Despite suggesting the challenge topic, I wasn't going to enter at all… until Idnic dared me to beat her. ;-P
So a couple of hours before the deadline, I cooked some farfalle, elbow macaroni and angel hair pasta to make this: a mediocre composition riding on the shoulders of a good concept. It speaks well of the voters that so many were able to see past the weak communication and figure out the story. I tried several different arrangements, but simply ran out of time and submitted two minutes before midnight.
The background is a muslin backdrop with a honeycomb grid spotlight on it. The plate is placed on a stack of boxes in a dish rack with the fork clamped to the side of the rack, and the farfalle is hanging from my fingers on thin fishing line (you can still see it tied to the narrow part of the pasta). Getting the macaroni and angel hair "cocoon" to stay in place was frustratingly difficult. I thought it would be sticky enough as it cooled, but ultimately resorted to hot glue, and of course the "butterflies" were spinning uncontrollably. I did get some shots with all three butterflies straight on, but showing different angles seemed more natural.
Processing: Racing against the deadline… Crop, Levels, USM, Channel Mixer conversion to B&W with a slight Colorize tint, cloned out the thin fishing lines, a blurry crease in the background, and a few spots on the pasta and fork, then some quick dodge and burn on the pasta and existing vignette.
Wow— I certainly didn't expect a score like this. Thanks, gang! Now if only I had thought of this clever idea for the caterpillars.
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 70 Avg (all users): 7.0775 Avg (commenters): 8.5714 Avg (participants): 6.6500 Avg (non-participants): 7.2451 Views since voting: 5679 Views during voting: 334 Votes: 142 Comments: 50 Favorites: 13 (view)
No thanks. Whenever I'm "expected" to come through, I pull out all the stops. So tournaments, DPL, direct competitions and topics that I suggest account for the vast majority of my higher scores. I don't have IreneM's grasp of color and composition, the models of Kiwiness or Librodo, or the landscapes of Iceland or Cannon Beach, so I have to lean heavily on concepts. It's tough to do that on every single challenge, so I've generally avoided the DPC Olympics, Formula competition and side challenges. Plus, I'm down to one camera with a sticky shutter button. :-(
Cool! Hehe, when I first saw it on the front page, I thought the title was "shallow tale". I thought, hmmmm, deep and meaningful image, I suppose. Hehe. But it is what it is. I love the way you think!
No thanks. Whenever I'm "expected" to come through, I pull out all the stops. So tournaments, DPL, direct competitions and topics that I suggest account for the vast majority of my higher scores. I don't have IreneM's grasp of color and composition, the models of Kiwiness or Librodo, or the landscapes of Iceland or Cannon Beach, so I have to lean heavily on concepts. It's tough to do that on every single challenge, so I've generally avoided the DPC Olympics, Formula competition and side challenges. Plus, I'm down to one camera with a sticky shutter button. :-(
One of 3 tens I dished out - I think you actually put the concept across incredibly well and not much thinking was really required on the voters behalf. Good job.
Swallow Tale
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