* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #800 / Revived #020 on 2023 08 16 *

Thank you, Lou. No, I wasn't familiar with Nan Madol. What an incredible story; thank you!

Your edit is beautiful and offers much more impact than mine. I'm smiling because for the past couple of years I have not been the least bit shy in pushing the vibrance and saturation of colors. I love that look! For these two photos, I purposely went a bit more to reality. Of course, now you've easily convinced me to return to my happy place 🙂

Thanks so much for your time and interest, Rich. I think what is difficult for me with b&w of this photo (and some of the others I tried) is that it feels so "busy" with all the tiny specks of lichen in so many places - especially with the rocks being their own kind of photo op with forms and shadows. However, I did try one more b&w edit this morning (Thursday) with the other photo. See further below.

Thank you so much, Chris! The first couple of times I photographed years ago, I tried to get a wide view - basically, the whole cliff. I was very disappointed with my results. A couple of years ago it hit me I should be looking for smaller stories, so I was more prepared in June when I found the swallows nesting, and even more so this week. The cliff is north-facing, so living at latitude 46 degrees, it doesn't get winter sunshine on its face. I'm going to have to brave slippery roads, I think, because now I want to photograph these rocks when icy or snow-covered!

Thank you Minnie! I just wrote to Chris that I want icy or snow-covered this winter - maybe I can hire a driver 😁

Thank you very much, Mike. I happened to have a closer shot of #2 and I happened to have already done three edits, lol. This morning I decided to go a couple more times, including attempting a b&w (thanks to Rich!). I cropped it somewhat, to be similar to yours. I've learned so much from you folks about these photos already, and I learned more this morning about how the colors are displayed when converted. For example, I don't recommend going heavy on color saturation prior to conversion because some of those yellows are extreme 🙂 I also learned that I don't want super clarity or sharpness because that just brings out the "little bumps" of lichen that I don't care for. I might have to try more abstract, but here is this morning's effort.

The title was in reference to the 800th edition Linda. I have posted a number of car images in the past for 100 numbered editions. There is an 800 in the image on the car. As to the puffins, yes I had it in my image collection from a trip we took about this time last year to Newfoundland in the gift shop of 'The Rooms', a small museum of sorts and an attractive new building. An image below of The Rooms and another taken inside The Rooms, not in the gift shop.
Andrew

I wanted desperately to capture puffins as Roel did in his image but we were not allowed to get near enough to them to get much in the way of a worthwhile shot. All mine were taken from a tour boat that was rockin' and rollin' in choppy waters. Try that with a 400 mm lens on a m4/3 body!

and the rooms, a panorama of the building

Below is the best puffin image I managed from the rocking boat that was required to stay a minimum distance, which I don't recall, from the small island, a protected bird refuge.

Many thanks. I have an M4/3 also. I'm so wobbly now, that 300 mm on solid ground is a problem 😀

That is a museum display! I edited the post as you were replying and posted the best image I managed, which was not very good.

Thanks, just realized and edited my previous comment. Hard when we're communicating in real time, isn't it!

I wish this camera was not the Linhof of Sony cameras.

This!

This is sublime.

This is a, "I wish I had taken this image, image."

"The smoothness of the GFX images keeps tempting me to shoot colour." Yes it does! It consistently beats what I used to think I could accomplish with 4x5 film.

Rich

Is your camera reference regarding what seems to be distortion of the hand? I'm familiar only with an ultra-wide angle lens on a Canon consumer dslr.

I am mesmerized by this photo. I see someone who is completely comfortable and supremely confident in his style - and presumably his life. It's quite a sexy photo!

The purple encourages one to enter a world of fantasies and wishes. Whew! 😁

No. I'm talking about the 15 seconds between shots required to shoot raw with this thing. It is painfully slow to shoot with this camera.

He's actually wearing black and white....full spectrum makes things fun.

Help. This photo has me in knots. It presents a question that is central to many discussions of critiquing in the arts in general. What is the role of prior knowledge that the person doing the critique might have? To be more specific. How far should I (indeed "can I") look at this image without being influenced by previous work I have seen from Minniev on the same subject?
Answer. I don't know.
I have been enthralled by the Dam Bird series since I first saw them years ago. This one isn't gelling with me because of that prior knowledge.
The water is different. The slower shutter speed is creating a veil effect. I miss the power of the frozen cascades and torrents. The bird feels all wrong. It's sharp and that feels incongruous to me against the long exposure of the veil of the water. Then there's the bird's shape. I'm used to the elegance of the locals here and this guy is letting the team down.
On the other side of the ledger, the neck/beak line continues the angled line of the concrete block and the lines of water. It's that inconsiderate bird again. If he had the decency to be about twice the size I might have forgiven him and been happy with what the line does here.
Minniev, this is the problem with success. The fans get very picky.

It's a remarkable and disturbing statue. The grief is tangible. The statue and emotions are strong enough that in this case I don't feel that the PP darkening is needed. Given the prominence of the second statue in the image, I wanted to be able to make out a little more of the detail there and see it alongside the other statue.
In Rome there is an "English cemetery." Within is a famous statue from a different era but with a similar concept . The Grieving Angel. I took this shot a few months ago.

All the fellas together. There's a "bonded" vibe to the group and image.. The dog leash size/line works with the frame of the seat in drawing the characters together.
Sorry, but here I go again with cropping. How would you feel about moving the left edge considerably closer to the dog?

Thanks for stopping by, Mike ..... I think I place them to the right to give them some distance to look out but on trying out moving the left border I noticed that I also used the diagonal of the thirds grid with the dogs head and one of the other heads on the crosses ...... So maybe a bit too contrived but then ....

WhyNot

The shot comes to life as soon as you see it large size. The intricacies of the stalactites, their textures and colour variations are spellbinding. The photographer has set the camera to make the most of those details and exploring them is rewarding.
Viewed as a whole, there is a satisfying curtain like sweep to the wall. The photographer has achieved this by stepping back into an overhang that frames out the top right and left hand corners. It adds drama to the image.
I don't know where this was taken but I know that trying to get the exposure right in caves can be very difficult. The artificial lighting tends to highlight features in the dark. Avoiding clipping highlights and shadows isn't easy.
Well done.

We are looking at a bird coop? I assume it is. It's a bizarre design for such a homely, comfortable object. The structure shrieks of attitude and the pp raises the volume further. I don't like the colour combination so I'd take that as a sign that the image works.
Keeping the lines simple here is a good thing. The in-your-face quality doesn't need additional bits around. The storm clouds and their weird colour are ominous. This is the bird coop Batman's nemesis might have made for his pets.

The perfect caption. It took me a while to recover from that and start to look at the image seriously.
An extraordinary place that turns a Westerner's preconceptions of religion inside out.
In this image I think all people are Indian. The woman photographer is almost certainly the husband of the devotee in the river. She's holding his towel.
Because they are all Indian and comfortable with cameras being there we know it is OK. If this had shown Westerners photographing personal rituals up close and we didn't know the place, we might have felt less comfortable.
It feels relaxed. I like the repeated towels throughout the shot (including what I think is a cloth over the shoulders of the bather.)

That's a cool shot!

agree
+1