Tanx! I try to think outside the box, especially with photography. Like m'new sig quote says. I try to see things in new ways.
fwiw, to get this shot I put a floodlamp in a bucket, put our pebbled glass cutting board on top of it, then put the shell on top of that so that it was kind of a harsh softbox (does that even make sense??) lit from beneath. I blew out the area right at the base of the shell, but really got the thing glowing nicely. That color is right out of the camera, no photoshopping besides the crop/frame and a tiny, pinprick clone to remove a chip on the shell (that you probably couldn't even see at this magnification anyway).