Perfect... This is what first came to mind for me and you captured it perfectly. I wish your husband the best of luck over there, and I thank him for his service. Its a neat coincidence that your husband is an infantryman on his way over, we have a member on here "ctbugan" who is also in the infantry and he is currently over there, I'm sure he will also appreciate this entry.

Well if your that close Author you should check out the old Lee Plaza hotel or St. Agnace.

Awesome job Author!!! Out of all the lighting techniques I've used I never even thought about this, I love it. I especially like your choice in background.

I'm with your husband!

Cool idea, but this photo is lacking a bit in the composition department. A couple of suggestions, there is no need to have the rest of the coat hanger in the shot, it is pretty clear what it is just by looking at what is attached to the glasses. Also try a different angle, something to better capture the viewers interest. For example, get down low with your camera (same level as the glasses) and have them turned slightly at an angle, get in close when you take the shot to get a low depth of field.

It's funny how two people can think such opposite things about a picture, before i read friiskiwi's comment I thought to myself this is beautiful, i especially love the oof grass in the foreground, to me it gives the impression that we as the viewer are getting a rare glimpse into the butterfly's world. And the overall brightness and lack of contrast give it an even more enchanting effect. Oh well to each their own I suppose.

Have to disagree completely with mossy, the lack of color gives it a nice minimalist feel, if there were color I think it would detract greatly from the overall image.

Awesome idea and presentation! However I'm very sad to know that I've been missing out on this for all these years and settling for plastic cups

A bit of advice on how to improve this though, if you could switch out your b/g for something non reflective that would help a lot. It would get rid of the reflection of the flash as well as the chromatic aberration (The blue and purple halos around the plungers). If that's not possible than moving the flash to a different angle would eliminate those problems as well. Of course that is assuming you have the ability to separate your flash from the camera.

But even with those minor flaws this is still a great image, keep up the good work

Author what is the name of this waterfall?

That is a terribly ugly building, but a great entry for this contest!

Lol, wel you picked one heck of a vacation spot!

50cent is a typical African-American rapper. "Former" drug dealer turned rapper, he's been arrested several times since becoming famous for things such as gun possession, drug possession, and basically being a menace. Typical of most rappers of his category he thinks that his fame makes him above the law and basic human decency. (can you tell I'm not a fan)

Where is this?

Kellie for this contest you are allowed to use any type of selective color you would like, not just desaturation of channels.

Hey I've been here!

While I do believe it would have been better if the fall itself could have retained color I understand why it is not. Calling it "half baked at best" is wrong and just plain rude. It may help to crop out the top to below the rock, but I still think this is a nice image.

So if I show a pencil drawing a picture of a stick figure it's no longer a writing tool but is now a drawing tool? Come on people, just because it isn't writing atm doesn't mean it is no longer a writing tool!

How are paintbrushes and paint not a writing tool?

What an odd building, it's only made better with the clown in the foreground!

Phenomenal subject, I think a slightly lower angle may have been better but this is still superb.

I love this! Awesome idea, although John Hancock has a much nicer signature than you

Well this is certainly odd... May I ask what the heck is going on here?

Going without the sit ups is ok for a guy your age but damn dude take a weed wacker to the hedge at least... this isn't a 70's porno. Oh and Ron Jeremy called, he wants his mustache back

But seriously props to you sir for being extremely brave.... Now how do I top this? Wait I have an idea!

And we have our first!!! Come on ladies the door has been opened

You go on expeditions in heels?

Have to completely disagree with dem90, The tight crop is what I like the most about this. Great Job Author!

And another thing, this is the second reference you've made to the beauty of the male form, correct me if I'm wrong but you do have a wife and brand new baby correct?

Sorry bud but this will only get you onto the Pxl Little Boys calendar.... perhaps for your next shot you can put up a picture with you and some cuddly puppies or kittens?

I completely resent that statement!!! I happen to be a bartender jerkface

I really like the idea behind this, great original thought. As far as possible improvements go a softbox may help a bit, but I would suggest perhaps moving the light a tiny bit more towards the front of the model so that the light isn't so specular and hard. Also move the leaf up and to the right a bit to cover the unsightly razor bumps. As far as the apple goes, maybe turn the wrist in a bit so it isn't at such an unnatural angle. Maybe add a smaller light or a reflector to open the shadows a bit.

Well look who it is.... the most sassy little photographer I've ever met. Good to see you again sweetie

So in the last self portrait contest a bunch of people copied this Author's entry, who's gonna start the fun this time

Yes Jeremy, people are now certainly wondering...

@Author don't think your fooling anyone with this entry we all know what your up to, at some point you really are gonna have to show us a smile in a self portrait!

He wishes huh.... we'll see about that Mister!

Neat, now wouldn't it be cool if you could do this without a fancy $500 flash

Mark you are absolutely right it's not a stack at all, I'd say it's more of a pile now if only this contest were called piling up... oh wait

Well then this is a great opportunity for a reshoot! I love going back and redoing my old pictures now that I have better equipment and knowledge, to go back and correct the "mistakes" that you didn't know how to change is really cool. Actually now that I think about it, that would make a sweet contest!

Very nice, I especially like the contrast of the motion blur of the guy's face to sharp definition of his body. One suggestion though, I think this could be greatly improved if done in HDR so that the windows of the tower aren't blown out.

lol, when this showed up in my side bar I thought the baloon was a speck on my screen I tried to wipe it off...

LMAO did you really just tell a mod that you plan on selectively editing your photo?

What do you plan on sharpening?

Awesome job here. You lit this perfectly and your timing was spot on! I am impressed.

Hey another good placing congrats!

Very nice I like how the motion blur on the wings give them a fluffy look. But I do think you should crop out the black window edge on the right, and if possible not crop so tight on the top.

Wait this is a real butterfly?! I thought it was a pin! It looks like it's made of metal.

Very neat and original, but you should check your white balance, the snow looks too blue.

Ohhh Duh! I knew that. But did you forget about the green

Author I guess I must be uninformed but how are you able to determine what percentage of white there is in this image?

lol your supposed to practice over a bed or couch first to get the hang of it!

Come on thats not gluttony, I could eat 3 of these!

WOW..... Just WOW............ I didn't need that image at all, then I voted and it made it SOOOOOOOOOO much worse.