Camera	Pentax K-1 II
Lens	smc PENTAX-D FA MACRO 100mmF2.8 WR
Focal length	100mm
F-Number	F/32
Exposure time	1.3s
ISO	640

Okay, this was FUN. It took me a little while to remember that we had a LEGO model of the Seattle Space Needle somewhere – so that gave me a direction. (It missed the top part, so I hadto rummage into my LEGO collection to find a way to fix it, that also took a little while, but I think it works.)

Then came the “okay, how do I set this up” question. I wanted some kind of skyline behind it, because it felt right – if only to give the “city” context that may help with the “Seattle” context (because otherwise the whole “Needle” part may be hard to see!). It turns out that Zürich is not exactly rich in skylines view. I might have been able to pull it off somehow, buuuut. If it hadn’t been a SOOC challenge, I might have gone for a composite of some kind… but, well, SOOC means no composite.

Unless…….

A few months ago, I had seen a video about the filming of The Mandalorian: the green screen had been replaced by huge screens and… pretty much used as it was filmed. I suppose it popped back in my mind when I went “waaaait. I could have that skyline displayed on my monitor, that… should work, right?”. I never went to Seattle, but I do have skylines pictures – get a bit of Boston, as seen from Cambridge 😉 I actually quite like using the skyline from another city: it’s my kind of cheeky, I guess. Here’s what the setup looked like:

You’ll note the creativity in the pile of stuff that I put under the Space Needle 😉

Then came the second guessing – was that… cheating? The Boston picture has definitely been taken a long time ago (and outside of the Scavenger Hunt dates, obviously), and that one HAD been processed. But, hey, it’s an original picture that uses practical special effects to achieve a SOOC picture within the theme 😉 And, as a nice bonus surprise, the reflection in the tower in the back works pretty well with the Needle in the front

Now, I’m not COMPLETELY happy with that image – in particular, the Needle is a bit crooked, which is unfortunate. I had images with a better verticality, but the border of the screen was visible… which I only saw after I had put everything back in its place 😦 Still, that’s… very much the same concept, with a tiny bit of cropping and cleaning up.

And for the album of my fellow Scavengers: Needle (careful, some of these are scary 😀 )