tom_schonhoff

I was so taken by this photo when I first found it (before it won POW) that I spent a day or so researching how to build my own kite. I'm profoundly jealous and can only imagine what I might have done with this technique in Antarctica. Marvelous!

 

I'm distracted by the ruby-red color of the glowing magma, which almost certainly radiates much more in the orange-yellow segment. Is this color shift possibly an artifact of your scan?

Something about the exposure and the color of the sky suggest a full daylight photo taken with drastic underexposure. The absence of "sun gems" in the image may belie this, but can the photographer speak on the subject? It would be nice to know more.

There's an eerie similarity between this pose and a passionate kiss, especially in the eyes of the cheetah. It looks so relaxed and tender... hence my suggested title.

 

I liked this enough to look closer, but something kept nagging at me. I copied it into Photoshop and dropped a line down the bridge of his nose, and rotated clockwise to make it vertical. Much better!

 

First a quick note on the title. I tossed it off as an instant and admittedly superficial response to the photo - more because a title was asked of me than because the photo needed words to explain it. Maybe like any other one-liner it has had a short life and should not have outlived its usefulness, but my two defenses are in my view adequate. First, who knew this would get so much attention? Certainly not me. Second, I grew up in Detroit and many years later found myself shooting pictures of penguins in situ. Motown DID meet Antarctica and you can take from that whatever significance you like.

 

In general, after reading your many comments I'd like to apologize to all of you for whom technical excellence in both shooting and electronically correcting your photos is not just second nature but also the least you've come to expect of the online photographer's community in which you participate so eagerly. I'm a rank amateur and new to much of this - perhaps this isn't the best forum for people like me. I exploit this difference in skills by simply asking for your feedback, knowing as I do that so many of you are so skilled and able to be of help.

 

Just so it's clear, I'd owned my first film scanner for only a couple of days when I scanned these shots without manipulation and posted them online to share. I've been hassling with them ever since, noticing among other things a magenta shift and some problems (especially with a showy iceberg shot into a blinding wind) in getting the right level of detail and subtle cyan in the dark foreground.

 

I'm not yet very good at scanning, color correction or photoshop correction of my images. I do come here hoping to find comments, criticisms and articles to help me along that path as do countless thousands of others. Please accept my sincere apologies if by posting these images more or less raw, with the imperfections of my scanning setup in full evidence, has in any way suggested that I don't take these things seriously. In fact I do, but decided to post these shots - culled from well over 100 rolls - because the beauty and enigmatic humor of these subjects left me almost speechless and I wanted them to do the same for you.

 

I look forward to all your comments, your critiques and even your dismissal if that's appropriate in your view. By posting pictures here I've invited the critical eye of hardcore photo professionals and hobbyists and should expect nothing less. I liked all of these well enough to share with friends, print a few for my own use and even print a couple for friends who asked.

 

But don't worry. I know I'm an occasional photographer and have a lot to learn. If you'll accept these photos in the spirit intended, I'll accept any and all comments in the same spirit. Thanks to all of you who took the time to comment, fiddle with my photos and in your own way offer to help me become a better photographer. That's a lot to ask from perfect strangers and I am honestly grateful.

 

 

This shot came within minutes of setting up my tripod at one of our zodiac landings. There's always a lot of traffic on the shore as penguins go from their nests to their feeding grounds in the sea, a seemingly endless process. Penguins often followed a few familiar paths, one of which apparently crossed this boulder toward the camera. In places the rocks were polished smooth from countless clawed feet walking these paths over the centuries.

 

Seeing a few humans as they came over the top of this rock, most penguins would stop and study us for a bit - grouping together as they did so. Since they tended to move in sync as they got into the water (to confuse predators, a sort of flocking behavior) they seemed to do likewise in this uncertain situation.

 

I found a similar shot taken a minute or two later where three penguins lined up in a similar pose. I could have shot for hours without moving the camera more than 50 feet from this spot and never duplicated myself.

 

 

When you say you "rotated nine exposures around the sun", does that mean this is nine exposures on the same frame of film? Amazing and quite a beautiful result.

If I were to do this, I'd try to paint in a sky with some detail in it aside from the moon. A little cloud details or even gradient in the sky tone would 'sell' the juxtaposition of the merged images. I like the idea of this photo very much.

My first impression of the triptych in its thumbnail view was that of a strip of faded, beautiful old postage stamps. It holds up well in larger form too - unusual for something 'shopped' and commendable.

Make that 3 votes - I flipped this over in PS and it's an impressionist painting with a twist.

Like the other reviewer said, this ship feels as though it's in the middle of a hard turn to port - fighting its way back to sea.