Splash #8

superb

Damn. This is very good. These patterns are positively hypnotic. I don't think I have ever seen a better, natural depiction of fractal geometry. Damn.

David, thanks. This second set of images was taken with a borrowed 180mm macro lens specifically to try to home in on the surface distortions. This small formation looked quite Mandelbrot, as you have noticed. Cheers.

Your focus selection is spot on; from the wonderfully diffuse honeycomb pattern, it really snaps into the "fractals." I quite like the colour balance in this one, too.

Oh yeah, this takes the idea from the previous set and really explodes it. Love it.

I love this set, texture, even tone is great. Most original shots i have seen here for a long time.

Highest rate for your set!

A fascinating subject. This is my favourite from your mini-series so far - as already noted, resembling fractal geometry, very original shot, masterly the tones, tack sharp detail. You can even see small irregularities in the oil film on the water surface. One of the best abstracts I have seen on PN.

This one goes in my favorites pages.

 

The short straight line scratches add an interesting counterpoint to the bolder curved distortions.

 

It looks like you're also experimenting with tonality, which is part of what this site is for, but for continuity (perhaps on your web site?) I'd vote for brown, rather than blue, on all of them.

Yes, this one is by far the strongest in the series for me too Leigh. Those fringe reflections are just great. The only problem I have is that I keep wanting to tilt my head to the right. I might prefer the horizontal version, rotated 90deg anti-clockwise, even though that might reduce the dynamics and abstract nature of the shot somewhat.

Thank you all.

 

The shooting angle of several of these does make them feel slightly disturbing. I had to juggle camera position and angle to include the gauze reflections, leading to some interesting tripod (and photographer) positions.

Leigh, everything was said already, that series is even richer in compositions , textures and patterns than the first ones.I like all of them, but that one is my favorute, very original series. Pnina

cool, great image

Don't know how I found this, but I'm glad I did. Reminds me of M.C.Escher....

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. It is simply an image that the Elves found interesting and worthy of discussion. Discussion of photo.net policy, including the choice of Photograph of the Week should not take place here, but in the Site Feedback forum.

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Thank you and enjoy!

This is beautifully done and it is a reminder of the perennial possibilities for innovative and original photography that are always right under our noses. I confess that it took me a moment to put it in the correct perspective, i.e., to see the stark realism inhering in it.

 

--Lannie

I second all the positive comments above. One point I would mention however, is that if one came upon this picture with no introduction, it would be difficult to immediately see what natural phenomenon it came from. It looks wholly abstract. That's not a bad thing. But if it were more immediately recognizable as a natural splash, I think the impact of the abstract would seem more striking. Either way, it is a very engaging image.

Very interesting. I like it, the diagonal format of the image and the high contrst in the reflection. There is also a strong difference in the structure in the wet part of the image, and in the dry part that makes the picture interesting.

Well done

What an incredible image! I would love to know a little more about the technique you've used to get the water in such a pattern. Is there some oil on the metalic surface underneath?

 

I would also love to know how you got the lovely honeycomb effect in the lighting, but maybe that would be taking all the mystery away....

I don't know if this presentation is any good or not, but I do think it is interesting. I suggest that it is a Macro Study in Surface Tension with lighting provided behind a perforated screen. The photo keeps dazzeling my eye like an optical illusion, or one of those nasty, insistant little pop-up ads that blink on and off which you cannot overlook, and are seemingly forced to act on.

 

Like many of the reviewers, I would be interested in seeing how this photograph (and others in your portfolio) were done, but perhaps, that is the exercise--to figure out for ourselves the lighting, materials, etc.

 

This would look great as a very large picture displayed against a brick wall in some large office situation.

Very striking, beautiful in many ways. Reminds and inspires me to attempt more abstracts

than I have done lately; makes me nostalgic for the texture which film capture can bring to

this sort of subject. Nice duotone treatment.. everything except the camera angle is

fabulous.

 

I'm not sure if others will agree, but I believe a 90ﾺ anti-clockwise rotation would be

better, showing as it would the 'natural'

perspective, where at present it's really disturbing to the eye. I realise this adds something

to the

unreality of the abstract, but it lasts only a fleeting moment before I start getting annoyed

by it, wanting to view it with my head tilted to one side. It's an old (and not very

successful, IMO) trick to 'weird-out' the viewer and make the abstraction more

immediately unsettling. Or maybe this is just my over-familarity with the medium - a

fresher eye might see it differently.

 

Still a top image, from a really nice collection.

This image immediately drew me closer. Great macro abstraction, I really love you sense of

texture and creative lighting.

 

There is also an interesting connection between the texture and a certain movement in the

water, or a tearing rather, as if the water is being pulled up and is "ripping" away, leaving a

trail of shred-like bits. Very unwaterly behavior. This adds a great deal of intensity to the

already abstract photo.

 

A previous comment proposed a 90ﾺ counter turn to create a more natural feeling in the

image. I can see how such a turn would certainly add some grace to the motion of the

fractaled water. We tend to want to see water falling down, not ripping up. We tend to

want things to move left to right, since that is how we read; it's how our brains most

comfortably pan and observe. The composition discretely seems somewhat chronologically

backwards. What a difference a simple turn can make! By having the motion move against

our eye's grain we have the effect of force; a strong sense of energy moving and pulling

and twisting across the frame. This technique can be applied to many different

photographic situations to obtain a sense of tension in the subject.

 

One thing I would like to see that isn't present is a different ratio. Leigh, what about the

wider frames you used on all those wonderful land and sea scapes? I think that more

horizontal frame space, filled with the gauze pattern on the left, and leaving the same size

of water rippage in the right, would really exaggerate the motion of the water. It would

seem as if the the water was alive and had just stepped on a hot coal, jumping up from the

pain. Ha.

 

Nice work, keep it up.

 

-David Kenedy

Leigh , finally your work is up there with all other POW's, I am so glad, I love your work, but never seen this before, I love this, great choice of tones and such brilliant capture of light, congratulations!! regards, Rajeev.

Hmm, life imitates math. Was it Mandelbrot who said that? Joking aside, a wonderful photo.

Congratulations on this - very unique view that plays with your imagination. Good pick for POW in my estimation because it's so different than the ordinary!

Creative, beautiful and thought provoking. Definitely deserves the honor of being chosen POW.

 

Kathy