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Nature reservation area Dintelse Gorzen, Netherlands

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi All,

What do you think? Is this landscape good, mediocre or bad? I honestly cannot decide for myself. In any case, it closely reflects my emotions for the past few days.


dintelse_gorzen_2.jpg
 
I can't say good or bad because those are value judgements that must relate to your own goals for the picture. I can tell you how I react to the picture.

My eye was initially drawn to the sky and the line of almost blue sky. That line leads me down to the tree, and the tree's branches lead me to the ground. From there I look across the horizon and out of the frame.

I especially like the texture of the clouds at center, but the dark storm clouds on the right keep my eye along the bright edge of the horizon.

I don't find much to stop my eye, anything I want to investigate, or any "questions unanswered" about this picture. The tree doesn't hold my attention long enough to call it the subject of the picture.

The picture doesn't make any "emotional connection" with me, it's "just a pretty picture" of a nicely textured sky.

But hey, what do I know - I'm just trying to give my honest impressions ;-)
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Chas,

I can't say good or bad because those are value judgements that must relate to your own goals for the picture. I can tell you how I react to the picture.
That's all I can ask for, thanks.

....I don't find much to stop my eye, anything I want to investigate, or any "questions unanswered" about this picture. The tree doesn't hold my attention long enough to call it the subject of the picture.
Well, I gues those might be the reasons why I am in doubt about this picture. It is difficult to see some shortcomings when it is your own picture.

...The picture doesn't make any "emotional connection" with me, it's "just a pretty picture" of a nicely textured sky.
The emotions I was referring to was about the fact that I am in a bit of a turmoil and the sky in this picture is in a similar mess.

...But hey, what do I know - I'm just trying to give my honest impressions ;-)
Much appreciated, thanks again :)

Cheers,
 

Kathy Rappaport

pro member
Too much sky

I think it needs some sky cropped out and then it would be more pano-like and I think that it needs a good b&w treatment too.

Hey, Cem - I am sorry you are feeling grey. Our whole world is a bit upside down with the financial and economic mess. I've had to turn off the news for all the overload and I am listening to feel good music as much as possible. It's all temporary.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Cem's Sky!

Cem,

I believe that the image would make more of an impact in black and white.
Rod,

I'm certain of it! Still this picture will also be great in color. However, one cannot accept necessarily the happenstance of nature will give the optimal image using the sensor Canon had ready for the 5DII on that day the camera was born. Cameras are dumb recording instruments still. Only the human eye with the mind and millions of years of refinement behind it can make judgments needed for the full sensotic experience possible with this shot.

There's a lot of work to be done. I know, if my late father-in-law had taken this picture with his Deardorf camera and either color or B&W film, he'd be working on it for at least a month! (It must be hard to have a mistress and a darkroom! The poor girl would forget what the photographer's face looked like!) Edward Weston was not a great husband for that very reason. He had two mistresses at all times: his studio, often the door shut and the darkroom, the same!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I think it needs some sky cropped out and then it would be more pano-like and I think that it needs a good b&w treatment too.

Kathy,

The sky too much? Here I have a different take on it. The huge sky here is one of the most important, essential and richest features of the photograph. It's like God talking to Cem telling him,

"Be nice to yourself, to your family and to Asher and, BTW, don't cut your ear off! That really pisses me off when you artists do that! Look Cem, I know you have your new 5DII, here's a giant sky, I'm setting up an amazing streaking pattern for you, no need to use a scraping stick like Van Gogh, I'm going to do it for you! No, don't check yourself into a sanitarium, if only you knew almost everyone else with insight has your feelings!"​

Cem looked around and sees no end to this sky and is puzzled how to get this into a composition.

At this time, God said to Cem,

"Look up, yes you lost your job, but so did Thierry and James and a hell of a lot of other good folk. Here, look at this vast sky. O.K., it's not perfect, but nothing is! Look at the many varied ways just this one sky can be viewed!"​


Cem

This is a parable for perspective in life, and opportunities we must create for ourselves. The sky will not reveal all its magic in one blink. The sky is just the raw material nature gives us in a moment. Cem, it has to have your mark on it, according to your own will. Everyone who doesn't like your picture can then go find their own sky. It really doesn't matter if other folk don't get everything we do or like. At the very least, we have to work hard so that it is agreeable to our eyes and we can experience the majesty of that sky again and again and again and each time feel energized. The important thing for our art is that we must take risks and then push our technic to match our ambition.

