Untitled

Very harmonious composition with blue and orange tones. I like the orange tones and structure of the land. To me the scenery invokes a feeling of gratitude and awe.

Technical is simply perfect. It's crystal clear, and nothing without polarizing filter!

Clarity is its strength, redundancy, its weakness

Congratulations, Saul, for being awarded Photo of the Week. Although this is a very dramatic photo, some of your others are better, in my opinion. Here is one where your true artistic mastery is most clearly revealed, at least to my eyes.

 

--Lannie

Congratulations... it is well deserved - but this one does not demonstrate the artistry of color, composition and moment that is more typified by Mr. Diaz' other works. It does, however, demonstrate the oversharpening that has become essentially his watermark.

While congratulations are in order to Saul.

 

This IMO is a good photo, but not a great one and Saul has many landscape shots that are great. In this shot the light is very harsh and the color is flat as a result of this.

 

In the old days shooting Velvia at high altitude with a polarizer would do this. The composition is good but not dramatic or compelling. http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6275824-lg.jpg

 

 

I would choose the photo I've embedded above as one of many that would be far more representative of his very fine work. It has great light, tremendous color harmonies and superb composition

We have a word in English -- Flabergasted! I have not previously seen Saul's work and I am Flabergasted! Saul is a master of his craft, a truly gifted artist who knows and understands light better than anyone I have observed. This picture, granted is not his best is still an attention getter. I have not seen such sharpness achieved often either. Perfect light, perfect setting and perfectly exposed. My congratulations to you on being chosen for this week.

Willie the Cropper

beautiful shot... perfect reflection

Loved the super saturated color and bright clarity on calm water. Caught everything just

right.

Have we really lost the ability to read a photograph and distinguish a true capture of a natural scene from a fake flipped reflection? Are we only able to attract "critics" who like this because they've never seen, let alone shot, anything like this before?

 

Horizons aren't that straight. Reflections aren't that symmetrical.

Carl, are you sure about that? There are ripples in the water, stones in the foreground. In my no doubt limited journeys to the mountains compared to Saul, I've seen stellar reflections, and each and every kettle lake should have probably been called, at one time or another, glass lake.

 

I'd say Erik, Patrick and Miles offer good critiques. Doug, too, for what it's worth.

Aaron, I think the ripples are part of the software plug-in designed just for this purpose. I don't see any elements that aren't repeated precisely across the line of symmetry. It's as if the scene has no depth at all, which it obviously does.

The discussion gains momentum... Carl is not far out commenting on the fake-like looking reflection. It would help to get some tech details from the photographer, to resolve this issue. The reflection is nearly equal in brightness as compared to the upper part, this is attractive but does not look natural for me. I guess, it was a grad ND. Maybe I would have preferred a slightly darker reflection. Otherwise, an excellent landscape

I do not find clarity to be this images strength. The photo appears over sharpened to my eye. Hard to be certain at this size but there seem to be strange artifacts around the pinnacles of the distant peaks, or is that part of the original capture ?

Yes, maybe so, Gordon. But, I was right about the redundancy. Faked, or not, I've seen the bottom half in the top, and the top half in the bottom. For the sake of economy, half of the image could be cut off and nothing would be missing! The addition of something in the foreground, a tree, maybe, or a shrub, even a pair of boots, might have broken up the monotony of duplication.

I simply couldn't resist...my version of the flood effect:

has anyone bothered to ask Saul whether this was a construction? I just fired off an e-mail to him asking that he respond in this Forum; he is a good chap and won't mind. I'm afraid that my Canary Islandese is rather bad but I imagine that Saul will undertstand.

 

In my view this is what the present philosophy of Photography has embraced, and it is embracing it with a vigor that is in direct proportion to the availablity of the digital image. Those of us weened on film see such a construction as this (presumably) as something anathema. If you eliminate us dinosaurs from the mix, however, the vox populi screams WOW WOW WOW! Regards.

Carl, the horizon is not straight. Btw, found this on the Internet:

http://www.trekkingchile.com/EN/photos-patagonia.htm

Why are you guys so sure that this is faked? This particular part of the world is unique in that it involves some very sizable mountains surrounded by some sizable bodies of water. It is a very unusual and dramatic part of the world. Google "Torres del Paine" and then look at the maps. There's probably no need to go looking for tripod holes on this one, Carl. This is neither Colorado nor Rainier from Puget Sound. This is made from where the world's second highest mountain range runs out as it hits the Straits of Magellan. I have lived in South America. There are photo ops down there that are "mas alla de la comprension de los norteamericanos."

 

--Lannie

Well, technically I never said it was fake. But my eyes tell me it is a construction. Now let's just see what Saul has to say about it.

Hello all,

 

Before talk and dude about an image of it?s reflecting you will know a little bit more and do not talk in an ignorant way, envy or whatever... I do not know ,

 

As I suppose when I took the picture I asked a friend that took some pictures where I appeared on them and here I will attach them , real proofs for that ones that dude about my credibility ,, I do not fake ..Never, not like others, if in an occasion I will do it I will recognize it but I never change reality

 

I just adjust RAW to reality

 

 

Best Regards and thank to all of you that defend my image

Photo 1

After Yongbo's internet find, and Saul's response, those purporting the POW to be a digital fake should be very nervous right now.

 

Walter, you make an excellent point. With the passing of every day, photography moves farther away from its reputation as a vehicle of truth. In 2007, does it really matter whether or not an image is faked, so long as it's crafted well, and engaging? Why restrict ourselves to the artistic fashions of the 1800's.

 

These double-up shots hold a passing interest, but I think they make bad art. As SP said, 9 of us would have made the same shot. Why? Because this scene is fascinating. The scene is fascinating, but for me, the photo is not. In my opinion, it's a stronger image without the reflection.

 

I've reduced the size of Yongbo's insert, and the POW, so (hopefully) they can be viewed at the same time.

Hello!!, well i was the "guide" on the photo days of Saul, we have a Blast.. going very early in the morning and driving a bad road. Well the picture is reall.. you can se mine in my website or in my flickr www.flickr.com/photos/mozketon.

Bueno un abrazo Saul y nso vemos en Noviembre?... ahora al otro lado del Salto Grande.

 

Sergio

Photo 2

Garcias, Saul, por la explicacion.

 

Thanks, Saul, for the explanation. This is spectacular country and you have captured it wonderfully. I am embarrassed for some of my friends on Photo.net who have judged prematurely.

 

By the way, the words for "dudar" and "duda" that you are looking for in English are "to doubt" and "doubt," respectively. I am relieved that you are able to show that the photo is authentic. This is great work done by a true mountaineer--surely not the kind of person who likes to see nature tampered with.

 

--Lannie