Sunlight on Elbows

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I really never expected a very big response for this picture as I had a lot of doubts about it. Nothing I could really pinpoint, just as I look at it something doesn't sit quite right with me and I'm not sure what it is. If something strikes you as wrong please let me know.

Now I'll try to answer a few questions.

Micah... It does look a little grainy, this was a test shot with a Canon G3 and a very long exposure so it got a little noisy.

Salvatore... I do know the place well as it is where I work. I wish I could say I calculated the position of the sun so it would be like this but the truth is I finally noticed it after passing about one hundred times..... so I guess I would mostly call it dumb luck that I finally saw it.

Arnab... Just natural light.

Sherwood... It is kind of Gigerirsh now that you mention it, I never noticed it. I have always like Giger's dark muted sometimes depressing colors.

Jayme... You are right it's not drain piping. It's actually steam piping, some sort of homemade radiator I think. It is in a little used part of a WWII era manufacturing building and there is a lot more of it. There is another wall with a section that has 90's and 45's and about five times as many pipes and is in multiple layers, but that part is in almost total darkness so I'm not sure what to do with it yet.

As I said above this was a test shot, I'm going back with some sheet film and a real camera to see what I can do. And if there is anything you don't like here please let me know.

Excellent photo, very good composition and light

 

regards,

Original, with a great spiraling light.

Interesting photo.

Congrats.

I can't believe the lighting! It's like the sun wanted to shine just for this image. Also the composition is perfect and the idea unique. Very symmetrical, pleasing to look at!

Hi steve this is a very pleasing image to me. The pattern caught here is very finely seen and the use of diagonal with light is just superb. Bravo really on such a fine piece of work, very well seen and shot, my dearest regards, RK!

beatuty picture, jitka

An image that would make every plumber sing with joy. Neat. Micheal

 

Great capture. I like the way you used the light to accent the diagonal of the elbows. It makes me wonder what kind of artistic background the plumber has. (:

Gooooooood!! nice pattern & lighting

Wow! Absolutely brilliant! 10/10.

well spotted. sometimes photography is about simple things. nice work

My kind of image. I love it. Congrats.

this is truly awesome! very nice work!

beautiful image, takes my breath away

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I like the awareness that this abstraction was going to happen, but my eye is craving some sort of relief from the symmetry. That, or an even stronger embrace of it, either way. The bit of business in the upper right tries to do that, but doesn't quite get there. This is one of those scenes that demands to be shot time and time again until a bit of contrariness or or randomness can poke its way in. I admire Steve's restraint in not tarting it up in post. I don't think I have that much fortitude, so kudos on that front, and for encountering this in the first place. It's a scene worth more study and a re-visit or two, I think.

A really fine abstract made from a very mundane subject. I like the light accenting the elbows. A beautifully composed pattern

Steve:
First and foremost, congratulations!
I too find the lighting a very strong element in this photograph. The grainy appearance, to me, is not necessarily a weakness; it helps foster a rather mysterious atmosphere
My best,
michael

An impressive abstraction power,that repetition pattern is an eye catching,the light is a fine one too,the thin strong light is where the centre of the repetition at the shoulders,and it does not deny the arms at both sides some lighting too,just a dim one to be visible enough with details,needless to say that the impact of lighting is at that square where it seems all the lights has came from.
there is almost no colors,and I enjoyed that little and a lone rusty colors of dirts over each shoulder,it works so very well with light and the silvery background,it makes me feels the image is in no need for any further colors,
it works for me as fine abstract,and as a POW,and well chosen 6 years old already posted image in PN.

5.5 year old photo for comment and critique? Must we ignore all that's been learned about the art of making images, all the technological advances in photographic equipment, all the photo-worthy changes in our environment and spend our time analyzing posts that may be of some interest but are not classics, not masters? Nothing personal, Steve.

That's originality for ya! The light is subtle but makes the photo exceptional. Congrats!

Alberta P.

 

all the technological advances in photographic equipment.

 

Yes,that have contained all the expertise of photography skills,sciences,and experiments of the old pioneers,but may be to 70 to 80% in any hands,you just put the camera ,any one made after 2000 on the (P) or auto mode,and it will produce a 70% descent image,the remaining 20 to 30% quality dependant on the man or the woman behind the cameras,and this is what distinguish the images from one and others,and this is what we are studying,practising,and we are in real competitions with other photographers.

Abstracts have not that changed that much by technology since the first one ever,and it depends mainly on the eyes behinds the viewfinder,even before you commence to take the image,it is a mind state captured by an instrument .

 

 I must admit that the math here escapes me. I will hope that the conclusion is as nonsensical as the numbers since I have not set any of my cameras to the program or auto mode during their lifetimes.  If in fact the auto program is responsible for 70 to 80% of the image quality that may well explain why my photo are so unpopular and why the TRP photos at PN all look the same every  day of the week.

 

As for the POW,  it is sort of interesting in a predictable fashion. Nothing there to ponder and no outstanding technique or composition to make me linger more than a few seconds. No glaring technical errors to make me wince but no innovation either. I suspect that any one of us would have pointed a camera at this had we walked by and noticed it.  If those cameras with face recognition software were possessed of pipe recognition software this is the composition and crop the camera would most likely would have come up with.

 

 

Gordon B.

I have not set any of my cameras to the program or auto mode during their lifetimes.

 

Yes,you could do the math yourself Gordon,fix a camera to a stand,direct it to any landscape of your choice,preset it to auto,and with a timer or a remote just do the click.Then stand in the same place and tweak the camera to your preferred settings,take the shot and compare the results.

this is what I meant in my statements.

Technology of todays cameras does not evolved from nothing,it does from the all the expertises of all the good analogue photography of yesterday.

Returning to POW,those cameras without the visionary pre look of the man or woman standing behind,they can neither produce an abstract nor an artistic visualization of a view.