This picture is very challenging. The fact that it's going to be a lot of work, takes nothing away its value. I'm not a jealous guy, but I'd have been happy to have just stood where you did even if I had no camera at all.

Thanks for bringing this complex picture to us and underlining the fact that creativity is not merely being there, it's also hard work. It takes brains and a great deal of sensitivity to know what to throw away! No not the picture, LOL, but some subtle removal of certain hues or perhaps, even more boldly, all the color that takes away from the full power latent in this photograph.

Asher
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Cem,

I believe that the image would make more of an impact in black and white.
Rod,

I'm certain of it!

Completely dissagree here.
In B&W there is no color (clever, he?), hence no blue.
Without blue there is no hope.
With no hope, I shut down my computer(s), put all the photo gear to the garbage, and au revoir !

Cem has put it in color, kept that blue sky among the clouds, should be a goof sign… imHo
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Completely dissagree here.
In B&W there is no color (clever, he?), hence no blue.
Without blue there is no hope.
Nicolas,

Hope comes from inside, not from light in the sky! Blind people have hope!


With no hope, I shut down my computer(s), put all the photo gear to the garbage, and au revoir !

I'd like to be there before the maid throws the garbage out! I could really put that 1DsIII and all the lenses to good use, but keep them, put on the light, go outside and enjoy.

Cem has put it in color, kept that blue sky among the clouds, should be a goof sign… imHo
Reread what I wrote, it can be in color too. However, there are some nuances I'd introduce.

I have no doubt that Cem, who has an open mind, will consider a B&W version. B&W, allows what is masked by the beauty of color to be seen. There is no way around this conundrum. The brain simply cannot fully discriminate all the shading when color swings it's sexy curtain across the image and seduces us.

Color is great, but also brings different emotional triggers. We can explore the possible richness that can be revealed only with the color curtain removed.

I know it's hard to tell accomplished photographer (and, BTW, a seasoned sailor who loves and has photographed boats against the blue sky and powerful waters and one awards for his work), something so seemingly naive and also arrogant as, "Color is not the highest form of the photograph, it's just one alternate way of expressing reality", one that you do with aplomb skill, and imagination! It's not reality, it's only one representation of many.

B&W has its rich and unique capability of showing form, texture and the interplay of light with form. That's why B&W photography has remained so popular among todays finest photographers and collectors of photographic prints, right now, in the 21st century.

We should take note that the greatest color printer MFRS and most prestigious photopaper MFRS take pains to deliver B&W capability that rivals and sometimes even exceeds some aspects of classical silver gelatin prints. Even the high platform of Platinum prints are in the sights of Epson, Canon, HP and the rest. Still, I have yet to see the beauty even in color of an albumin print as shown to me by David Goldfarb over coffee in NY last year. The color blue is indeed something wonderful to have around, but in no way has the power of a fine B&W image!

Even if the world had no blue, the rose and a baby's head would smell the same!

Asher
 

Kathy Rappaport

pro member
My view

It's a lovely image. I just see it this way: a little processing with Nik filters, a little crop and light. I hope Cem, it's okay with you.


dintelse_gorzen_2[1] copy.jpg


© Cem Usakligil edits by Kathy Rappaport Flash Frozen Photography
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi All,

What do you think? Is this landscape good, mediocre or bad? I honestly cannot decide for myself. In any case, it closely reflects my emotions for the past few days.


dintelse_gorzen_2.jpg
Hi Cem,

Your landscape is outstanding. I'd love to have permission to make some slight alterations to the color and explore possibilites in b&W.

I think that there is too much Sienna in the sky and that removes the beautiful blue that Nicolas loves. The picture breaks up into zones for better composition when the brown-sienna earth tones are tamed from the sky.

As to having too much sky, Kathy is correct that one can cut the sky and make a long Pano shaped landscape that will have its own impressive quality. However that is fraught some costs:

  1. It will not express the wrath of God as you have so well captured in your impressive picture.
  2. There will be no curved elements as counterweight to the lines in the tree seen on the left which continue to the sky. So it will appear as the tree is about to fall off the image!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
It's a lovely image. I just see it this way: a little processing with Nik filters, a little crop and light. I hope Cem, it's okay with you.



dintelse_gorzen_2[1] copy.jpg


© Cem Usakligil edits by Kathy Rappaport Flash Frozen Photography




Oops, Kathy,

I see we cross posted! So you did use the filters to get the sky really bad-ass angry, far better than I'd imagined! I think that, to my taste at least, it does lack the amazing sweep and angry grandeur from the tree up to sky of the original image. The original image does have this sense of Job being judged. It's very powerful in that way. That lonely tree in Cem's original is like a prisoner in court presented for judgement.

