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Biotechnology... fresh from the lab!
2nd PlaceBiotechnology... fresh from the lab!
scalvert


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Science II (Advanced Editing V*)
Collection: Favorites - Ribbons
Camera: Canon EOS-20D
Lens: Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
Location: Easton, CT
Date: May 28, 2007
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/40
Galleries: Humorous, Studio
Date Uploaded: May 29, 2007

Real corn spray painted chrome. I glued circuit board prints to the inside of several leaves, replaced the corn silk with copper speaker wire and held it all together with a light bulb base in my right hand. Ideally, I wanted to have corn stalks in the background with an empty socket, but I went the lazy route with de-focused grass instead.

Shot in the last few minutes of sunset with a monolight and gold umbrella behind me to the right. I forgot that I had an ND filter AND a polarizer on my lens and couldn't figure out why the shutter speed was so slow. Duh. :-/

Processing: Convert from RAW, Luko sharpening routine, boost saturation with Channel Mixer, shift circuit board and husk colors to more appropriate greens, Noise Ninja & light Gaussian Blur on background, assorted Dodge & Burn, spot saturation/desaturation, colorize paper edge at the bottom of the husk, clone stray copper wire at top left and USM.

Yay! Thanks for the votes and comments! Lots of people commented on how much time/effort I must have spent on the prop, but it wasn't that difficult. I painted the corn, took shots of an old computer motherboard and used spray adhesive to glue prints of them to the leaves. From there, it was just a matter of holding the stuff together in my hand. One of my quicker setups, really.

Statistics
Place: 2 out of 222
Avg (all users): 7.2930
Avg (commenters): 8.5000
Avg (participants): 7.1613
Avg (non-participants): 7.3464
Views since voting: 87202
Views during voting: 415
Votes: 215
Comments: 81
Favorites: 39 (view)


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AuthorThread
10/10/2008 06:54:00 PM
This is genius!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/12/2007 09:05:58 AM
what? gold corn
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/11/2007 09:21:49 PM
I always knew you were a bit corny... da da dum.. :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/11/2007 01:57:14 AM
i can't believe that there are people giving pictures like this 1s, 2s and 3s. while it's maybe not the most technically impressive piece of work ever, it's certainly sound in that department, and it's more creative than the average pic.

i swear, i just don't get voters. unless it's somebody who entered this challenge and then voted everybody else a 1 in hopes of springboarding themselves up the charts, i'm just flummoxed.

solid pic, by the way.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/09/2007 11:37:00 PM
COOL !!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/08/2007 07:08:09 PM
One of the coolest pics I've seen in a while.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/08/2007 06:38:30 PM
The concept is amazingly clever.
Great concept + superb execution = Ribbon!

Congratulations!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/08/2007 01:05:58 PM
amazing photo
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/08/2007 03:34:58 AM
great idea and execution, congratz ... as usual :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/07/2007 09:04:49 PM
Another rockin' idea from the King of Clever
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/07/2007 06:49:54 AM
I love this theme as everyone goes to so much effort - not saying they don't normally but this effort is just amazing!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/07/2007 02:45:33 AM
my teeth hurt just looking at this!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 07:37:00 PM
o.o Ooh. Never listen to my advice.
xD
Great work, Scalvert. You deserve it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 04:16:37 PM
You are just unstoppable. But I know how much hard work you put into your entries....amazing. I particularly love this one because I can relate to your message of engineering corn for fuels. The wires are an especially nice touch.

Wow.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 02:09:37 PM
love the work tht went into creating the corn and the shot. Good work!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 01:36:20 PM
Truly amazing, I just love your creativity. Congrats, you certainly deserve the recognition.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:44:37 PM
Again, a very creative and excellent image. Congrats on your Red.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:34:15 PM
You are a master copy writer! Your titles are so bonded to the wonderful images you produce. I say, let's put up an advertising business and let me cash in on your talent. lol Gave the kids a break. Shannon your art is dispensed like a machine gun. Rapid fire/Rapid Art. Congratulations on your Red on yet another smart concept.

Message edited by author 2007-06-06 19:41:05.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 10:32:41 AM
Originally posted by Rgarcia:

On a lighter side... I wonder if you get pop corn when you plug it in!


Yes you do, but it's artificially flavored and gets stuck in your teeth as fillings. ;-)
06/06/2007 10:13:13 AM
Just brilliant!!! Very creative, well done and with a strong message.
On a lighter side... I wonder if you get pop corn when you plug it in!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 09:20:23 AM
Another genius image Shannon! I hope they preserve your brain for science. I love this image and had a blast looking at it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 09:06:58 AM
Fun and clever concept done extremely well...congratulations on winning the red ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 09:05:02 AM
Your quicker setups are more work than my most elaborate setups :)
congrats on yet another creative image!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 08:57:13 AM
You make it sound so easy :P Congrats on the ribbon!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 08:43:07 AM
Very very clever and so worth the ribbon.....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 08:31:05 AM
you are truely the master of props and setups, this one is amazing - again

congrats on your ribbon

Jack
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 08:29:36 AM
Shannon, congrats on a very creative and beautifully done entry. I'd use Dr. Achoo's words to one of my teammates and say, "here's hoping you peaked a weak early" but I see you on the front page nearly every week, so we have no hope of that :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 07:51:50 AM
You are a genius like your team mate..
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 07:23:14 AM
I had a feeling it was yours Mr. Calvert. Very creative, my top pick for blue. (I just loved the lightbulb socket at the bottom!). Great job and thanks for the effort and creativity you always display.

