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Coming to the boil
1st PlaceComing to the boil
IreneM


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Stock Photos: Cooking (Advanced Editing VII*)
Collection: Portfolio
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D
Location: My kitchen
Date: Jan 11, 2009
Aperture: f16
ISO: 800
Shutter: 1/125 s
Galleries: Still Life, Food and Drink
Date Uploaded: Jan 13, 2009

 Wow! Thanks! And to think I nearly pulled this one out again a couple of hours before the challenge started…I really, really didn’t think it would stand a chance...
O.k., before Deb and Yanko start pulling my hair ;-), here’s the story.
I have some shots in a couple of Stock sites. They are challenge images which were also suitable for stock but I’ve never actually done a image especially for Stock, so this was a real challenge.
The most difficult part was bringing over the “cooking” part. I tried a couple of different themes but it looked more like food than cooking. I really I wanted to use spaghetti because of the straight lines. Tried spaghetti in water, dropping spaghetti into water, lying spaghetti over the saucepan, even draping cooked spaghetti over the saucepan, everything I could think of and it all looked crap. As usual, just as I was getting to the stage that I wanted to throw the whole lot out of the window, I leant some spaghetti against the pan and “bingo”.
The biggest problem was the lighting. Spaghetti looks pretty drab so I decided to backlight. Did you know that spaghetti has about a trillion black specks in each stick when backlit?
I tried boiling the water to get steam but the backlighting killed that idea. Then thought about dripping some drops into the water to make the surface ripple, which made it look as if the water was just coming to the boil. So what happens? The picture with the best looking spaghetti has a water drop in it! No!
However, after looking at it about 300 times, I felt the drop added a certain charm ;-) I couldn’t believe my eyes when the score was up to 7.9 on the first day of voting. Of course, it went down over the next few days but never under 7. Talk about amazed!
Thanks for the encouragement, you guys. I’m so grateful to this site for “making” me experiment much more with photography than I ever would without the challenges.

Statistics
Place: 1 out of 91
Avg (all users): 7.1446
Avg (commenters): 8.1875
Avg (participants): 6.9583
Avg (non-participants): 7.1907
Views since voting: 7287
Views during voting: 406
Votes: 242
Comments: 47
Favorites: 9 (view)

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AuthorThread
 10/06/2010 07:19:34 PM
Brilliant
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/27/2009 03:58:07 AM
spectacular photo!

i like everything here, the "punctum" (Roland Barthes) for me is the little water droplet...

many compliments!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/27/2009 03:13:41 AM
good photo, congratulations ... i'm kindof tired of this kind of photos, but i'm not DPC :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/27/2009 01:51:46 AM
Even your spaghetti water has drops! ;) Congrats Irene!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/24/2009 09:58:32 PM
very nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/24/2009 11:46:28 AM
Congrats Irene.....you are such a brilliant photographer!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 04:15:38 PM
oh, cool. :-) two photos I commented got the first and second place. :-)) CONGRATS! I like your photo a lot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 12:22:00 PM
Way to go, Irene! 'Grats! I like the lighting on the s'ghetti...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 11:06:04 AM
I guess it can be called a Stock Pot, for soup stock.
I don't know how you do it, but you did it again.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 11:04:40 AM
Congrats on another ribbon. you deffinatly take amazing photos!

~Sofia
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2009 06:32:28 AM
Originally posted by SandyP:
Originally posted by Art Roflmao:

Tee hee. . .that is so funny! What a tribute to you, Girlfriend. You have your own "Congratulations Irene" stamp :) I was just thinking: pretty soon, we are going to need an overnight stay while scrolling down thru your ribbons to see your recent portfolio additions :)

But you know what? When you keep turning out perfection like this, of COURSE you are going to keep coming out on top :)

And I love the water drop. I couldn't get a perfect water drop like that in my photo if I tried. You can't not get one in your photo :)

LOL! Thanks Sandy, thanks Deb! And, of course, the biggest thanks goes to Ken for the "Congrats Irene" stamp. What an honour!
 01/22/2009 01:32:17 AM
Well, who else but Irene? I am sure the drops must run away from you when they see you now ;-)

