Hot Pic of the Week

Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.

Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.

This Week's Hot Pic: "Touchdown," by Calvin Mitchell, Ann Arbor, Michigan

This week's photo is impressive for the way a scale model is realistically combined with life-sized background elements to create an almost seamless illusion that you're seeing the real thing. Calvin has this to say about the scene:

I took this photo as the model landed at Wright Patterson AFB (you can see the old hangars in the background). I used a Canon Digital Rebel XT in sport mode to better capture the moving subject.

The airplane is a radio-controlled F-18, powered by a miniature turbine engine. It is capable of flying 200 miles per hour, and has retractable landing gear. The event is a Giant Scale Fly-In sponsored by the Dayton Area Organization of Giant Scale (DOGS).

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