Message edited by author 2007-06-06 07:27:53.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 07:09:49 AM
a lot of effort again rewarded with a ribbon, stick it in the box with the rest of them... muchos congratulate amigo
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 07:06:04 AM
Fantastic idea and great image. Congrats on the ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 07:02:17 AM
Told ya about the ribbon. THanks for the info. Great Job.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 06:48:20 AM
Clever idea, very well done and deserving of the ribbon.
:) I really will have to spend more time on preparing the shots myself.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 05:11:49 AM
Great idea and well done, as always. On my monitor, the background is a bit dark. Your original idea of the cornfield with empty bulbs background would surely have turned this into a blue ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 05:11:08 AM
Congrats! Wonder how that tasted, did you eat it after the challenge? :P

"Honey, I got silver corn in my crap!"
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 03:31:41 AM
You just have WAY too much fun. And yea, what Goodman said. 'Bout damn time you got a ribbon, you know. I suspect there will be more in your future.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 02:24:37 AM
oh my! congrats on your first ribbon ;)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:53:36 AM
thats freakin creative....well deserved placement
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:45:05 AM
dang, i knew this had to be yours, but i gave it a 10, anyway. hahahahah
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:24:18 AM
don't tell secrets in the garden...
why?
the corn has ears ;-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:20:41 AM
You suck you suck you suck. Oh this has a majenta cast and well you should have had a manicure. Overall I think you suck. ;D
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:20:16 AM
Congrats on 2nd!... you are so creative! :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:19:41 AM
I'm impressed. Thanks for sharing the details on how you achieved this. Congrats on the RED too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:12:36 AM
Your mind must be in overdrive comming up with these brilliant ideas, congratulations.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:07:18 AM
Awesome!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/06/2007 12:03:38 AM
are you serious??? lol, you the man. can you say outside the box...

you never cease to amaze me :) great job as always
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
06/05/2007 11:47:07 PM
Fantastic idea. I bet it took quite a bit of work to make that! Lots of points for you for a great idea, execution, and final product (both the corn and the photo).
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/05/2007 11:21:55 PM
Awesome prop! Looks homemade ;) but only because I wouldn't imagine seeing something like this for sale.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/05/2007 10:29:24 PM
super idea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/05/2007 10:14:45 PM
Very creative!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/05/2007 09:42:36 PM
Very clever. Nice work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/05/2007 11:07:16 AM
Creative, interesting, unique and funny. Can't ask for more. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/05/2007 10:22:42 AM
that seems like a lot of work !! creative
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/05/2007 08:24:13 AM
Very clever!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/04/2007 02:31:12 AM
I don't know how much trouble you went through to create this prop, but you deserve a decent score for the effort alone. (The photo's good too.) 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/04/2007 01:08:44 AM
Funny, clever and apt.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/03/2007 11:32:58 PM
Awe shuck!! Wish this had been my idea. One of the most creative photos in this challenge. A 10 from me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/03/2007 10:38:47 PM
Brilliant concept executed flawlessly. Wonderfully creative and technically right on.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/02/2007 08:43:37 PM
Very cool prop.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/02/2007 03:08:42 PM
A Lot of work has gone into this, and it is a very clever idea. i particularly like the leaves. Good work
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/02/2007 02:08:41 PM
Cool! Obviously lots of prep work here. Nicely done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/02/2007 10:53:55 AM
absolutely the best idea/shot combo ive seen,well executed,a winner!10!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/02/2007 07:57:32 AM
Wow good job. I expect a ribbon...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/02/2007 01:38:45 AM
And if you overclock it too much you get popcorn!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/01/2007 10:15:49 PM
very very cool. i like this a lot! very creative
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/01/2007 05:37:17 PM
That's awesome. Great idea. Most creative image I have seen yet this whole challenge. I don't think it will ribbon, and I will give my opinion.

I am going to make a guess; this image was taken outdoors on grass in the evening.

I would like it with slightly softer lighting and a solid black background. I think it would ribbon, too.

But don't listen to me, because half of the time I don't know what I'm talking about.
=P

Well, good luck. I'm boosting you up as best I can with a vote of ten.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/01/2007 05:03:58 PM
haha well done. made me smile. 9.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/31/2007 10:42:57 PM
Very cool -- I can only imagine how much work this must have taken!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/31/2007 09:54:13 PM
well done, could be an ad
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/31/2007 07:52:04 PM
Not only a good photograph, but a great idea. Nice blending of the organic and the inorganic.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/31/2007 01:49:36 AM
Very, very nicely done. Gorgeous. I really want to know how much (or little) of this was done in photoshop.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 07:23:45 PM
clever idea, albeit a slightly corny joke ;-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 06:42:41 PM
Great concept
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 04:46:29 PM
Very Clever. Big points for inventiveness, hard work, and originality.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 02:43:07 PM
Fantastic idea well composed! Whish it for a ribbon! - Good luck!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 01:45:24 PM
Very impressive! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 12:18:23 PM
Brilliantly original, this one's bound to do well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 12:07:22 PM
Wow, how long did it take you to set that up? Even the insides of the leaves have printing/circuits on them, I think that is the icing on the cake for this image
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 10:43:42 AM
Creative with a capital "C"
Bravo! *8*
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 01:26:38 AM
The terrible is that is probable. Clever idea
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/30/2007 12:55:42 AM
clever! And very well executed. Looks like a lot of work...
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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