At the eleventh hour II

Thanks for comments and raitings

Wow Roger, this is superb. Can you offer some details on how you achieved this expsoure. Looks a bit like HDR.

Thanks for your comment.

Yes it's HDR made of 3 exp. -2. 0 and +2 stepps

//Roger

Impressive landscape. Striking colours. Appealing photo. How would it look like with some cropping on the bottom and both sides? Karl

Great shot. Good colours, composition and originality. The sky and light is wonderful. Best regards!

Wonderful shot! Brilliant! I would LOVE to go there!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Excellent... breathtaking.... The light, the colors, the drama, the technique......... PERFECT!

Ooolala...very nice.

Excellent capture of the available light

Amazing composition, colors, light and post processing. Congratulations.

This is wild! Terrific shot.

incredible subject, light and composition

Nice shot, but I think that it would have been better if you had been closer, or if you had cropped more tightly.

 

--Lannie

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An excellent photo with a deep DOF. I love the composition and the mystery/horror aspect of this picture. I can see something like this framed on the wall, hanging proudly! This works well.

 

[ 20mm, 2 seconds at f/22, ISO 400? ]

Let me preface this by saying that maybe I'm just a grumpy old man and everyone should ignore me, but I have a problem with about ninety percent of the HDR photos that I've ever seen because they are instantly recognizable as being overwrought, post-processing-heavy computer files instead of beautiful photos. I understand that the point of HDR is to mimic the latitude of the human eye, making photographs seem more realistic and less contrasty, which is a goal that I can get behind. But why do so many HDR photos seem to fit in a genre of their own as giant billboards for Adobe? As far as this picture is concerned, the hackneyed HDR effect combined with the weird vignetting along the sides, the 3D shadow effect and the cheesy title all combine to overwhelm and undermine what could have been an okay photo.

First of all, the color tones jump out at me. Did I ever see such color. Even if I had not ever seen such color in real life. Believe me, I have seen both sunrises and sun sets in all the great oceans of the world, including close to the Antarctic ocean, in all kinds of conditions, and over many lakes including the great lakes, over sandy beaches, over pebbled beaches, in cloudless skies and over skies with little floating clouds. Sunsets and sunrises fascinate me. I have also fallen to the temptations of taking sunsets and sunrises many times. But I no longer find pictures of these compelling, including this one. That has nothing to do with the 'skill' of the photographer--evidently, the technical skill of the mind behind this photograph is quite good, possibly better than I can ever hope to achieve. I have nothing against stretching the reality to represent one's own interpretations either--in the good tradition of the impressionist, or of the cubists, for example. Yet, this photo, the hyper-realism of it, its truly enticing color tone, does not attract me. To a large extent my unfavorable reaction to this photo is due to what it does not show than due to what it does. What it does not show to me is the mind of the photographer as he took this photo, beyond his attempt to reproduce, craft, embellish, a quality of light at the water's edge. That to me is painfully insufficient. A lost opportunity. In an image I want to take a peek at the creator's mind. Perhaps the intent here is to let us see The Creator's mind--but, alas, I admit no such entity. So I wish to see beyond the color of the photo into the mind of the photographer himself, transcending his mere craft, into his own thoughts. This I cannot do. Evidently, my own limitation.

Let's not forget that this photo was chosen as a good example a HDR. Maybe it's a attempt from the elves to teach us how to do it right, because there are hundreds and thousands of bad HDRs posted here and what is even more grave, people seem to like them. I'm tempted to give some examples, but I know it's not something very nice to do.

 

About the... photo itself. The problem with it I think is the composition - which is saved by the incredible light/HDR effects. What is wrong with the composition? It is arid. It has no life. More than half of the image consists in soulless rocks which also gives it a static feeling. Maybe a crop would help. But as mentioned before, to give up the 3D shadows is the best you can do. However, I like the vignetting.