Congratulations!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 09:52:32 PM
Wow... Congratulations!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 04:02:00 PM
There are no more words. Well done Irene, you're a master in this style
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 02:34:08 PM
Well deserved ribbon, congrats and I love the water drop.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 12:12:36 PM
Congrats!!! Nice lighting.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 11:05:09 AM
LOL! Love the nifty stamp! You know you've arrived when you get your own stamp. And I always love reading your stories behind your shots. Half the fun of this site is reading the stories behind the shots - adds so much to both the shot itself and the personality of the photographer. And as Sandy says, I think Langdon is going to have to give you two profile pages soon - the site simply won't scroll down far enough! :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 10:49:15 AM
Originally posted by Art Roflmao:

Tee hee. . .that is so funny! What a tribute to you, Girlfriend. You have your own "Congratulations Irene" stamp :) I was just thinking: pretty soon, we are going to need an overnight stay while scrolling down thru your ribbons to see your recent portfolio additions :)

But you know what? When you keep turning out perfection like this, of COURSE you are going to keep coming out on top :)

And I love the water drop. I couldn't get a perfect water drop like that in my photo if I tried. You can't not get one in your photo :)

  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 09:45:25 AM
LOL! You just can't escape the water droplet... even if you try! I love it.

Congrats, Irene.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 07:21:39 AM
Hahahah. I almost pulled mine to! This was one of my top scoring pictures. Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 07:19:46 AM
[thumb]IreneM[/thumb] can you take a break from entering the challenges. Or better yet, just send me a PM telling me what challenge you plan on entering so I enter the OTHER challenge. Well done and most deserving of a blue.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 06:13:21 AM
Wonderful!
Congrats on the Blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 05:22:44 AM
What a relief. I've been suffering from water-drop withdrawal syndrome the last couple of weeks.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 05:10:49 AM
Keep on rockin
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 03:07:36 AM
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 01:22:41 AM
woohoo!! another huge congrats on the Blue!! your signature is all ov)er this splendidly simple shot (well maybe for the droplet splash
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 12:55:22 AM
Wicked shot Irene!!! Wonderful lighting and composition. Congrats on your well deserved blue.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 12:29:02 AM
Fantastic, love the change of pace, but as always classic Irene lighting. Great control of the light.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 12:09:09 AM
Big congrats! on this very well deserved win :)
Though I didn't vote, this was my favorite from the challenge. I also liked it a whole lot that you show the process of cooking and not just the final cooked product. It's also a shot that is great for stock ;)

Message edited by author 2009-01-21 00:10:25.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 12:08:55 AM
Another masterpiece. Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2009 12:07:50 AM
Congratulations! Beautiful image nice composition,exposure & use of graphical shapes.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/20/2009 07:46:26 PM
I really like the lighting and how it's showing through the pasta. The water drop is an added bonus.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/20/2009 09:39:02 AM
very nice composition and lighting. Especially like the drop.
"Irene-style"!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/19/2009 05:01:22 PM
Nicely composed and shot. Crisp, clean lines and good lighting.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/18/2009 07:05:35 PM
Irene? This is just wonderful! I love the look of the spaghetti.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/18/2009 01:06:40 PM
very nice - great light and I almost missed the water drop.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/18/2009 10:19:08 AM
once again...the water drop...although I know it is hard to achieve...your not going to get that pasta in that pot with that much water...still a good idea...just to much water
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/18/2009 04:04:12 AM
very nice. interesting light, good cropping.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/15/2009 10:06:29 AM
Beautiful! The translucent pasta is stellar!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/14/2009 09:44:48 PM
I absolutely love the backlighting here!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/14/2009 06:24:15 PM
OMG. she did it again!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/14/2009 04:21:51 PM
Somehow a drop of water into an already full pot feels out of place since you wouldn't actually be able to cook in it. Beautiful pasta.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/14/2009 01:17:08 PM
Great color, contrast and composition ... works very well for me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/14/2009 11:58:28 AM
Wow, beautiful shot, very subtle with the water droplet. This is the first photo to jump out in this whole series and shout "stock photo"....nice job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/14/2009 08:46:42 AM
I love the little drop of water on the pot. Lovely photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/14/2009 05:38:36 AM
nice concept and lighting. steam rising off the water instead of a drop would be nice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/14/2009 01:21:48 AM
By far, an outstanding] photo for this theme. The lighting on the noodles, the reflection on the rim, and the lone water droplet put this right over the top. I predict a blue! :o)
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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