/2009 11:37:30 AM
Ewwww, are those tampons????????????
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM
 06/27/2009 10:55:54 AM
Giggles, gives you a 9 for creativity and moves on...quickly!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 06/27/2009 10:49:08 AM
this absolutely hasn't ever been seen on DPC...well done
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon
 06/27/2009 09:42:51 AM
Er... are those sanitory tampons???! LOL
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM
 06/26/2009 07:41:00 PM
comment only.

I can honestly say I've not seen a before and after shot of this effect in a submitted image so yes, fits the challenge well. To me the inks are a little out of focus and the image needs straightening a tad. I love ink/smoke images but for me they need to be sharp and soft at the same time, this shot might be better with a WB adjustment imho.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
 06/26/2009 04:30:43 PM
Nice idea! I would prefer not to see the surface of the water so i think that a little lower angle could be better.
I also think that a dark background with the water being backlit could improve the picture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro for Canon
 06/26/2009 07:42:00 AM
OMG!!!! That is hilarious. I bet there will be people who don't even know what they are. LOL If I were to critique anything, I might have brought up the overall saturation (allowed in basic) to give it a bit more pop. I'll hand it to you for originality. ROFL
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-50D
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 06/26/2009 02:22:07 AM
OMG! Are those what I think they are??? Nicely done. Challenge met! =)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark IV
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 06/26/2009 02:16:01 AM
Fun!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi
Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC for Canon
 06/26/2009 01:11:42 AM
ROFLMAO! An original. Like to see this hung in a public bathroom.
Like the colors and the water effect. Nice job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-60D
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
 06/26/2009 12:54:06 AM
This must be the most artistic use of feminine hygiene products I've seen to date. ;)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM
 06/26/2009 12:53:45 AM
omg roflmao
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-60D
Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
06/26/2009 12:14:54 AM
I like the idea but i would have loved it had it been more vibrant
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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