High marks and fav from me..... this is an awesome entry .....

Started to read all the comments but then decided just to vote on quality of the work. great looking image imo.

great,!!!! good luck!!

Amazing entry, Author! Congratulations in advance

Good concept for picture.

i like it ,i vote from me.............

wow i like this

Wow!!! So far this is the most comments I've seen on any picture. You did a great job on the blending. I think you are celebrating life here by turning the stock photo in to art for people to enjoy forever.

Oh it is amazing some people is very creative person!! I can't look my eyes down from this picture.

This is good, and probably will win. The construct is superb, the blend also - and it is perfectly on theme.

MANY excellent points expressed here as well, most personal pov - yet all with merit. The jury is still out on whether this is the appropriate forum; however. I believe there is something in the rules regarding that? At least there were.

Agreed: VOTE and FLAG should carry the bulk of your statement. Water seeks its own level - and one "opinionated" or "controversial" comment - begets another.

That said, this is much akin to television programming. Don't like what's on? Turn the channel. Although there is some sort of rating system the forewarns of "mature content", ultimately it is personal choice that dictates what we do or do not view. Period.

Another "mature content" entry might be found in the NEON LIGHTS contest. The entry is quite popular, highly viewed and much discussed - yet does it not appoach the boundaries of "mature content" and being a little "suggestive"?
I certainly am not complaining, just offering a BIG observation.

It appears we as a community possess a penchant to blur the "regulatory line" regarding content and "THE RULES" when the image is more socially accepted yet clearly regulated here.

Excellent piece. NostraBIGmus says: First place.

When I saw the source image I was saddened because of the life that never was. But I thought it an academic source and the author did a fine job creating the image which I saw as life about to be born from the plant. I was surprised at the reaction but I can understand how a fleshed out unborn fetus can affect us emotionally.It's human nature, it's instinctive.
I do wonder though why then is it okay to use a human skull, a brain, a heart, blood or other body parts as source which many of us have. Those images were once alive, why don't they deserve the "respect for the dead" given the fetus? I'm not being critical I just offer food for thought.
I probably would have considered changing the source if I found someone was offended by something I did... but that's my choice. We should still vote for the art on it's own merits.

Well said, Author, and a heart-felt "you're welcome." Good luck in the contest. I think it's a piece that deserves more positive recognition.

Hi there. You know, when I clicked this piece I honestly didn't expect to see the chain of arguments (or debate, if that's what you want to call it). I was surprised because, personally, I see absolutely nothing offensive about it. The final piece is spectacular and well done, particularly the lighting. And you know, perhaps the others didn't pick up on it, but to me it holds a representation of life and rebirth which is a neat image you captured from the source.

Speaking of the source picture, I can understand how people are sensitive but I hope they overlook that and appreciate the end result, as shown here. Ultimately, you were creating a work of art and that's what's most important. Personally, I like it. I think it's very original and refreshing.

Actually, now that I know the source image I like it better. I like that it's giving life to something that has lost it's own. This fetus was obviously on display to a group of people who research it or whatever. I think to showcase it in such a creative way is much more respectful than displaying it in a jar to study.

I just want to praise your work, I think that is a great idea, and it's not just a picture, I see as a new creation of life !
GL

Well said beaneze
My views will be shown in vote and flag.
enough said

Get of the grass mate. Lets get real. You put a controversial image out there and you expect folks not to say anything unless its about the final image, Your kidding yourself.

Folks look at the whole process not just the final image , the idea, the source, how well its done. you are ask for no personal belief but thats what art is. Art has ability to take you on a personal journy and what each person gets out of it is up to them.

What i got out of it was you did some mighty fine work and you should be very pleased.

But please dont opress peoples views casue they are not the same as yours, they do have a right to say if they like it or how it affects them, Thats called muture respect for each others opion .Dont just make art is what you see is what you get its the whole process. its personal

Nice work

well said author

I have no problems with the quality of the piece. I have problems with ignorantly using a source that would cause controversy like this. Author, you of all should get that, because had someone else done this idea, I am certain I would be reading your remarks here as well. You voice them so boldly.
You could gain much higher marks using a more socially acceptable source. That's all. You chose to incorporate something that would scream attention to your piece, and I suppose for votes, that's great. But...morally speaking, you could have done much better with a live baby.

oh well, I have to say that I really like this creation, very well blended, I just dont know if it is untasteful or immoral or something, I think everybody should read Androla's comm now..

