I'm not alone

Wonderful work!!

Very well done on this great image. You created mystery and a fantastic mood.

Rgds, Engela

Outstanding atmosphere created here.

Love the light and mood.

Regards,

Wim

The successful light treatment Marius and the fog creates an excellent atmosphere.

Also nice symmetric composition with the great depth.

It really is an excellent artistic synthesis. My congrats…..(Unfortunately the system does not allow me to give you the top score that it deserves)……….………………..PS : Many thanks for your kind vote for my POW photo.

Please note the following:

• This image has been selected for discussion. It is not necessarily the "best" picture the Elves have seen this week, nor is it a contest.
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• Before writing a contribution to this thread, please consider our reason for having this forum: to help people learn about photography. Visitors have browsed the gallery, found a few striking images and want to know things like why is it a good picture, why does it work? Or, indeed, why doesn't it work, or how could it be improved? Try to answer such questions with your contribution.

is this "real"... ie: nothing added or taken away from the actual event?
if so, it is a very nice capture, if not it represents some nice post-production work.

either way it is quite pleasant and relaxing to look at.

The image is so little, hard to tell real or not. The portfolio-based image is barely even any larger so it's hard to tell.

The background doesn't look photographic, however, the foreground does with excellent composition. it's an odd, eerie, and depressing image nonetheless, but still with "interesting" and "highly artistic" written all over it. This could even be part of an ad (still frame capture) for Cymbalta.

This belongs to the 'computer works' folder so it is not real and things have been taken in and out of it. To my taste this wonderful photograph is not depressing or eerie, rather the use of soft light in a X shape makes it rather romantic in my eyes. The mellow color palette is an asset as is the intelligent composition. The rather centralized jetty could have been a burden but for the person sitting on one end of the chair, skewed placement of the boat and the birds, all of which show a kind of right way direction for the eyes to travel. If I have to find a minus point, that is the lower part of the sky with the orange tinge just above the mountains. It looks a bit harshly painted (may be my monitor only) and the narrow orange line above the left portion of the second hill looks like a halo. But these are really nothing. A very well deserved POW. Congrats Marius.

I read the comments about the composition and wonder...is it just me or is the tilted horizon acceptable as is. I think this has been heavely post processed, thats ok with me, but to leave an unlevel water horizon just draws my attention as a distraction.

This is a great scene, and well-photographed, but it is a bit too over-cooked in post processing for my blood--and frankly the birds look a bit hokey to me. The post processing is so obvious that it finally detracts from the image itself.

Still, I have to concede that it is a fine piece of work, my personal tastes to the contrary notwithstanding.

I am still left with one question: how much of it is real?

--Lannie

I have the same problems Lannie has.
The boat, e.g., is probably added since it's very difficult to beleive that in a foggy horizon there's a hole exactly where the boat is, so that it can stand sharply in the picture. The umbrella too is weird, since it doesn't seem it's raining. The bench seems incoherent, from a geometrical and pespective viewpoint with the dock and the birds look an add-on. The overall mood, gothic and dark is, imho, very sickening.

Mauro

Great depth of field. Wonderful igea. More than beautiful.

I like the mood in this. Heavy computer use, but very good result except for the horizon. How did the tilt slip by?

I would join to Ray's opinion: the tilted horizon can be a big omission or a specific intent. Frankly, I cannot understand the latter, because I cannot see a particular reason to tilt the horizon... So if the former has happened I think it detracts a lot from the final result, since this is not a single shot, taken "on the fly", but a PS montage, which requires a great amount of skill and patience, but it gives also the time to think, compose, arrange and adjust the image comfortably in front of a display... The overall work is beautiful and well done regarding its category (not a single "shot" but a digital "work"), but I think that tilted horizon is a great fault.
I hope you understand my criticism about the tilted horizon in the context of a digital photo montage, but if this was intentional I'd like to know the reason, because I'm not able to find one. By the way I have no doubt about the skills and the great sensitivity to composition, light and mood of the photographer

The details tab says it's a PS montage. I guess two photographs (or portions thereof) skilfully stitched together. A lovely visual. I'm a rabid cropper. See it as a panorama like the crop uploaded. I have no doubt we all have our opinions about the composition, just expressing mine.
I don't do digital alterations and know zilch about how they can or should be done.
I have no problems with the issue of 'reality' as this is avowedly a digital alteration. That to my mind gives it a great deal of artistic license. It is an individual's interpretation of his reality using digital tools. If he/she has used these aids creatively, aesthetically that is sufficient. And both these qualities are, I suggest a matter of personal taste.
Perhaps, the artist could have executed the figures on the boat, and maybe the boat itself, with more finesse.
The story as I choose to see it: The person on the bench set out for a walk on a very cloudy day when the chances of rain seemed excellent. He (for convenience, though it could be a she) therefore armed himself with an umbrella. He found a bench with a lovely view of a picturesque mist-shrouded lake and sat himself down. As time passed a sense of loneliness overtook him. For some solace he opened up his umbrella. Suddenly the mist started clearing up and out of its swirls a boat emerged with two figures. I'm not alone!

Sterile, trite and way over-cooked.
With the inclusion of the umbrella theme, the lone figure on the bench, the romantic couple in the row boat and the flock of seagulls, I am surprised there are no rising balloons or craggy dead tress with ravens. The toning, the heavy sky and the attempt at a brooding atmosphere are painfully cliche. .

Hi, everyone!

I'm so honored to see, that this photo has been selected for discussion.
Indeed, it isn't a real capture. It actually represents a PS montage, composed of seven photos, because the reality didn't offer me what was in my HEART at that moment. I said HEART because I have created this photo mostly based on my feelings. Regarding the lower part of the sky which looks a bit harshly painted, it represents just my lack of PS skills. The tilted horizon is my mistake, but it can be very easily corrected (shame on me! ).
Thank you all for your constructive comments. It means a lot for me.
My warm regards,
Marius

People see things not there -- a romantic couple in a boat? 10 sqr. pixels tells you that? Have to agree this "lovely image" is rather overcooked and the very tilted horizon is off-putting. Those little specs are birds (only because your mind says so, as there's little image data to support that) When you exclude the dark, thick ominous black frame, this image is only 625 px wide.

Ken;
 
Your point is well taken, at this size it is a stretch for me to have stated that this is a couple. I am making the assumption that I am looking at a male figure standing in the boat with a female figure seated and facing him , however  I am most certainly filling in the blanks based on my feelings regarding all of the other cliches in the photo. Categorically stating that this is in fact a romantic couple in a boat is indeed overstepping what can be accurately surmised from the image at this size and resolution. And yes those " gulls " could just as easily be starlings or sensor dust at this resolution and given the amount of compression artifact .