* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #808 / Revived #028 on 2023 10 11 *

Dock Cleat, Molokai, HI

Now that I have access to a regular computer I'm looking closer at the light trail images I made and doing some edits.

Ghent, Belgium on the river.

I think this is a different take than the original one I posted. I used the in camera level to square up the sensor, but in post I still cropped and made some adjustments.

Great color combination and I love the look of the water surface and shadows on it!

This is a location with good photographic potential.
The composition has a few flaws: the bridge railings and the boat in the bottom right corner don't add value and the sun directly on the lens and reflected in the water made it difficult to get the right exposure. Regarding the reflections in the water, perhaps a polarizing filter would help.
The strong point: the guide line formed by the building on the right left.

I find great interest in the many contrasts here: soft and round vs. textured and sharp, featureless vs. lines and veins. Your composition is very appealing because it seems effortless and natural, where I know it takes experience and talent to get right.

Is this a view from a nearby hill? The rich colors and dense foliage packed within all edges of the frame make it a feast for the eyes!

Almost too much of a good thing! The bridge and the black bit of sky in upper right help me stay oriented when I fill my 13" screen with the image. It's a very beautiful study of light and color and shapes.

Beautiful colors, light and composition.
The focus is on the dock cleat, but I think it would look better on the rope, and with a little more DOF the whole rope would be sharp, which would help the viewer follow all its hypnotic curves.

Thanks to both @simplejoy and @LindaS :-)
These tonecurve edits with increased contrast work quite well.

The pp on my originally posted shots was left looking fairly natural, but yes, it could have a bit more pop!
I find the almost B&W shot allows for more pp than the colour shot.
So, I have changed my originals to about "half way" between my original and Simplejoy's edit
and made the 2nd "almost B&W" shot more like Linda's :-)

I didn't have a tripod with me. Also, it's an area where you never see tripods (privately owned/public realm) so I reckon a tripod would have resulted in an unpleasant conversation with a Canary Wharf employee.

Yes , the trees are in a valley with hills on either side

Temple Dancers

Whilst in Thimphu, Bhutan, there was a festival at the Dzong, the fortified temple, and there were temple dances. Using a long focal length, I could isolate the dancers, but I wanted a shot showing the dancers and the temple. The trouble was the dancers were just tiny and got lost amid the spectators and the building. Then I realised that, showing the temple as a reflection in a puddle, I could crop out the spectators, leaving a few in the front row for context, and thus highlighting the dancers, even though they were tiny in the frame.
So, apart from the usual critique, I would be interested to know if the technique worked.

Pete

It's a very interesting photo, Pete: one has to think to realise what one is seeing. At first I thought the dancers were on ice. The big problem, however, is that I have to look at max enlargement allowed by the site to see the dancers satisfactorily, including their interesting costumes. At this magnification, most of the photo is off my screen, and I cannot see the temple, the details of which are also interesting. Thus I am forced to conclude that it would only work properly as an enormous print.

This is what I see on my screen at full size:

As David suggests, it is challenging on a computer (mine is 13") to get the full impact of what you photographed. However, speaking to the technique of using the reflection as context, I think it's a brilliant idea!

Agree with both @davidwien and @LindaS - it's an interesting and well done shot. The reflection works great (it's like a visual 'reflection on the past', which provides another layer to the performance) and the colors of the dancers help them standing out enough despite how small they are in the frame. I would clone out the spectators if possible, or at least desaturate them a little bit more. I don't think they add anything and are slightly distracting.

Excellent work!

The composition works well, with the group being funnelled upwards along the ridge, towards the slightly misty heights. The scenery is rugged and inhospitable and the slopes either side of the ridge are steep enough to be uneasy, but not enough to be horrific. This feeling gets worse, however, when we think of the heat and destruction this very place caused a few months earlier.
That said, I too have always been fascinated by volcanoes, and would be intrigued to see one in action. From a safe distance. With an easy get-away route. And the strong possibility that I would regret it.

Pete

Nicely done Macro of the bee, well and the flower too, of course, but I find the bee more interesting. It is unusual that it hides amidst the flower, instead of being on the flower, and I like that. There is plenty of fine detail on the bee too.

Pete