single photos Tulip Field, West-Beemster

Nice photograph. Good composition. The subject matter isn't all that interesting, but the use of color and perspective creates a pleasing image.

It looks like it's too green. The colors aren't popping out. The whole left side is green, the leaves, the bark, the road. It doesn't seem right. Even the sky looks a bit too green. Here's just a quick try at color balancing. I don't think the saturation would have been necesary with a little correction for the green.

 

Nice colors and paterns though.

Mr. Hart, I checked out your portfolio. You do good work, and it doesn't hurt that you spend your time in a magical place. In comparing all of your images, I think this POW was chosen because it is successful without relying on the support of the strong subject matter available to you.

 

This is also a good years end POW choice because it will probably not stir up much controversy, and we can end the year on a peaceful note.

I enjoy the saturation of the colors and the simplicity of the composition. Looking at Jaap's portfolio, picking one photo as best is a hard call, and I guess I lean toward some of the windmill pics. But this is great to see as POW. I don't think a photo of this type needs a singular subject, the subject is the overall scene and the atmosphere, and here especially, the light and the intense color fields. Nice an bright and like a breath of fresh air.

Hmm... I think Tom may be right about the green cast. In his

revision, the scene feels a little more natural, more real (and

more depth?). Then again, if you're going for surreal, maybe you

want the green. Also, though I like the overall colors, I'd be

curious to see a desaturated version of the same scene.

 

Classic composition, pleasing colors, great light. Maybe next

time, once you get your shot, you should put your camera on

timer-release and run down the path and position yourself (if

possible) as a figure emerging from the fog. It may be tricky to

pull off, and you may prefer the original, but it'd be worth a try.

The lines really compliment the colors. We see a lot of "either or", either lines or colors, but not both. This is a great example of how they work together. Great picture.

My eyes have been damaged. Not only is Velvia horrible stuff, it was even further saturated? Holy crow! This thing looks like some far off planet scene out of a cheap Sci-Fi movie. Is there a monster waiting to attack just out of the scene? Of the 400,000 some odd photos on photo.net, this was the best option for this week?

...Christopher, how can you comment on velvia being too saturated? Thats the point...

I truly cannot understand all of the praise for this particular photograph. There are many variations on this particular view, and I find this example to be uninspiring and trite...

Moderator comment: Hopefully we can nip the "opinion" wars right in the bud BEFORE things get nasty. This is not so much directed at the above comment but to all that will follow and some that have been deleted:

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Ed,

 

I've tried Velvia, and ditched it, because the pictures look like this. And my photo album here hasn't been updated in a great while. Besides even if I had...why would I post pictures of stuff I didn't like?

 

By the by, my comment was mainly on the extra saturation of an already saturated film. Everyone's entitled to their opinions aren't they?

 

Chris

I do not like computer adjusted photos. Not only this, but I am sure that all in his portfolio are colour adjusted and they look like some cheap paintings...

 

It is a shame, since the composition is great

It's a great shot. Just a pity the photographer used velvia.

I like colours that are real. I hate films such as velvia.

Nice composition, but uninspiring subject matter and too heavy-handed in color manipulation which gives me an overall sense of something very unnatural and plastic-like. Disappointed this image was chosen POW.

Niet slecht Japie. De Noordhollandse polders zijn een mooi jachtgebied. Al een heleboel mooi werk van je gezien. Ik wil wel eens wat van je leren!

I love all your photographs; I think you've done an excellent job capturing the Netherlands, especially the trees that all seem to grow in straight lines. I spent a semester there a little while ago and all of your images bring back great memories. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Tom Menegatos's colour corrected version is a definite improvement, but I still have a nagging misgiving. The shock of bright red is very distracting. Being such a dominant colour, it keeps pulling the eye to the right.

 

It takes a certain bold resolve to abandon such strident colours, but for mine, Miles Hecker got it just right in his desaturated version. The monochromatic tones are lovely and the result is much more evocative and balanced.

WOW - Such passionate opinions!

We must all try to remember in the midst of all this tempest that just like cooking, the photograph being presented is according to the photographers own taste. Jaap's taste is for saturated Velvia which actually I like very much. But when I saw the example presented by Miles Hecker of a desaturated b/w version of the same photograph I fell in love LOL. As they say in Minnesota - So there you are!

 

Jaap - You truly are a fine artist and a photographer. I do look forward to enjoying more of your work.

 

Ted

I'd like to aplaud Jaap for a beautiful sight of his country.

Yes, people! These colors do exist in Holland! Maybe one should

give it a try next flower season (around April, 2003).

You'll be amazed.

My sincere congratulations Japp!

Carlos Alvim

Brazil

Jaap's taste is for saturated Velvia

By and large, I would say that Jaap's photographs do not rely primarily on colour saturation. Although they are taken on Velvia, I think the pastel dawn windmill series (especially this shot) shows wonderful subtlety. I think that entire sequence is brilliant.

