lb1

@all: Thx for your encouraging words. :-)

@Carsten: Thank you for your interesting comment, Carsten. Some technical remarks in german for you:

Es ist schon etwas her, dass ich das Bild bearbeitet habe, aber als ein Tonemapping-Skeptiker habe ich damals - glaube ich - mit Luminanz-Ebenen (partiell) gearbeitet. Nichtsdestotrotz ist das natürlich trotzdem auch ein high dynamic range (increase), aber nicht einfach per Knopfdruck aufs gesamte Bild angewandt, mit den "schönen" quarkartigen Säumen und dem künstlich-schimmernden "Politur-Eindruck"... ;-)
Abwedeln und Nachbelichten in der klassischen Schwarzweiß-Fotografie haben für mich z.B. einen ähnlichen Nutzwert: Die Menge macht das Gift, alles sollte wohldosiert sein, außer man möchte Fotokunst zeigen. Daher habe ich die Grenze von HDR für mich ganz bewusst an dieser Stelle gezogen. Ich kann nicht einsehen, dass bei SW-Fotos Bearbeitungen legitim sind, die man bei Farbfotos verdammen soll, wie es manche Hardliner tun. Bei mir hört es aber dort auf, wo man einen Effekt wie Ketchup über das ganze Bild laufen lässt und dieser Effekt womöglich noch Bildfehler produziert (wie die angesprochenen Säume oder die typisch lederartige Hautanmutung bei Tonemapping-Portraits).

All comments are welcome. :-)

Hi Michal, great to find a shot of yours amongst the top shots of the last 24 hours. Well deserved - I like this image, because it is not only composed well and has at the same time elements of the decisive moment in it. I also like the weird character of this kind of "opposing traffic"... Isn't it remarkable, how the omnipresent advertising in our cities is giving our all day life surreal undertones?

Cheers - Lutz

All comments welcome.

Thx for your open minded reaction, Pim. Shooting in RAW is really not that complicated - and f.e. i do not shoot each image in RAW, but all the light critical situations. Maybe you like some further informations about RAW:

If you should decide to check it out one day, you first need a special development-software like Lightroom (expensive but very good). RAW Therapee is a good, free alternative. http://www.rawtherapee.com/

I have to admit, that the development of RAW is a bit more time consuming (by the way: This is the reason, that many professionals (press photographers f.e.) do NOT use RAW - they simply do not have enough time), but it is not very complicated. Just turn a few sliders and in the end you can save your image as jpg or TIF and work with photoshop at the details, if necessary. The difference to a normal jpg-shot is, that there the camera has chosen the settings automatically (each jpg is based on RAW-data), while your own RAW-development allows you to decide from case to case better settings, here and there a bit more details in the shadows, more contrast etc.

Cheers - Lutz

Thank you for your encouraging comment, Paul. We are of the same spirit! ;-)

It looks, as if there is something held inside a "hand". :-) The abstract shapes of natural elements can be very attractive - well seen, Amir.

Cheers - Lutz

Thank you for your encouraging words, Amir. This composition is probable not anybodys taste, but by showing this photo (willfuly, cause i am new as fullmember here) i wanted to check out, how far i can go at Photo.net with showing surreal compositions. (It makes no sense to show abstract or artistic works to people, who are awaiting a zoo lion or a naive flower composition.) I am glad, that most of the people here seem to be advanced photographers with an open mind for "weird" shots. So i will probable show a bit more of this strange stuff in the future... ;-)

Cheers - Lutz

Image was taken near the Teufelsmoor, Worpswede, Northern Germany.

All comments welcome.

All comments welcome.

All comments welcome.

Thx for your comment, Michael. Indeed, i colourized this image and so it got a weird atmosphere here, not really day, not really night. Nay or dight, something like that. ;-)

Hi Pim, i like your sunset composition with the silhouette of the branch in the foreground, which is guiding the view to the sun. Maybe there could be a bit more water (with reflection of the sun) on the photo, but i don't know, what was on location outside the crop. I feel a bit uncomfortable with the outlines of tones in the changeover from the red circle around the sun to the greyblue background. Maybe you shot this image as jpg, i would recommend you to use the RAW format. But alltogether this is a wonderful evening mood with a beautiful colour spectrum from blue (top) to the red around the sun, and the branch inbetween the different zones.

Cheers - Lutz

Somewhat older, taken on a sunday morning (therefor the title ;-)

Any comments welcome.

Image was taken as long time exposure. This time i used a special b&w

transition: I changed the green in post processing with Silver Efex to

this infrared-like look. Minimal further post processing.

All comments are welcome.

I am very glad, that you like this shot and although i have to admit a certain placative effect (some people call each image with a sun on it a cliche :-), i hope, that it transports emotions and a certain "smell" of nature. This shot is a real photo, not a Photoshop painting. It was a great feeling, to stay on location and to remember this morning makes my soul smile! :-)

I was really curious about the reaction of the photo.net community, so thx a lot for your encouraging words, dear friends.

As you all know, the early light is the best light of the day - here i

was lucky with the fog. The shot was made with the D200 and the 18-200

Nikkor, a great lens for such occasions; you can shoot landscapes and

also such shots, all with one lens. And the built in antishake system

is very helpful against the darkness of the early morning.

All comments are welcome.

A bit eye twinkling, maybe humor was also a good section for this

image?! ;-)

Croped from 3:2 to square, shot was taken with Tamron 28-300mm, a few

weeks ago.

Each comments are welcome.

Thx, i already tried it - maybe i will show this shot here. But i have to admit, that i still don't know, whether it looks better or not. ;-)

I probable will have to wait a bit and view the shot with some days distance...

Thx for your feedback, Marichelo.

Shot is from yesterday - a cow "on stage", obviously singing a

Solitude... I thought about a bi-colour toning, but maybe this would

look to artificial, so i used classical sepia here. What do you think

about a different toning?

Taken yesterday in the evening with D200@18-200Nikkor.

Thx, Ricardo. The light was great that day. A mixture of fog and a bit of the sun, behind the clouds. A wonderful light, unfortunately relatively rare, where i live...

Somewhat older, but the post processing (b&w transition via Lightroom

and Photoshop, crop to 16:9) is from today. I am curious about your

opinion...

@Chris: Thx for your suggestion, Chris. You are right, now that you are saying it, i have to agree to you. The tonal definition of the dark spot to the left is a bit too strong - probable a bit depending on the monitor, that one uses (analog, TFT) - but it surely will not harm the image effect, if this area was a bit brighter... Thx a lot for your constructive advice! ;-)

Somewhat older, the post processing is from today. Taken on a

beautiful morning in September 2005, when i had good luck on my "light

safari"... ;-)