Blåvand

I love it! The tones, the dirt, the perspective..all great.

Wonderful wide angel effect, great image, wishing you all of the best.

Lots of fun.

Looks like a fun shot! And very nice processing.

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.
• Discussion of photo.net policy, including the choice of Photograph of the Week should not take place here, but in the Help & Questions Forum.
• The About Photograph of the Week page tells you more about this feature of photo.net.
• 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.

Yet another step down the slippery slope to mediocrity.

I find the treatment excessive and really unnecessary for what's basically a fun shot. The treatment was interesting when Andrzej Dragan's work first appeared but soon got tiring when everyone started to look like a coal miner.

When the "effect" becomes obvious (like facial botox or a comb-over), there's too much of it. Michael has put his finger on it exactly, I think.

Will this era of photography come to be known as the age of the "surrealists"?

You are right about the excessive process, but don´t forget that this photo is only meant as a funny picture and the treatment is only made for increasing the funny lines. That´s all

great work !!

i love your works congrats brotha !! :D

When I clicked on this photograph, I thought I had been caught up in some sort of time warp thing and that it was April Fools Day all over again. I thought, "Ah ha, Photo.net's playing a joke on us." It's like they picked the worst photograph in this photographer's portfolio as the P.O.W. Mr. Hansen has done lots better work than this, much of which I like.

I understand that this may be intended as a "fun" shot, but the process just totally wrecks it for me.

The only thing I even remotely like about this one is the perspective. Otherwise, it just seems pointless and way overdone to me.

For me this is not an interesting photograph! just a snapshot for fun .... what we have here, a big foot, or better a big sport shoe and a guy who is laughing for I dont know what? and some kind of HDR and you call it good?

Elves, for me your choice is wrong, there are so much better photograph on PN, this one do not deserve to be Photograph of the Week!

my 5 para ;)

Biliana Bibi

Creative. But the effect seems excessive.

Composition and angle are good to me... and this effect extract beautiful texture details. However skin is not so good and there is too much vignetting (it touch the hand). A nice shot...

My first thought was just that this was sort of a commercial shot and a big shift from last week in every way. The technique is not current, although I don't know that it is totally dead, for commercial work but seems to be in line with the way that Christian processes most of his work, even the landscapes--a sort of hyper-real sensibility.

I doubt this is a commercial shot as the shoe bottom, which is so prominent, is so worn that I am not sure it would be acceptable even if the shoe wasn't the product being hocked. One of those detail things. The eyes to me are also sort of scary, but might play in some markets. Oh, and am I the only one who wants to know who Isabell is?

Anyway, the shot is sort of a fun shot and, putting aside the processing for a moment, nicely done. It has great depth of field, is well balanced and I think draws our eye into the frame--but not without a lot of attention to this shoe bottom!

Copying processing we see being done around us is sort of like shooting iconographic imagery to compare our skills with those that have gone before when we are first learning to photograph. It not only validates our abilities, but it actually helps us develop new sets of tools. But I think at some point we do have to determine that a look is over and I do think this one is and should be. But a nice rendition of it all the same.

While this image is mildly entertaining, it's not really artistically engaging. Also, this photographer has produced much better, more interesting work than this image. An image such as this one would have been in my opinion a much better choice as POW.

Well deserved to be a POW

hahaha!!!!!!!!!!...funny!

I thought this 'look' was really neat 5 years ago when I first saw it and didn't know how to achieve it myself....now it is completely over-done and WAY too popular in my opinion. This 'look' is everywhere, even in commercial advertising. Try googling the Asics print ads from three years ago and you will see what I mean...
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/print/2007/2/asics-running-partner-never-met.jpg&imgrefurl=http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2007/asics-my-running-partner/&usg=__IbEnhblg2rUlsUldEQS1_efIi5s=&h=307&w=468&sz=30&hl=en&start=24&itbs=1&tbnid=5PVEaS0QQgvOhM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dasics%2Bads%26start%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SUNA_en%26ndsp%3D21%26tbs%3Disch:1
Like anything, too much of a good thing ruins an image. I think if you created this picture 5 years ago you likely would be getting better responses, but as it stands now most of us are sick of this 'look.

A certain sort of Norman Rockwell, Art Crumb crossover that has almost ceased to be recognizable as photography. Strange but compelling.

For me this has impact not just the expression and powerful shoe but the gritty processing gives this an edge.
Good work

for me this is just a funny portrait that captured with a wide angle lens and not very funny with looking to the face of the subject !! whom wants to print such a ridiculous portrait for himself and put it on a table ??? i dont know how you choose the PW in this site !! but i know it is wrong with this one . regards <<<amir49>>>

Once again, it's lets all jump on the bandwagon to trash the work of someone else. Art (and photography is a form of art) as well as beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When I was studying commercial art many years ago in high school my teacher was very critical of airbrush work that looked photographic stating that if a client wanted that they'd just hire a photographer. Too many artists have been persecuted over the centuries for their vision and style only to be renowned after their death. The lot of you need to get off of your high horses and remember where you came from. I'm sure much of your work was not and may still not be perfect. I've lurked on this board for a long time and the overly critical remarks and smarmy statements are unbelievable sometimes. The only reason I stay is because I can look at and appreciate many different types of photographic styles and learn from them. I think the photo is great. I thinks its funny, and until the naysayers start writing your checks Christian, ignore them and keep up the good work.

Robert, I don't believe any of us have professd to be experts; we're merely critiquing honestly in the spirit of POW albeit often lacking grace and charm. Further, I don't believe anyone has mounted a personal attack on its author, but admittedly some comments may have made it difficult not to take personally.

I have not studied highbrow art and I would guess not many of us on this site have, but if there's anything I've learned in the 9 years of participation here as a student of the art, it's the need to be thick skinned enough to accept criticism without taking it personally. Not all of us have mastered the art of articulating critique in the context of modern pedagogy, nor is it necessary in my view - we're all adults, and things should be fine if we are at least respectful of one another.

A final observation: I suspect this POW was selected precisely because of its controversial treatment so the slew of comments from both camps are not unexpected. In the long run, though, I think naysayers are more likely to help (figuratively) 'write the checks' through their comments than hollow praise.