In the morning of a foggy - duck flied...

There's not one bad thing I can say about this photo! AMAZING! I love it... Cheers

I don't understand why this hasn't attracted more attention... Great Shot!

Perfect lightning, perfect moment, perfect framing, perfect composition. Plus, it's original too. This is an absolutely great picture!

In the morning of a foggy - duck flied...(No Fotoshop)

this is what justifies an early wake up, a retribution for not being warm in bed. composition is great, capturing the moment is outstanding. you probably used a rather high speed such as 1/125sec to freeze the moment, which i think is what you had to do, but with a lower speed (maybe 1/30sec) you can get more deep on the mist. Beautiful image!

Yuri, please share the technical detail if you don't mind. This is perfection!

A truly great "right place at the right time" shot. The darkness of the birds is just the touch. Judging from most of the pictures of the week I've seen, this should be one. Of course, it might not provoke as many arguments as most POW's, and I think that's part of the game. Thanks for posting this.

While striking to look at initially, there are several things about this that lead me to suspect its been seriously PS'd - the size relationship of the birds to the trees, the sheer darkness of the birds, and the flight pattern of the bird (I suspect its the same bird, multiple exposures of it in flight and added to the image). Again, initially its cool, but looking at it for awhile bothers me. Great idea though.

No Fotoshop, absolutely real photo!

I really like the way the sharply defined ducks contrast with the soft background. The previous commenters have said it all. You have a wonderful portfolio.

This is a rare one. Really excellent. There's a poetic, emotional element that separates it from 99% of most photographs.

Great image. No ducks though, but cormorants. Phew, happy that I have something to nitpick on ;-)

I really wonder if anyone will find any sort of reasonable criticism whatsoever to articulate about this photograph. And if someone does, I^m really curious as to what it could be... Excellent work!

Congratulation Yuri, well deserved from the best portfolio

This is a great shot in almost every way, worthy of the ratings it's got. Beautiful work.

A remarkable photo. I peeked at your folder and you are doing excellent work! The most vocal critics seem to have really poor work in their folders, so don't worry about them.

the black ducks (cormorants) bother me, can they not be shades of gray? And where is this duck field, and how do i get there?

I don't think any controversy will arise because of this one. Once again, Yuri, BRAVO!

I too, was wondering if this is photoshopped, and was amazed when I read it isn't.

 

It must have been quite bright despite the fog, if you could use a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the birds in flight as you did - but I suppose using ISO800 film and a f2.8 lens would help. There doesn't seem to be much DOF required here.

 

Did you record shutter speed and aperture by any chance, or can you roughly remember what they were? I am most curious.

 

That you caught one of the little birds in the tree in flight adds a lovely detail.

 

Congratulation to a wonderful and unique photo.

I almost like it..

 

But the fact that you have such a soft grey background and the 'ducks' are *so* black makes it look like the two elements are completely separate. The fact that one component of the image doesn't seem to flow or link to the remainder ruins the feeling of calm for me..

 

 

mt

Frank Meuller's critique above was interesting where he said, "I too, was wondering if this is photoshopped, and was amazed when I read it isn't." Disappointingly, so many think that the work of a gifted photographer must surely be the product of Photoshop nowadays. Too often, the first conclusion jumped to is that a single moment like this, encompassing such clarity and technical adequacy, must be the product of software and couldn't possibly be captured as a moment in time right there in the camera. Yet, Yuri has confirmed no manipulation in response to the question being put. Conclusion? This just looks like a good old-fashioned photograph. Sad, that this kind of work is becoming not only rare nowadays, but also unexpected on photo.net. "Yes, Virginia, it is possible to capture scenes like this at one moment, in one place, with a gifted photographer's eye."

Having said my piece on photography as the record of a moment in time, I have to admit to being a little disappointed in this picture. To my mind it's somewhat cliched. I get the feeling I've seen it before, in one form or another. A not too original concept, however competently executed. Then again, maybe the sense of deja vu is simply because I've tried myself to make a lot of photographs in foggy conditions and mostly they failed. To see this one here as a pretty successful example of its genre may be just a flashback to the results I was after (and had time and time again in my mind's eye), but failed to capture because I so poorly coped with the same set of conditions.

