my left hand

thank you for rating

thank you for posting (simple and original)

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 Site Feedback 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.

 

This started me thinking about a couple other ways to capture similar (but also different, and not necessarily better) images:

 

* Via pinhole, which would create the same (slightly soft) focus throughout.

 

* Using a super-wide lens, which would create an overall sharp focus, but with great distortion (very wide wrist tapering down to to very narrow fingers, appearing to be far away).

 

Just my first thoughts!

 

Sincerely,

 

Dave

I just spent the last 15 minutes trying to crop off (mentally), the upper black portion of this photograph, when it hit me like a slap in the face, this picture doesn't need cropping. In fact, it leaves me with the feeling that there could be something sitting on the hand -- that is where the subject would be if there was a subject other than the hand. By cropping that black area off we lose the space for that imaginary subject. Instead, we are left with an empty hand as the subject.

 

I get a feeling of anticipation -- waiting, still waiting for something to pop into that hand. It keeps me looking at the photo.

 

I think she has accomplished a couple of things with this photograph. First is attention span of her viewers and second is a view of simplicity. I rather like this image. Congratulations on being the chosen one this week.

 

Willie the Cropper

very powerful... composition and details are well captured!

Very nice idea with good composition but , i think it needs more sharpness ,the border between the blur parts and the focus parts are a very sharp line that i dont like , maybe you bottle neck is your apperture value of the camera, but with for example f16 or f32 it would be better :)

Just like last week, you can view all nominations for this week in a single page. Feel free to add comments to that page.

Comments on this page should still address this photo. Thanks and enjoy!

to me this photo does not have depth, it is way too dark and needs some cropping off the top. sorry if my comments are a bit harsh, that is my opinion.

I love it. I don't think it needs to be cropped at all. The hand leads you out into the dark

abyss, which says a lot and nothing at the same time. I think the amount of detail is perfect.

We're not trying to palm read here. Are we?

I like the low angle view of the hand extending out into the void, and it has lots of intentional and/or unintentional metaphorical potential for those that like to extrapolate beyond what is presented. However, I agree with the commenters who said that it is a bit dark, and that more depth of field would reveal more of the hands character. I also don't think the toning adds anything and would prefer a normal black and white image. But what really makes this unappealing to me is the distorted shape which gives the appearance of a hand swollen or disfigured by disease.

I like it. I agree with comment that it leaves you waiting for something to appear.

 

I think it would be nicer for me if the transition from being out of focus to focused was more gradual (it looks like the original foreground was not as blurry; there appears to be a line where the blur stops and the in focus palm begins).

In my haste, I got a quick glimpse of the image and felt compelled to push the back button

on my computer. I am glad I did because this image is beautiful. I stared at the center for a

while and was amazed at how it started to look like a landscape photo. I know it seem like

I?m out there but it really does if you stare at it long enough. I love the composition; it does

make you imagine what else is beyond the fingertips. Other than the blurring of the

fingertips I think all together this is a powerful image for such a simple subject matter.

In my haste, I got a quick glimpse of the image and felt compelled to push the back button

on my computer. I am glad I did because this image is beautiful. I stared at the center for a

while and was amazed at how it started to look like a landscape photo. I know it seem like

I?m out there but it really does if you stare at it long enough. I love the composition; it does

make you imagine what else is beyond the fingertips. Other than the blurring of the

fingertips I think all together this is a powerful image for such a simple subject matter. Great

work Sabine L.!

The tonal qualities are interesting, how the hand is misshapen by the lens is interesting, but weird.

 

I try to imagine a place where space shapes are launching, but find the fingers limit my vision and return my expectations to the mundane. Oh, its a hand! What? Did I expect Machu Picchu? Not enough detail to get me interested in critiquing the hand, for the sake of there being a hand photographed. Oh well.

 

I would really like there to be a story in this hand, I try to make one up, to no avail. The hand reaches out to nowhere. A complete blank.

 

Not quite diagonal lines turn my interest away.

This is unique and different. At first I didn't like it. There isn't anything wrong with it artistically or otherwise, it just didn't stick with me personally. I went to Sabine's portfollio saw all of her self studies and this image now starts to make sense as the next step in an artist's evolution. I still would not hang this on my wall, but that's just my taste talking. Because I can respect it and not admire it, it must be a great photograph. Most of us so far have said we have taken the time to really look at it. Isn't that the purpose of a great piece of art: To get you to look at it, study it and think about it. Great job Sabine for creating one of the most unique images on this site. It is people like you that help us to evolove in our own way as artists and I really want to thank you for sharing this and the rest of your work.

This photo testifies expressive power of photography. It's no difficult to speak about the endless way that a box with some piece of glass give us. Different, is to achieve this goal. This photo is played only by dof, lights and investigation of an original perspective. No strange situations, no outstanding colours nor tangled geometries. Only classic magic box, an everydey object and, above all, creativity of photographer. Congratulations.

thank you all for posting your opinion to my photo. I just see that this photo is POW.

It is one of my first photos I took a few years ago. I tried out my camera on my left hand. a lumix lc ... don't know. I have it no more.

but I was fascinated by the different sharpness and was surprised by the result.

I like the photo but I think there are better ones. I think it is a bit unusual because of the perspective and that's what is attractive.

 

thank you all for sharing!

Sabine

Not in line with my taste, but aesthetically I think it would be better if all the hand were in focus, or at least from some point out to the end at the fingertips. With the highlights there are almost some points of interest to rest my eyes on, but not quite. Interesting idea which I think could be made to work, but this one does not really work for me.

amazing picture! thanks for opening my mind :-)

Am I the only one seeing a Foetus being held in this hand?

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. PN contributors are experienced enough to value something unique. It is that perhaps which gives this image much of its credence. Bless you if you see more than my gauzed over eyes, meanwhile I'll continue to harvest my 3s & 4s in search a stunning contribution. Regards, Bernie (Now I can go look at the rest of Sabine's portfolio.)

Exactly 364 days before this was shot, I shot a similar one with my left hand with an Olympus camedia c-350. Truely experimental but the only thing I discovered is the virtue of the wide angle & macro ability of the point and shoot then...

 

This photo doesnt fill the frame and for me doesnt have the noetic suggestion that we are waiting for something to see after the hand.

Trully exprerimental like a test shot everybody does on his/her hand.

 

There are wondeful photos in Sabine's portfolio like Moon, her self b/w and the "V" still photo with the pair of sciscors that are remarkable,great and unique.

Great photo.. I looked at the bottom part of the photo and it looks like it could be a moon landscape.

It's the simple things that always make the most moving. As soon as I viewed this photo I

thought of my late grandfather. It looks so welcoming, so friendly.

 

I am now going to trace every last print on that hand. Something like this I just cannot

remove my gaze.

 

Great work...

I understand the sensation many can have when discovering a photo like this given the role of hands in our memories of especially childhood. Hands have also play a central role in especially advertisements so surely this weeks POW is a theme in the history of photography. Nevertheless in my eyes the composition of this particular photo does not attract me. Maybe the theme of the hand has been distorted because it is too close and too wide angle to transmit the message. Technically it might be OK but in esthetical terms it does not work as far as I can see.