If I had not known what Cem was feeling I might have gone for the pano form myself. However, I'd consider cloning some more land below the tree so it is somehow more strongly anchored in the composition.

I'm glad to see your version! From each we learn. Thanks for making the effort and translating your ideas to something we can consider.

Asher
 
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nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Hope comes from inside, not from light in the sky! Blind people have hope!
You're playin with words!
I am talking of the fact to KEEP the blue (and the colors). A photographer's choice.

BTW Blind people DO see in color (in there dreams and imagination, at least for those who became blind, I don't know about the people who were born blind…)
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Cem,

I believe that the image would make more of an impact in black and white.

Rod
Hi Rod,

I'll try to do a conversion to B&W tomorrow. Although I have kept this in colour for the reasons Nicolas has already written before.

I think it needs some sky cropped out and then it would be more pano-like and I think that it needs a good b&w treatment too.

Hey, Cem - I am sorry you are feeling grey. Our whole world is a bit upside down with the financial and economic mess. I've had to turn off the news for all the overload and I am listening to feel good music as much as possible. It's all temporary.
Hi Kathy.

My turmoil was not economics related, but it's gone now and I am feeling better already :).


Kathy,

The sky too much? Here I have a different take on it. The huge sky here is one of the most important, essential and richest features of the photograph. It's like God talking to Cem telling him,

"Be nice to yourself, to your family and to Asher and, BTW, don't cut your ear off! That really pisses me off when you artists do that! Look Cem, I know you have your new 5DII, here's a giant sky, I'm setting up an amazing streaking pattern for you, no need to use a scraping stick like Van Gogh, I'm going to do it for you! No, don't check yourself into a sanitarium, if only you knew almost everyone else with insight has your feelings!"​

Cem looked around and sees no end to this sky and is puzzled how to get this into a composition.

At this time, God said to Cem,

"Look up, yes you lost your job, but so did Thierry and James and a hell of a lot of other good folk. Here, look at this vast sky. O.K., it's not perfect, but nothing is! Look at the many varied ways just this one sky can be viewed!"​


Cem

This is a parable for perspective in life, and opportunities we must create for ourselves. The sky will not reveal all its magic in one blink. The sky is just the raw material nature gives us in a moment. Cem, it has to have your mark on it, according to your own will. Everyone who doesn't like your picture can then go find their own sky. It really doesn't matter if other folk don't get everything we do or like. At the very least, we have to work hard so that it is agreeable to our eyes and we can experience the majesty of that sky again and again and again and each time feel energized. The important thing for our art is that we must take risks and then push our technic to match our ambition.

This picture is very challenging. The fact that it's going to be a lot of work, takes nothing away its value. I'm not a jealous guy, but I'd have been happy to have just stood where you did even if I had no camera at all.

Thanks for bringing this complex picture to us and underlining the fact that creativity is not merely being there, it's also hard work. It takes brains and a great deal of sensitivity to know what to throw away! No not the picture, LOL, but some subtle removal of certain hues or perhaps, even more boldly, all the color that takes away from the full power latent in this photograph.

Asher
Hi Asher,

You have made me LOL, thanks for that :). The sky was the most interesting subject during this shoot, so I needed no reminders from any deity. My feelings are still not settled whether I like or dislike this picture. I have printed it at 8x10 but it is not large enough to make a real impact at that size.

Completely dissagree here.
In B&W there is no color (clever, he?), hence no blue.
Without blue there is no hope.
With no hope, I shut down my computer(s), put all the photo gear to the garbage, and au revoir !

Cem has put it in color, kept that blue sky among the clouds, should be a goof sign… imHo
Bonjour Nicolas,

The blue is the essential colour here, you are absolutely right. It is the colour of sky and the sea, which I both love deeply. Thanks for your understanding :).