Fantastic !

you are so bothered with the dead fetus, no taste, no humanity,etc!!! everybody is so touchy and sensitive!!!
BUT WHAT ABOUT OLD BABIES CONTEST!!! you didn't think that this is inhuman and had no taste! it was OK to distort photos of the real alive babies and to make them FREAKS! you didn't find it offensive!and those who participated in than contest thought it was fun. but i am sure that none of you would have transformed his/her baby into an old freak!!! it was so easy to take a picture of someone else's kid and to make those horrible things!!!
the author did nothing wrong, instead he gave another life to that poor creature! good luck author!!!

Nice work!!!!

wow, I don't have enough time to read all the comments.....maybe the author should have just put "CAUTION: source photo may be disturbing to some viewers" But I actually like the fact that the author took an unfortunate photo/situation and tried to bring LIFE to it with this manipulation.

I'm not gonna run off and say this isn't good. or well done. but distasteful, for sure. on a site where nudity isn't allowed, excessive gore isn't allowed, yet a dead fetus in a jar is allowed? is there a moral border here i've yet to understand? I've seen nipples taken out. i've seen things depicting drugs taken out. i've seen things that were mildly gory removed because it was on the border. this is almost morally disturbing enough to have crossed that border as well.
would it have been any different had it been a dead cat?

So if that is a fiddlehead fern, than that fetus could blanched and eaten,

well done, author!!!

If the food tastes good you don't want to know what's in it

Please put fetuses on the other 2 swirls. Your imagination is outstanding.

no prob author. I enjoy finding those little mistakes -

i doubt if any one can bit this one
there is a challenge for all
excellent work author

!like!

great work, and the extensive comments make it even better

I really like your pictures - 1 little thing though is the small fronds in the middle looks like it has a straight line were it meets the stem. maybe use the part from the original to make it less of a line...

Author, I think it is a well made image. I am open about death and have alot of photos from generations past of 'dead people' in poses as if they were alive.
The poor woman who lost her baby so early obviously had no problem with the foetus being put into a jar in the first place! Otherwise she would have buried or cremated!

I can say things about some other images made and used on this site, that I find sick, stupid and have no artistic taste what-so-ever.... I just don't vote or comment on them

@ DS........... we get the picture... you don't like it, you don't agree with it, but let it go now.......... if you are so against it then why do you keep coming back to look at it, or is it you that is enjoying the controversy.........

Leave the author alone now, it really is getting beyond the joke!

Goodluck author Im sure my reputation points will drop dramatically now lol

Ok...last point here and I'm finished....we exhibit our dead all over the world. Stalin still resides (to the best of my knowledge) in a glass coffin on public display, museums, teaching facilities and schools all display dead humans in various forms (skeletons, as well as preserved specimens). A similar image to this is in my daughters bio textbook (7th grade)...perhaps I'm insensitive, perhaps just a realist...

The Vatican and the Catholic Church also has had the dead bodies of Sainted persons on public display...

The author chose to tastefully and artfully incorporate the source image.

well then ... here's a cookie itsmymoment.. I hope you enjoy seeing your corpse on the local news LOL.. (You missed the point totally) sorry, cut some respect to a fetus corpse.. it deserves just as much respect as a large one.. who cares if it's only seconds alive..there is a reason only the family gets to take the ashes home.. and not anyone who shows up to the service..

And author, you are brave to chose such a horrific subject to manipulate.. when You pass into the next life, May I coat you in Fuzzy green plants and make you a competition subject? So stylish, so beautiful.. (all I was asking for you to do is show some respect to past departed, (I love all art, I even love this, but it really doesn't belong in a competition.. that's all I'm saying,, it belongs in a High art Competition, not in a Fern Plant image.. (show some respect to the dying)

When you decide to use a subject of such deep regard, the resulting image should follow under the same value...

I really don't think a fern qualifies as a equal image to human creation (but then I could be wrong... )

This type of image has it's place... BUT NOT IN A PUBLIC COMPETITION FORUM.. it's called respect for the Dead...