The composition is classic and the moodiness is well established. I'm not so sure that increasing the depth of field would have brought out more detail in the foggy background. It's adequate as it is: the other birds scuffling in the misty tree and the rest of the landscape is a mysterious and even claustrophobic backdrop to the main action. Even just writing these words I'm starting to like this picture more. It's growing on me. How far it will grow, only time will tell.

But what about the rest of Yuri's work?

To me the strength of Yuri's main body of work lies in his use of saturated colors as integral elements of his composition and the unusual perspectives he has taken on his varied subjects. A refreshing change indeed. He demonstrates a confidence with his medium and a quirkiness of visualization that is both motivating to his fellow photographers (to get out and take some more pictures), and interesting to look at in itself.

To the naysayers who resort to digital manipulation as a first, rather than a last resort, look closely at this and Yuri's other images. They are what photography is (or should be) all about: use of your eyes, reflexes and your mind, all combined in one instant of capture to communicate a worthwhile idea.

I don't see any photoshop in this picture, nor would it matter to me if it was. This here is a remarkable image, however it was done, it was done with raw talent. This photographer has a keen eye for composition. Perhaps he was lucky to be here, but he was prepared for this shot.

 

Some have said they have seen this picture or one like it before. What they mean is they wish they had seen it before, with their camera in their hands, so they could have shot it. If someone somewhere has already taken this picture of four ducks flying over four trees in the mist, that doesn't lessen the impact of this picture at all to me, as I haven't seen one quite like this yet, nor would it be easy to find an equal to this piece.

 

This is my favorite photo of yours but I think your photograph titled "Morning" is also deserving of POW. Congratulations.

Some have said they have seen this picture or one like it before. What they mean is they wish they had seen it before, with their camera in their hands, so they could have shot it. If someone somewhere has already taken this picture of four ducks flying over four trees in the mist, that doesn't lessen the impact of this picture at all to me, as I haven't seen one quite like this yet, nor would it be easy to find an equal to this piece.

 

??????????????

this is untrue in so many ways, I do not even KNOW where to begin.but...

1. I do not wish that I had taken this photo. It is not the type of work that I do.That other people do is fine but when secon-rate examples of it are celebrated I would like to say;'why?'

2.No. Of course I have not seen this'exact' photo before, only thousands like it.

3.And yes it does 'lessen the impact of it', to me.And I have seen it's equal, here, and in textbooks many times in the last 20 years...

4.That said. whew. um. I really think that the color work in this folder is great, and that this image is not bad, it is just an ongoing mystery to me why most pow's are chosen as such...

5.Why?

Already getting PS accusations? not that I'm saying that's bad, but good grief.

 

This has a very soft and soothing mood to it. If there's one thing I can complain about it on first glance, is that there are birds in the far left tree. As simple as that is, they make for enough dark mass to de-simplify this powerful image. They just don't go there! I'm sorry, maybe you should have thrown a rock at them ahead of time. (or PS them out, oooh, bad).

 

I like the contrast of the flying ducks (or geese?) to the trees. They're obviously close enough to come through the haze and be black while also being larger than the trees but not too much.

 

This is definitely 'another' place with a very bizarre atmosphere. Very well captured, and it surely is a good choice for POW I must say.

Perhaps Tim has brought up an interesting point for discussion, regarding this picture. Quite often, a picture is judged on its composition, lighting, form, texture, etc. One might wonder just how important originality is to the success of a picture, or more specifically, to the success of THIS picture. This photograph is not Half Dome or the Grand Canyon being shot for the millionth time. This picture IS original, despite that it has trees in it, and birds in it, and mist, which have been photographed before. I do not see any cause for controversy here. All the elements mentioned have come together in a composition that is unique and deserving of POW.