The Journal of Shellfish Research commissioned me to develop a cover image for a special journal edition that focussed on Abalone. Unfortunately, while I love abalone (marvelous molluscs and quite tasty), they are not the easiest to get great photos of that make a compelling journal cover image. Some live ones can be, but as I am on the east coast and all the abalone in North America are in the Pacific (not many of them, though), I couldn't easily get a "nice" photo of one. When most people think of abalone (if they are aware of them at all), it is their shells; they have arguably the most beautiful mother-of-pearl layers. So into Photoshop on the Wacom, I ventured with a ton of references (three smaller abalone shells in my "studio" under various lights to bring out the luster). They loved it, and my father (Award winning landscape/nature photographer http://jheupelphotography.com ) printed up a pair of 18x12 gallery wraps to give to the editor and the special edition organizer.