* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #783 / Revived #004 on 2023 04 25 *

And we welcome you to keep on discussing, because in that we totally agree. The value in posting to a forum or club is not always in the making or the showing but in the interaction with others around the images. After years posting on forums, I still mostly show the images I am undecided about rather than the ones I'm confident of. It can sometimes help focus the conversation if you ask a specific question or two. For example, this week I posted an image I have low confidence in. In addition to lighting problems, it has two subjects on slightly different planes and I needed feedback on managing the focus differential before tackling the lighting. So I asked that. It may help with some more experimental images to clarify what you want to know most of all. And it doesn't have to be a technical question, it can be a question about story or mood or whatever.

I had the opportunity last fall to spend a day with Freeman Patterson, a photographer I greatly admire, not only for his photography but for his writing. One of the concepts he teaches is that our photography is a reflection of our inner life - the ups and downs, the struggles, the wins, the losses. He says we can review our work over time and find a map of our lives. That's a pretty interesting concept to consider.

I always appreciate your play and learn from that. The lighting is going to be a challenge, especially with creatures who are so well camouflaged. You've demonstrated that the back gator is worth trying to save. the smaller one in front may be more of a challenge even though he is better focused.

Nikon S2, 5 cm f/2 lens, Tri-X.

California avenue, San Francisco. Hasselblad 501c, 150 mm lens, Tri-X.

Great shot - I really love the composition here and how the colder blue/white and warm orange/red tones interact. Seems very well balanced and provides many interesting details to look at, while still having that consistent element (the road) for your eyes to come back to after wandering around. I think I like the format of your crop even better btw.

Gosh, this is a fun creation! I feel I'm seeing four seasons all mixed up together - a visual feast. The man-made birdhouse is trying to bring me back to reality but I don't wanna go! 😁

I like that shot! I'm sure it can be interpreted in many ways, but here's how I see it:

The two entrances can be seen as one's birth (left) and death (right) - our life between those two events is short and partly cast in light, partly in shadow. It's usually an uphill battle, which makes us feel old already at the middle point... Additionally the doors we walk through are big enough to properly remind us of our insignificance.

Unless the surroundings are important to you in a way I can't envision at the moment, I would get rid of the fire hydrant and crop the image at the top, as I find the darker grey distracting:

I like the hydrant, and am of two minds about the gray at the top. But thanks.

I am thinking about making the image so that the hydrant is not so much of an eye magnet, though.

You got stuff out of that shot that never occurred to me. Thanks!

Not A Beach Day

(Also posted in Medium Format forum)

Open the photo and then view the photo in a 1:1 ratio
Thanks for looking
Lou

Gorgeous image.

Rich

I agree. The hairs / filaments are so well defined. And the dark background with browns accentuates the yellows and whites

I have a question. If a shot is taken of a reflection in a mirror using AF, the camera adjusts focal length accordingly (2x distance to mirror).
In the following shots of reflections in calm water with minor ripples, the focus / clarity isn't there. I am wondering should one try and manual focus in that situation? I know that could be difficult because it is a liquid (excuse the pun) environment with ripples moving around, and the vf may not have enough to show it.
I played with noise and sharpening a bit, and they are slightly improved.
[edit[ or is possibly bcoz the surface is acting as a curved mirror, convex and concave, definition is lost?

I don't have a definitive answer to your question, but I have recently attempted the same sort of shot with mixed results. I suspect that if the water were quite still it would act the same way a mirror does. Then the camera would focus on the reflected image as you described. But because the ripples are actually moving at a pretty fast rate, they are contrasty enough for your camera to lock onto them. I suspect it takes a pretty fast shutter speed to capture them without blur. Perhaps greater than 1/1000 sec.

I quite like the effect you achieved with your second image. The view here is pretty small, but I bet when viewed large there are a lot of interesting details to explore in the reflections.

Thx Mike,

I suspect what you say about the contrast is true, hence why I mentioned manual focus - if it was at all possible.

If you click on the thumbnail in the original post, it will open in your browser and you should be able to then view 1:1 100%

Maybe I am misunderstanding the purpose of this thread but isn't it effectively replicating the "Photography critiques" forum here on DPRevived?

MIke has summed it up perfectly as per the mood.
I totally like the telephoto compression that brings the mountains so close that it almost feels like that street runs right into it.
It creates a very cinematic feel.
(In fact, I thought that this view was extremely similar to some views in the "Rocky Mountains Freestate" area (it's not actually called that, but close enough) in the dystopian TV series "The Man in the High Castle": a lawless area between the eastern part of the former USA now under nazi rule and the western part where Japan is in charge. Canon City is a city in that area)

the-man-in-the-high-castle.fandom.com/wiki/Canon_City

Image here:

the-man-in-the-high-castle.fandom.com/wiki/Canon_City?file=Canon_City.png