They showed Mussolini in public papers being spat upon, upside down and dead, doesn't make it any less wrong. and because of those photos.. so much of the paper work that would have incriminated his deeds was lost, because the PUBLIC saw those images and destroyed all the evidence against his followers... (Why do you think the Egyptians are freaking out over all the paper work in the buildings of the secret police)... sigh.. there is a bigger picture

(using the term TSK to formulate an argument for a passed on fetus, is very sad indeed)

Heck, they used to sit the dead up in chairs as if they were still alive!

Um, Author. When it comes to using a "Dead Baby" I don't think any view is "personal!" I guess that there are some people somewhere in the world are not turned off by images of dead babies.

This is what I used when I needed a fetus for a photo manipulation: http://luckystock.deviantart.com/art/fetus-46446757

Not as clear as yours, but at least people could focus on the beauty of your creation.

Driven...the coffin view photos were OFTEN published in local papers...

My sister was born at 6 months gestation!!! This website, which I found within seconds of googling "5 month old fetus" has an image of a living fetus that also would have worked. I'm starting to think that autor really wanted the controversy!

http://www.powhatanvshl.com/fetalstages.htm

Coffin view is FOR THE FAMILY. not the public.end of story (and a fetus in formaldehyde has major issues)

(If it was the Authors image I would have no problem with it.. but it's someone they do not know, nor never will, and that is just not right .. on so many angles)

WOW....Just Wow....what a neat image and final result....as for the source, it appears to be a medical study specimen or something similar, it happens. no matter where you find some sources, someone, somewhere is likely to be sensitive to it...but the final result would have not been as good with a 'sleeping' baby IMHO.

As far as having family images taken from the coffin as it were....this was an extremely popular type of photography at the turn of the last century and was a sign of respect and a final image to many families...as a photographer, i have done bereavement photography also...

Respect for the ones that have passed on...(RESPECT FOR THE DEAD) I'd have the same feeling if I saw a photo of a family member having his image taken from the coffin..

Author, there are moral images, immoral images.. and just plain bad taste..(all you had to do is find an image of an actual live fetus and everything would have been okay, but you chose something deplorable) I'd hate to see what reaction would come from the poor female who lost this treasure.

I don't blame you author, I blame the person that placed this on web to be used as a manipulation, so frightening uncool.. (Maybe for your next creation you could put a little girl hiding in a toilet in Auschwitz swallowing her own fecal material in order to preserve the family diamonds...)

Can't help it, this is a very sore subject in my book, (don't get me wrong.. in the proper setting, this would be a very powerful image.. BUT NOT IN A WEEKLY CONTEST).. it's in severe poor taste and make the whole submission cruel and unnecessary. This is ADVANCED art.. Not competition.. it's very.. well ewwwww

(Though if I was asked to defend this image, I probably would do it till the death, and as well done as it is.. it just hurts)

And no one likes to hurt... ask Anne Frank

You could have used the image of an sleeping baby, and it had been better. Even your work does not depict a dead fetus, your source image with the dead fetus in the jar, is still hard to take. But you did a good blending with the source image. Any SBS would be appreciated. Good luck!

nice job

Seamless!! amazing!

wow, great imagination!

Great work with the earrings but the necklace need some shadows...best of luck author

Lol, i meant that metal band around her neck- the shape ( & texture) is not continuous and when it reaches the shoulders it seems it has no thickness. I guess who can easily fix it with a pen tool and a bit of cloning.
The easiest way to improve texture would be to take a sample of the whisk enlarge it and clip it over the shape, while you warp it to follow the curve.
For shadows you can :
- use a different layer in which you paint with black soft brush.
- or just duplicate layer, threshold it , lower opacity.
At the end you should use gaussian blur and fade it ( in Edit) if you think it's too much.

You can also add a few solid color layers on top of the final result with overlay & low opacity, so it improves the general mood & blending.
Some people use lighting effects & overlay to level out the main piece & place on second the BG - just try different things until you like it.

It's a good idea but there are some problems:
- Light source : those earrings from her right ear - left side of the image would not receive as much light as those from the right side.
- Edges should be softer cause they make the accessories look flat.
- Shadows on the girl are soft, but the shadow from necklace is hard, like the light source is really close. This discrepancy makes the blend look less realistic.
- also the Design of the necklace could be improved- it doesn't look to nice at this moment.
I hope you won't mind for telling you this, you should know that i appreciate a blending entry more than a CBR where lights/shadows are abstract notions.