dream worlds Ascension

Seven all the way, Marta Eva! Brava!

Best regards

PDE

I like the visual effect of this lot of seagulls in flight and tone color chosen is very good.

Muy bonita!!!

awesome landscape

It looks like a dreamy dejavu, one that we have seen in classic thrillers. The color palette is thoughtfully chosen. The photographer chose the viewpoint well, so that the size of the birds relative to the distant trees is perfect.

Supriyo, I would agree about classic thrillers if there were at least one person in the frame. As the image stands, I agree that Marta did a good job with the color palette and the pov.

Is it a composite image? Somehow the gulls don't seem to belong to the landscape and their compressed depth suggests they are a separate image. The sky's graduated filter also decreases the brightness of the birds, which seems slightly heavy handed.

Interesting how this week's image has garnered so little attention... I agree (in a dichotomy of attitude) with all of the comments from Supriyo, Michael, and Robin. Even so, this image lacks a hook to really draw my interest and pull me in. If this is the case for others, as well, it would explain the low number of responses.

If you look at Marta's other images, they have a simplistic (and often mystical) look at life. Nothing grandiose there, just glimpses of life. Looking at the folder from which this image comes, it seems to be the portrayal of a dream, which also explains the lack of vivid colors. The title suggests some sort of an urge to rise up and join the flying birds. The tree branches could represent stretched hands longing for the sky?

As already said, there is not enough here to draw and keep one's attention. I dislike the color scheme as well, and the birds appear to be too regular and large in size to be natural against the treed backdrop. (Cloning?) The image itself is simplistic. The title of "ascension' is in my opinion too grandiose for this simple image. I think in black and white it would of worked better but still been mediocre. Although I don't like the pink and bluish color scheme, it elevates it to the slightly surreal or as said above 'dreamlike' impression, but not remarkably so.

I was curious as to why this image does not feel "right" to me. Though the source image as posted in Marta's portfolio is very low resolution, it appears that the birds are a composite from another image. The light source on the birds looks to be opposite that of the base image, adding to the surreal feel. In an enlarged view, the right-side wings are highlighted, the left-side wings in shadow, while the base image has the light source from the left-background. This may have been intentional. Still, this tidbit contributes materially to my own lack of engagement.

OK, not only are the birds posted into this image, but they are duplicated multiple times. Most of the individual birds appear 2-3 times, though their positional relationships vary, as does the light falling on them. The PP technique used to insert the birds is fairly seamless. It is inconsistent lighting and object repetition that gives it away. The color and other manipulations now become suspect as being intentional to disguise the composite.

Now that we know this image is make-believe, how does that impact our perception of it? For me, I become curious about Marta's intended message, since she clearly applied substantial effort to assemble this image, though I find such heavy-but-concealed manipulations off-putting. I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

Good observation, David. I now see the duplicate birds too. As for my perception, it does not change that much with this knowledge. This image was nothing too close to reality to begin with. I saw this as surreal as opposed to a moment capture. The unreal color scheme gives it a dream-like sensation and I am not ashamed to say, that I do like the color scheme. I differ with Marie and opine that pure BW will make it more mediocre, and the artifacts of composite imagery in that case will become more unappealing, since my mind will try to imagine this as a real scene.

The photo never really caught my attention, whether manipulated or not. The view could have been interesting. The birds not really.
Marta is badly served by this choice of the elves which doesn't really provoke a debate either. Look at her portfolio ! She has a photographic eye for many very diverse scenes.

Alfred Hitchcock also added birds, and nobody for this reason didn't reproach him. Your photo gained the excellent atmosphere.

Alfred Hitchcock's added birds were to an appropriate scale, had a sense of depth that matched the landscape, and didn't stand out for inconsistent lighting with the rest of the scene.

If someone adds the birds is not so that they were not wisible, but wants to highlight and emphasize the depth of the image.