This picture has got so many different factors in it . The hard, robust, harshness of the stones , Soft fluffyness of the clouds , the wooden texture jumps out and in the corner of the wooden structure a little greenness creeping out.I love this picture!The picture might not be striking in the obvious but look closer and feel or smell the different components.Well done

My understanding of the utility of HDR is that it works for situations in which use of a graduated neutral density filter is impossible. An example would be a dark archway which has detail in the shadows that you want to preserve, while not blowing out the highlights of the scene framed by the archway. Anyway, this particular photo is ideally suited for a GND filter. So why the choice of HDR over GND filter? One thing that HDR offers us here is muted tones and decreased global contrast, while local contrast has been preserved. It would be interesting to see a study in both techniques of the same image.

 

The image itself communicates loneliness and desolation to me. And slowly freezing in a remote location during the long, dark winter which is to come (can you tell I'm tired of winter now?). I think cropping would change the feel of the photo, de-emphasizing the feeling of isolation.

Excellent choice of the elves, both in terms of technical application of HDR as well as a

composition that speaks to me in a profound way. It's the variation in light and the

presence of shadows that makes us ask whether this is HDR, and having to ask is an

indication of good HDR. Regarding the composition, the photograph resonates with the

struggles I've seen around me and those that I've faced in my own life. The broad

foreground of barren rocks, the long-weathered beach side buildings that have withstood

many storms of wind and rain, the setting sun and a gathering of gray clouds, and only a

tiny hint of green living matter amidst an otherwise lifeless landscape.... all of these

elements embody a "life is hard" experience, and that's one of the deepest, longest

enduring aspects of the human condition. "It's arid....soulless rocks" -- precisely! If a

viewer is not struck by this message, I would agree that this marks his/her own limitation,

because it is flowing through all of the elements here. Yet this is not a depressing photo

or a depressing message, because Roger has captured beauty in the light, and the

composition he has chosen has its own aesthetic qualities. Great image from a skilled and

insightful photographer.

Maybe it's just me and a few old grummpies but this sort of HDR is really giving digital photography a bad name.

 

I tried tools such as Photomatix for about 6 months and finally gave up because it just isn't there. Not yet anyway. This photo is a classic example of what is wrong with HDR. So to say that it is "A good example of where HDR can go when it is done well" is beyond my understanding.

 

For those interested in increasing latitude I have placed an image in my Temporary folder where I show just how easy it is to produce a natural looking photo without overdoing it with this really horrible looking HDR effect. All my other images are created the same way when the shots were bracketed.

 

I am in no way criticizing the author as he has the right to do as he pleases, but I strongly disagree that this image is worthy of being the Photo of the Week.

Congratulations, Roger. I have always enjoyed your work and it's great to see you receive the recognition you deserve! IMO, you have an exquisite eye for light and composition and apparently a few other people do as well!

I don't mind the composition at all, in fact. It is soulless, arid, yes, but at least we are clearly informed that this picture is about a sad, desolated place, where life is probably hard indeed. Does the image move me by its desolation...? Well, a little... Not greatly... But mostly, I would like to discuss the light here...

 

I'm affraid I agree with W. Keats: 1) lighting looks very artificial, and 2) the vignetting is a mistake - but perhaps not exactly the vignetting itself, rather the contrast between the vignetted area, and the bright stones in the middle.

 

The HDR work has made this picture look very un-real, because the light isn't realistic. I'd say this is correct HDR, but overdone, and finally not precisely done enough. There is a given lattitude of contrast in reality, and the photographer went a few important steps beyond the limit of realism here. See attachment.

 

Now of course, there will always be some people who will say that a picture doesn't need to be realistic at all. I agree, in a way - but we still don't live on a planet with 2 suns, and the laws of nature (i.e. the laws of light too) need too be respected - just so the eye feels comfortable watching the frame. Even a picture of a Martian who just landed on Earth would still need Light fron Planet Earth. A little burning and dodging is ok of course, PROVIDED lighting doesn't look IMPOSSIBLE. Not sure whether I made myself very clear in English, but at least I tried. The file attached will hopefully be more eloquant than I was. :-)

Love the angle that you took this picture it gives the photo a good sense of desolation. Beautiful colors.