It's a lovely image. I just see it this way: a little processing with Nik filters, a little crop and light. I hope Cem, it's okay with you.
Hi Kathy,

It is certainly OK and I like it. But I think that the colors are a bit too garish in the orange hued version. It is also a color which does not mirror my emotions linked to that picture. Thanks for chiming in :)

Oops, Kathy,

I see we cross posted! So you did use the filters to get the sky really bad-ass angry, far better than I'd imagined! I think that, to my taste at least, it does lack the amazing sweep and angry grandeur from the tree up to sky of the original image. The original image does have this sense of Job being judged. It's very powerful in that way. That lonely tree in Cem's original is like a prisoner in court presented for judgement.

If I had not known what Cem was feeling I might have gone for the pano form myself. However, I'd consider cloning some more land below the tree so it is somehow more strongly anchored in the composition.

I'm glad to see your version! From each we learn. Thanks for making the effort and translating your ideas to something we can consider.

Asher
The sky is the main subject here and a pano was not what I was looking for. I like the cropped version but I don't want to lose the sky.

To All,

Please feel free to edit and repost this picture and any of my other pictures if you want to. Thanks.

Cheers,
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Openness and Centripetal Learning! Wandering to new areas and bringing home booty!

Thanks Cem for bringing to us this special and enormous sky to stand beneath.

Your openness to other people's interpretations is important and appreciated. It's so easy to sat that's what chose and that's it. That's your right! It's good to know both that you love the blue in the sky as Nicolas demands. Still you are willing to allow experimentation by us who were not even there!

That's both generous and allows us to have fun! :) Thanks.

This characteristic of "openness", is essential to science and all the arts. This is true from antiquity and is perhaps the most important attribute to foster here.

Centripetal Learning, what's that? Go to the edges of the circle and perhaps you will come back with booty to use in your own work. I call this "centrapetal" learning. Just wander around in other people's areas of interest and at each stop ask, "In what way might this impact on my own art and life? It means not just logging in to look at the pictures of one's immediate interest. Venture forth. "

The value of "Openness" in art and expression. Strict religious custom or overbearing guidelines and restrict human expression dampens progress. The modern person who can value tradition yet entertains new thought has a game-winning advantage, the benefit of wisdom of our cultures and the leverage of possibilities for new arrangements. If one can then compartmentalize but value conservative ideas while also experiencing openness then one has the best of both world. It's always a challenge. However, where we can do it we'll will go furthest.

To grow as a human being in rationale thought and artistic appreciation and photography, openness to new ideas is worth more than technical skill.

Why? One is a personality trait and the other can be learned by practice. I hope you will foster this here by adding a link to your gallery in your signature with the invitation,C&C Welcomed. That encourages folk to explore and really should open up more images to discussion."

In this case, I offer some points to consider:

  • Why is the sky so impressive
  • What is lacking if anything to maximize mood and impact?
  • what anchors that tree on the left to the composition?
  • what are the effects of the colors?
  • Are all the colors needed besides blue?
  • in what way would B&W change/expand or contract the meaning
  • Is there too much sky
  • Is the distribution of dark skies on the right, the best for this image's mood and meaning?
  • The photographer likes the blue sky! Better not dump that without giving something meaningful!
  • The picture has personal meaning to Cem as well as meaning that others can appreciate so it has potential for transcending what "is" to what might be in to so many visitors to this new universe Cem found for himself and now shares with us to react as we see fit.

Now guys, dump what I have asked and said and make your own interpretations!

Asher
 
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fahim mohammed

Well-known member
I can read it 2 ways, depending on the cloud movement..e/w or w/e. In Cem's case I read w/e..the
gray skies are giving way to clearer and brighter skies. soon the tree shall be lighted and the warmth
from the sun shall make it green and full of life.

I wish for Cem, and all others, that the wind always blows in the right direction.

Cem, I was in Chapters today and saw a very stale but apt quotation..at the time a caterpillar thinks that
the end of life is approaching, it turns into a butterfly!

Best.
 

janet Smith

pro member
CembW.jpg


Hi Cem

Sorry for the delay after I PM'd you, I got called out and was out all day then, only just got a chance to post now....

Anyway, here is my B&W effort, but I think Nic is right about keeping the blue. I love this shot, what a sky!! Reminds me of all the big open spaces and huge skies I'll be seeing in Scotland very soon now, such a feeling of isolation and freedom, with the deafening silence that I love so much. No too sure about my B&W conversion, I definitely prefer your original, but I may (time permitting) have another go later.

