pmj

Thanks everybody for their comments and ratings -- both are much appreciated. I do agree about the images being dark and lacking some detail. I guess that's punishment for point and shoot photography. I will add the middle picture, brightened a bit. There really is no detail in the left side of statue; strong light from the right and exposure for the highlights prevented that.

Very impressive indeed. I wonder if it would have been better if we could see a face? Also, maybe having that big piece of clothing behind the dancer instead of in front, would give the photo more of a sense of direction. Just a few thoughts that came up while viewing. I like the lighting and the (resulting) shadow on the ground.

My parents and I visited Oslo, we walked past the statue and I thought

it might make a nice shot against the fountain. I grabbed my dad's

Coolpix because I had just finished and rewound the film in my own

camera, zoomed in, the woman appeared, stopped and looked, so I just

pressed the button at what I thought were good moments.

 

Nice catch? Or more along the lines of "Oh, yeah, well, tourist

looking at statue, next please" ?

 

Thank you for your time!

Attached is the full frame shot.

Regarding flash and reflective materials: what I would try, is the use of a diffusor. Something simple like the StoFen Omnibounce combined with off-camera flash. Experiment with angles so that the light does not get reflected straight into the lens.

It has an Anne Geddes feeling to it, which I like very much. Technically, the photograph could be cleaned up a bit, I think. The flash and its resulting shadow is a bit harsh and the background a little bit distracting. I would certainly try something like this again in a more dedicated setting. On a table perhaps, with nice soft light?

"The Netherlands" (or "les Pays-Bas" in French) means "low countries". It indicates that large parts of our country are actually below sea level. We very much depend on dunes and dikes to prevent the North Sea from flooding our country. The name "Holland" really refers to the provinces Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland, both along the coast, and not the entire country.

The scan is horrible indeed. I had exposed for the brightly-lit buildings, wanting the people to turn into silhouettes. The lab, however, attempted to extract as much shadow detail as possible. I should probably re-scan it myself (and post that as an attachment to this photo).

Craig, indeed the weather was not as clear as we (colleagues and I) had hoped it would be. The "Prifo 1 hour lab" scan may also contribute a bit. Still, you're right, it is a bit too hazy.

Thanks everyone, for the comments and/or ratings. I too think having only one type of table in the photo would be an improvement. However, the deck was not completely abandoned and this was the only view I found that included just a few people.

Well, despite Bob's explanation that The "cloudy" substance is the waves on the rocks below with a 6 second exposure, it still looks like an incredibly dramatic sky to me. I find it difficult to get the idea that we're looking down, not straight or up. Definitely worth a second look!

How come it is a POW? I mean Photo of the week on Mar 23? I saw this stunning photo a long time ago.

All images available on photo.net are candidate for POW; the Elves are in no way restricted to recent images when nominating or voting for POW. See also http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo-of-the-week/about for a very short explanation.

Yes, indeed it has a certain postcard look to it, but by stepping back and including a foreground you have avoided the (IMHO dreadful) effect of tilting your camera backwards to capture the building. The light seems a bit harsh, but overall I find this a pleasing image.

I think there should either have been an interesting sky (more dramatic clouds and/or colours) or more detail in the buildings, possibly with a darker sky. This photograph seems to be an "in betweeny" and it doesn't work (for me, obviously). Also, a little shift to the left to get the entire left tower in frame would have improved the shot.

Nice attempt, but I guess it proves why bird photography starts with a 600 mm lens. The bird is too small to show any real detail. I would also suggesr putting the animal more off-center.

I actually like the frame. With just a little resizing of my browser, I very comfortably viewed the large version. It stands out very nicely against the black.

Regarding the selection process: it is explained in the About POW page.

Regarding the photograph itself... I like it, but I find it very difficult to say why I do so. Perhaps because it's easy to just get lost in a sea of little details and lots of warm colours. The subject per se isn't very interesting, there's nothing happening, so I guess it's just the vague, "dreamy" aspect of it. Well, IMHO, of course.

Carl,

Thanks for your comment. More images of the truck and building site can be found here.

It's a bit of a cheat really, because there are actually "walls" constructed of plastic, water-filled balls. They reflect the sun and when you look through them, they act as wide-angle lenses (with terrible distortion). The attached image shows a wider view of the artwork.

 

A lot of people were taking pictures of these balls -- I hope I didn't annoy too many of them by sneaking up real close and taking forever to "get my shots".

Is all the light in Holland like this? If so... it is a photographers paradise!

Ha, we wish! No, it seems to me that Jaap is a very dedicated photographer (and perhaps a bit lucky as well) with a good eye for colour and composition. I think I have a few nice Dutch polder / landscape photographs myself, but I wouldn't mind being invited to a slide show at Jaap's house :-)

We don't have any mountains, just a few hills (or maybe not even that) in the southern parts, but it is great fun to roam around polders in the early hours of the day. Frost-covered plants in winter, fog in fall or spring, flower fields in spring... if you can manage to avoid the signs of industry (power lines, chimneys, motorways), you can create stunning images indeed.

And this concludes the unofficial message from the Dutch board of tourism :-)

Are the "wings" stationary or rotating? I always forget how this works exactly, but stationary windmill wings have a meaning. In the "going down" position, it means something bad happened such as the death of a person. In the "going up" position, it signifies a happy occasion, like birth or wedding.

 

Not much of a critique of the photo, I know...

I just browsed through your portfolio... can I come over for a slide show?

Scott, I think Beau was referring to his own photo with these comments.

This photograph immediately reminded me of Philip's pictures of bears, such as

 

"chomp-43" from chapter X of TWS.

Perhaps if the trees weren't all in silhouette or there was something in the foreground of interest...

I agree. I like Michael James' Lightning near Bizzel clock tower photo at least as much as this one for that reason. The lightning itself, however, appears much more powerful in this image because of the shape of the "fingers" and because no warm colours whatsoever are present.

This is really just a 'having a bit of fun' shot; see technical

details on how this was achieved. Perhaps the 'Borg green' is a bit

overpowering compared to the red and blue, but I still like it.

Comments appreciated.