The Workings of a Mad Man
by Man_Called_Horse

Comment:
Hey. Great light on the doctor, wild setup.

No offense intended, but you can tell this isn't a real doctor. The first thing I thought of when I saw this pic is "why is the doctor trying to use a syringe to go through a half inch of solid bone?

Most people are aware that the center plexus region is a meeting of many bones and heavy cartilage in the ribcage creating a really tight barrier for a syringe, even one as veterinarian as that.

It might have had better effect if you had left the blood (albeit a little more of it, I thought that was a shadow at first glance) and switched the syringe for a power drill. Alternatively, you could have moved the syringe over to a place where the rib cage has some gaps.

A couple of taps on your own ribcage would be useful here.

I actually like the choice of girl and her bra. It adds a bit of realism in that she doesn't look too perfect. She looks plainly like a typical hospital patient.

Marianna & Tamara lg.jpg
by Xilebo

Comment:
I really like the one on the right of the picture. The one on the left looks unnaturally posed. Her hands and her raised foot, as well as the slightly awkward positioning of her head and her shoulders. Additionally, she is smiling with her mouth closed. That is usually the most unnatural smile.

Her position places emphasis on her butt. It is a very nice butt I'm sure, but I'd imagine she'd rather have the emphasis on her. Let her relax, have her turn just a little more towards the cam and loosen up that smile a bit.

The setting is super. I wonder if you could clone or crop out the bottom of the circle at the top above the doorway. It is a bit distracting.

PS. the one on the right is gorgeous.

Blast of air...or is it static?
by Terramar

Comment:
I wonder if you had been able to find a way to indicate visually that the device wasn't working? Perhaps if there was a way to include the plug? Maybe have the girl NOT touch the globe? Maybe if she was holding up a plug end or a frayed wire instead?

Wire in mouth?

Just some ideas.

PS. I guess your illusion worked. There were a lot of people who were pretty convinced they knew what was going on here. It is still a bit of an anticlimax though...

I wonder if it makes you feel good that your illusion entry was the only one that actually fooled everyone?

Golden Morning
by rsaulyte

Comment:
I don't know about anyone else, but the first thing that jumped to my mind was a prospectors pan. I don't know if I would call it an illusion so much as a visual cue, but it's a nice pic anyhow.

"In the Faery Realm"
by tmorninglory96

Comment:
I think this is very close to being great. In some ways, I like it better than the blue ribboner... I like that the faery is soft. If it wasn't a faery, I would say that it needs to have the aperture trimmed at least a couple of stops. A tripod may have made that possible, but the girls would have moved. It looks like she is shrouded in pixie dust. I like the locale and I like that the faery's lighting does not match the girl's. Faeries have their own lighting anyhow.

It looks like you were on the absolute outer edge of your camera's abilities here, at 1/8th shutter. You still might have stopped down a bit and avoided a few blown highlights. Remember, you can usually bring the brightness up a bit no matter what you are using for post processing.

Aside from that, Thanks for submitting a shot! I love to see the non-dslrs posting clever, well-executed shots...

Also, what the other guys said about the position of the faery and sharpness on the girl in foreground.

grass killer
by mandyturner

Comment:
I don't know why (maybe because I've been reading up on the Australian fireball events of 1993 to 1997), but my first thought was that this looked like a meteor flying in and bapping a kid... I think it was the fact that the line of water doesn't quite line up to where it ought to and the kid seems to be reeling... It gave me some ideas about shots of someone reeling the opposite way as being struck in the belly...

After having looked closer, it seems to make more sense. I wonder if the brown patches in the grass could have been capitalized on in some way....

Good job. If you really want to go for the brown, be careful, I might give you a run for your money if I ever get enough time and the right circumstances to let my limited imagination submit a shot....

SAY WHEN!
by Nald

Comment:
I actually really like the neutral saturation of this pic. I think it goes well with the slightly horror feel. I don't really like the wrinkly sheet in the back.

I think the lighting is good, but too harsh. It would be nice if there was just a little less shadow on the dark side and a little less blowing out in the brights. That's the trick with digital they say...

I think this is a super idea. Did you try to see if she could have angled her hand to get her whole hand hidden, appearing as though her hand was up to her wrist?

Even still, I think the pic itself is really good.

If Only I Could Be.....
by TDCollins

Comment:
I really think this is an amazing idea. I noticed the same things most of the others noticed, needs softer light, baby's breath, etc...

The only things I would contribute is that the angles are a bit weird on the rose (probably because the angle on the mirror was changed from shot to shot). That isn't that big of a deal though.

Also, while I like the sadness indicated by the fallen petals of the yellow flower, I was a little disappointed by the perky happiness in the flower itself. It is pointed up and not quite directly at the rose bloom itself. If the flower were drooping slightly below a line of sight to the rose, perhaps with a petal about to fall off or having just fallen off, I would say the mood would be much more complete.

Hope it's helpful.

Positive Energy
by LouiseB

Comment:
This is beautiful in nearly every way. I don't know why the appearance of being nude adds so much to this picture, but it really is truly complementary.

I personally would have liked overall lighting to be much subtler and softer (as in slightly more spread through the foreground for instance to see more clearly on the thumbs.

After reading how you did this, I think a little more attention on the thumbs would have helped. I was originally thinking that it was lit by small low voltage wires held on by tape and thumbed over. Knowing there were no wires makes the shot that much better. Maybe spillage from another flashlight with a rather tight beam on the front of the bulb?

If it was me, I would have used blue tones and placed more emphasis on the bulb. Mine would have sucked compared to this because yours places the emphasis on skin tones.

Superb.

The Worst Case Scenario
by Zed Pobre

Comment:
Nice to know that no animals were hurt or really harmed in the making of this picture. By using an earthworm, you chose an animal with remarkably few nerves. Earthworms also have extraordinary abilities in regeneration. In a week, the donator of that tip won't even remember his little incident and be none the worse for wear.

Well done on the picture too btw. I'm a huge fan of apples.