Hope your week goes well!!
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
I can read it 2 ways, depending on the cloud movement..e/w or w/e. In Cem's case I read w/e..the
gray skies are giving way to clearer and brighter skies. soon the tree shall be lighted and the warmth
from the sun shall make it green and full of life.

I wish for Cem, and all others, that the wind always blows in the right direction.

Cem, I was in Chapters today and saw a very stale but apt quotation..at the time a caterpillar thinks that
the end of life is approaching, it turns into a butterfly!

Best.
Hi Fahim,

This is a very novel way of looking at things, thanks for opening up this perspective for us.
Unfortunately, the clouds were progressing from right to left so soon it got darker and darker. But for me personally, the wind is blowing in the right direction since I am blessed with a loving family and great friends like yourselves here in OPF.

Cheers,
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
CembW.jpg


Hi Cem

Sorry for the delay after I PM'd you, I got called out and was out all day then, only just got a chance to post now....

Anyway, here is my B&W effort, but I think Nic is right about keeping the blue. I love this shot, what a sky!! Reminds me of all the big open spaces and huge skies I'll be seeing in Scotland very soon now, such a feeling of isolation and freedom, with the deafening silence that I love so much. No too sure about my B&W conversion, I definitely prefer your original, but I may (time permitting) have another go later.

Hope your week goes well!!
Jan your B&W is just fine, thanks for making the attempt. I hope you don't mind for having a got at it myself. As you can see, I opted for a little more "drama" in my B&W version :). But there is no right or wrong way of converting this to BW if you ask me. Your version is just as good, if not better :).

dintelse_gorzen_2_bw.jpg


Cheers,
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Another picture from the same shoot

Here is another one, already in B&W. Does this one hold more interest than the first one?
You can see the tree from the first picture to the left hand side in the background of this one.

dintelse_gorzen_3_bw.jpg


Cheers,
 
Hi All,

What do you think? Is this landscape good, mediocre or bad? I honestly cannot decide for myself. In any case, it closely reflects my emotions for the past few days.

Hi Cem,

Enjoying your 5D2?

The first image has an interesting sky. I understand what you wanted to convey with your image, and why you tried it, but the composition is lacking IMHO. The composition is often the most difficult thing in Dutch landscapes, of which your image is a good example, so I understand the predicament (beautiful sky, lacking land area). The landscape is, more often than not, very flat.

That forces one to either:
1. Concentrate on the sky,
2. Concentrate on the land,
3. Find a balance between land and sky, maybe even have the horizon dead in the middlle (which can also create tension, a fight for attention). Colors can be essential to shift the balance.

Even in the case 1 or 2, there must be something to convey a sense of size/proportion and/or grab attention (a shape or an object). What could possibly have helped is to change perspective by closing in on the tree, and shooting with a shorter focal length. However, I know from experience that the light can change very fast when the wind is shifting the clouds.

Here is another one, already in B&W. Does this one hold more interest than the first one?

For me the composition is a stronger because, despite the central horizon, there are supporting structures in the foreground. The difficulty however is that the sky is claiming a lot of attention as well. Maybe, in color, the blue of the sky will create some perceived distance and reduced attention (maybe even desaturate, would have to see the colors first). It also depends on the foreground colors, nice yellows would make a nice contrast with a cooler blue background.

Just some thoughts.

Bart
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
Hi Bart,

This is excellent C&C and is very helpful, thanks.

....Even in the case 1 or 2, there must be something to convey a sense of size/proportion and/or grab attention (a shape or an object). What could possibly have helped is to change perspective by closing in on the tree, and shooting with a shorter focal length. However, I know from experience that the light can change very fast when the wind is shifting the clouds.
Believe me I tried to do that. I got nearer to the tree and even took a shot from below the canopy. It did not deliver better results. As you've correctly pointed out, the wind was blowing very hard and the clouds were denser and less interesting within minutes.

Here is yet another version with better colours in the foreground. Is it an improvement?
dintelse_gorzen_2_v2.jpg


....For me the composition is a stronger because, despite the central horizon, there are supporting structures in the foreground. The difficulty however is that the sky is claiming a lot of attention as well. Maybe, in color, the blue of the sky will create some perceived distance and reduced attention (maybe even desaturate, would have to see the colors first). It also depends on the foreground colors, nice yellows would make a nice contrast with a cooler blue background.

