Untitled

It's a magnificent photo in all the aspects: the gray and the dynamic white black subject, composition and range.

Perhaps he had been advisable to raise a little the whites of the foam of the wave.

Congratulations!

 

I see four different planes perfectly combined in the picture proposing the untamed power of nature.

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooowwww.. I hope it gets the best photograph of the year.. Just too much.. still wondering how it has been captured..

The subject is something that comes along rarely in one's photo lifetime. It's spectacular. What bothers me, however, is that the wave, lighthouse and foreground were placed right in the middle of the frame. I would have liked to see the scene with the above off center - perhaps moving the framing to the right shifting the images to the left of the frame. The age-old rule of thirds does have a visual purose.

CATCH THE MOTION

It is great documentary photo! The whole elements of composition stands in harmony. The mood of course is dramatic, but there is also as a contrast a bright and shiny day that suggest a powerful bind over all.

I can imagine how you've been waiting for a big wave. But I can't figure its hight. It looks to me as a kind of tsunami wave that tells me you have captured it from a greater distance.

The tones of B&W seems so natural to the scene, giving many grading layers of gray. From foreground where is the most intense dark gray of the rocks and shiny sparks of the waves' crests. The eye is so easily moving around the whole composition. It has a great stability and a sense of a great adventure that pulls me in, wanting to be there too.

7/7.

I think this is the most beautiful Mouro Island picture I've ever seen. And I have some shots of it.

It's powerfull, dinamic, impactful, eye catching. Have the simplicity and the elegance of BW pictures. Here light is fantastic.

 

This one reminds me, the famous Jean Guichard's lighthouse pictures. I love how the Nature can be so stunning, and Max was there to shooting and share it with us. Congratulations for your second POW.

This is awesome. One of the most spectacular photos I have ever seen. This should be in the Smithsonian.

A very impressive image artistically and technically!

The shot is great technically.

Now we need the artist's view.

It's too centered.

It would have been much more interesting if it was off centered a bit.

Depending on what the rocks look like to the left or right I would have moved the camera side to side a bit to make it more interesting and not look like a motivational poster from Staples.

Thanks

Good crop from the original

Fantastic shot!! Great work!

Wow! My first impression with the image that this is impossible and had been photoshopped. I then researched this lighthouse, and now find that this is not only possible, but perhaps the image was not manipulated afterall. This does look unbelievable, but that is what makes this image so powerful.

Terrific work, and congratulations on the award, it is very very much deserved!

 

Mike

I like the composition, the impact of the waves, the power. One of the best lighthouse shots I have seen in a long time. But I thought it could use the Ansel look a bit, the printing is weak. I messed this one up because my monitor was set on low for reading, and it was still too light. So I darkened the whole thing and brought it back up in the highlights only (not quite the same as before)to correct for the error, but you get the idea (I didn't want to start the selection and feathering process again). This image needs impact, more contrast! The foreground could be burned down more, it conflicts with the main wave.

It needs to be a bit lighter, going from adobe RGB to SRGB I lost a bit of the brilliance in the whites.

Beautiful shot for lights,contrasts and power

 

ciao Fabrizio

great picture depcting nature's agression. would be better to see one with less zoom rendering more background giving a wholistic view.

Fact is, I think the POW is a great moment captured, however, thats all it is in my view, in color it would probably be more captivating and awe inspiring, in black and white it is flat and boring in my opinion. I am no master at photography, in fact I am a rank amateur, that has though, actually had a POW on another photographic site, that was very real, one of a thousand of a sporting moment. The POW here, will not be on many desktops, I would be willing to bet.

Maybe Richard j could be correct: this image in color could rise the so called wow factor, which so many guys are looking for. And it is also possible that the Van Camper dodging and burning yield a more dramatic appearence. But the strength of this photo is, in my opinion, exactly the opposite: the balance of light just make you feel it as real, and it makes me feel the chilly temperature of a windy, sunny winter day, while the light haze between the rocks reminds you of the salted spray. And such imposing wave do not need anything more in order to capture your attention.

It is not a matter of light or heavy processing (a B&W image is already, by definition, a rather heavy processing over the coloured reality...), but simply the idea of using all of the photographer skills to recreate the atmosphere of that precise single event, rather then look for standard, eye catching, but anonymous high contrast, high saturation, high dynamic range or high whatever you want shots.

I just do think that mother nature has much more creativity than any photographer, and sometimes trying to improve it may produce just cliche images.

And by the way, Max, congratulations for a great photo.

Why not accept this image for what it is? An excellent capture that expresses an interesting emotion, the great strength of the sea and the rock formation its striking? Although some might see technical flaws, an image doesn't necessarily need to be perfect to be great or compelling. In the end, the POW is a subjective selection that one or many may agree or disagree with. That is the nature of art. IMHO this image is compelling. Max, congratulations on the POW.

An exceptionally and smashing photograph. It is really breathtaking. Thanks

Valerie Tandan

WOW.Great picture.

Beautifull gradients greys en blacks.

Congratulation Max.

Right place, right time, right lighting and quick reflex to capture the moment.

Trung Thai

Excellent lighting!!!

 

It's very amazing shot