Jaap -

 

I love this entire folder. Not only are they very "painterly" in there composition and light, but they make me want to see Holland in winter. What part of the country were those wonderful windmill shots taken?

Gosh, I don't know, the color balance seems way off to me too. Even the trunk of the tree is green. Also for me, this picture seems so much about saturated color, and that is all I can think about, rather than reacting to the scene. The first thing that hits me is "wow" look at those drenched colors. But I think that you could have that reaction to any other picture with the same saturation effects.

 

On the plus side I like the vanishing point, but then again the rule of thirds is so adhered to that the picture seems very static to me and looses my interest quickly. I give this feedback in the spirit of constructive criticism. Certainly I appear to be in the minority...

I agree with the oversaturation issue, the choice to boost Velvia's saturation seems peculiar - in fact, so odd that it can (surely?) only be due to the artist's desire to exaggerate actualite in order to express a deepfelt impression. Tom's alternative is pretty close to the rendition I conjured up in Photoshop - post Colour Balance and further desaturation of red and green (I initially took the green bark as moss, but it seems not to be.)

Seeing what might have been does lead me to believe that Jaap had his reasons, artistic more than technical accuracy - for going the route he did : just possibly he is communicating what his heart felt rather than what the eye saw at time of capture. (I hear laughter - sounds wonderful!)

However, altering saturation & colour levels makes no difference to the strong graphic appeal and sense of depth to the image (fabulous - apparent - line convergence,) for which Jaap is to be highly commended. I'd be very interested to know how you balanced, placed tripod, etc. in order to shoot this.

It's a good choice for a number of reasons, not least to illustrate what might be pulled out of natural surrounds by the discerning eye, and the fact that Nature viewed aright can be quite modern, a trendsetter if you like updating by the nanosecond : we follow and we ape; we call that Creativity, but somehow She's always one step ahead, forever in vogue. I think the choice might be further validated by the artist should he choose to participate down the line. Congratulations Jaap, and my regards - have a creative 2003.

I fully agree with Seven when he says that "seeing what might have been does lead me to believe that Jaap had his reasons, artistic more than technical accuracy - for going the route he did : just possibly he is communicating what his heart felt rather than what the eye saw at time of capture."

Realism is the art of presenting reality for what it is. Saturation of colors or any added effects you can think of are ways to project into the image something more than just what it was. "Something more" can be an atmosphere, and it often is, deeply, the photographer's vision.

So, yes, one can surely like or dislike the color saturation here. I personally think that the wild colors are a positive thing here, as they act as an eye-grabber. But what's maybe more important, is to understand that there are no absolutes here.

You like subtle images ? Of course you'll pick the windmills and not this one. (I love Jaap's windwill pictures too, by the way.) But here is an image with a completely different set of goals. The goal is, to me, to force you to look at the picture, and to give you a refreshingly modern and geometrical image - less common in nature photography.

This shot as it is uploaded is surely going to find buyers among editors and calendar publishers. The revised versions would appeal more to the art print market. I don't anything is better or worse among all the versions: they are all different and Miles has a subtle version, Tom a realistic version, and Jaap a clearly more impactful version.

I've come to the conclusion that this is a very clever photograph for several reasons. The one point perspective is very effective but then Jaap throws in atmospheric perspective as a bonus. The color is attention grabbing (for sure) and that might carry some lesser photos but this one is not just about strong color. Jaap has created a composition of primary colors by saturating and balancing the Red, Blue, and Green channels in the photograph. In between the red tulips and the blue water, we see a secondary color, purple. It is almost as though we are being given an exercise in color mixing. Sometimes we refer to photographs as being painterly. This one is purely photographic but borrows from the painter's craft by showing us something about using colors together. The colors could have just as easily been muted but the theory and lesson would be the same.

 

Speaking of color, green is a tricky one for the brain to process correctly for some reason. Often in photographs things that we remember as being verdant green appear rather dull in normal photographic prints. Galen Rowell had some interesting things to say about this phenomenon in his book, Mountain Light. It's worth reading if you are interested in how we perceive colors.

 

I liked the way the large tree with its arched trunk appears to exclaim its own individuality, in contrast to the other trees, road, canal and tulips that conform to straight lines imposed by humans. It seems to be saying, "Hey look at me. I'm different and I'm happy about it." Or, "Hey, I use super-saturated colors because I that's the way I choose my photographs to communicate."

 

I have no trouble accepting the photographer's interpretation that we see here. It's a well-done (impressionistic) rendering in my opinion. The choices made were planned and the end-result was intentional. It's pretty hard to second-guess someone else's creativity. Not to mention that this is a pretty good bit of wall candy for a dull winter day.

This is a fantastic photo. I set it as a wallpaper in my office computer a few weeks ago and immediately all my colleagues were asking me about the photo. When they saw the other photos of Jaap Hart, they were spellbound. I agree with photo.netElves that this is the best. I also like the windmills which remind me of old masters paintings. I look forward to seeing more of Mr Hart's works of art.