Just some thoughts.
I did rework the color version to desautare the sky just a little bit as you've suggested. Here it is; is it better than the B&W version?

dintelse_gorzen_3.jpg


Cheers,
 
Here is yet another version with better colours in the foreground. Is it an improvement?

Hi Cem,

I like it better now. The contrasting colors, yellow claiming more foreground and blue claiming more background, add to the perspective. The overall composition remains problematic, but it is a nice image.


I did rework the color version to desautare the sky just a little bit as you've suggested. Here it is; is it better than the B&W version?

I think it is much better, but I'm slightly biased. I would try to take a bit of yellow out of the green and perhaps add saturation to the green. The reddish brown, e.g. in front of the tree at the left, could also lose a bit of Yellow and gain maybe a bit more Red. To avoid an overly saturated look I'd play a bit with the master saturation level and see what that brings. After that, maybe Blue needs a bit more saturation again (maybe a saturated look is fine, depends on how it finally looks).

Just some personal preferences, but it also depends on what the actual scene looked like. I usually stay close to reality, but play a bit with selective saturation to enhance the viewing experience. I like the yellow glow of the grass, it adds a bit of warmth to the season, hope for better weather and spring season.

Bart
 

janet Smith

pro member
As you can see, I opted for a little more "drama" in my B&W version But there is no right or wrong way of converting this to BW if you ask me.


Hi Cem

Yes better with a bit more drama, somewhere between our two versions would probably be about right I think :)

I agree with Bart, my preference is the last version of it that you've posted, could I suggest darkening the cloud in the top LHS just a tad, to echo the clouds in the bottom RHS, just a suggestion....
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The conudrum of the absence of "Now!" should shock us to go back to basics!

Bart, Janet, Kathy, Nicolas, Fahim and of course Cem,

To my mind, this thread could become a paradigm for approaching a lot of fine work in OPF. Here Cem you have presented a "perfect storm" of obstacles:

  • An amazing scene that demands attention.
  • A goldmine of drama and esthetics.
  • It's transient, ever changing.
  • The ranking, lighting, positions and weight of each element shifts.
  • Each moment alters composition.
  • It's like taking a character portrait of a raging fire or a marauding maniac.
  • Thus photography's the "time period", "now!", cannot be found!

Here we have begun to realize and address the crudeness of the camera compared to the unlimited interpretations of the open mind.


The camera is not a distinguished-photograph maker and I don't refer to the aphorism that "It's the mind behind the camera that authors the picture". T I'm being harsh even at this point of "creativity, choice and exclusion, position, viewpoint, timing perspective" and the like. I'd argue that these almost universally recognized necessities are hardly sufficient in almost all case! With all this, I believe, the picture is only a consideration, not a fact.

Yes, the camera works every day for pros with protocol and experience, such as in the most elite commercial realms of fashion, architecture or weddings. Even in these most expert circumstances, what's in the frame is hardly the end of the game.

Of course, if Michaelangelo thrust from heaven a magic wand at our viewfinders, we'd shoot works of art, out of the camera, from time to time! However, in most cases even thinking we are that lucky, hides from us the potential and numerous values of what our work might be made to be.

A photograph is made, not taken! Even when things were still and peaceful, Ansel Adams worked hours and days before the shutter was released and then weeks, months and even decades in mananging to find the full power within what he had gotten on to film. Perhaps we need to go back to these roots in photography as, I fear, digital photography has magnified the delusion that our snap shots can give birth to art with little imaginative risk and alteration on our part.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Cem,

Your picture is one no worse that Ansel Adams might have taken. He's come back with the same doubts you have had but then, perhaps, he'd work on that picture.

Asher
 

TJ Avery

New member
There's a lot of great stuff going on in this photo (the first one posted). I love the high patterned clouds against the blue sky. I love the dark, heavy clouds with sunlight beams breaking through. The tree silhouetted against the sky is nice. At first it seems to busy, but the more I look at it, the more I'm drawn to the photo and like it.

The trees on the horizon create a sense of rhythm by repetition (plus add depth by the near-far relationship with the foreground tree). There's a great diagonal flow from the lower left to the upper right. I like this.

It's dramatic, and reminds me of sitting still on a Sunday afternoon and thinking about life. It's not a postcard-type, "beautiful grand scenic" photo, but rather a quiet, private moment that contains a lot of emotion and inner reflection.

The only thing that isn't working for me is the color (although that blue sky is very nice :) I think the B&W versions posted here work very well.
 
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