I've never been to Berlin but it's a city I always imagine in B&W. B&W brings out lines and edges as on the metal filagree work here. Objects placed close to an edge and given balance by an extended fine line on the opposite side are another like of mine. I can't make up my mind about the two tadpole like shapes to the left of the lamp and the barely seen smudge below the lamp. Would I like the three of them more if I could decipher them? Would I like the whole image more if they were removed? Does anyone else have an opinion on these?
Jan. 29, 2025
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Mike's questions are ones that I wrestled with as well on this image. There are parts of it that I really like and others that I don't understand. With an image like this, where I don't immediately get the point, I try to see if I can discern the photographer's intent. And I must admit I couldn't. That is in no way a negative comment on the photograph or the photographer, but rather it says a lot about my inability to see beyond the literal.
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Lots of empathy.
1. I'm pulling up a large area of my backyard to replace lawn with an Australian native garden and vegetables. Predictably I chopped through a water pipe and wasn't happy. My fix was much easier than yours.
As part of the Australian native garden thinking I've been searching tree data bases for things with gnarled trunks. Yours would do me nicely but there are many years to go.
In the photo, I'm seeing something quite different. I like the balcony. We have wood in two forms. Wild. twisted and old. Or processed to serve man. Straight, regular, painted up. The trunk frames the balcony. That trunk is never going to allow itself to be used for dressed timber. -
Yes, totally agree. The original image was very busy and the crop really reflects what I wanted to achieve. Well done. Thanks.
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It’s your real Berlin - Background info
Here is a bit of background information on my photo this week, starting with the title.
I normally spend some time thinking of a title, which may give clues to what I am trying to say with the image.
The subject is rather odd, with a streetlight and a motorcycle and rider seemingly falling from the sky behind it, so in trying to explain it, the viewer might think it was a composite of multiple images, however, although the photo has seen plenty of post-processing, the scene was exactly as shown, so “It’s your real Berlin”.
The point behind the image was that it was mysterious, dream-like and difficult to comprehend, giving the viewer something to think about. If you say the title quickly, it sounds like “It’s surreal Berlin”, which is what the image is trying to be.So how was it taken?
I visited a rooftop café in Berlin and was surrounded by interesting architecture, and in one direction I was intrigued by buildings with many vertical lines. One had a screen showing adverts in a loop, mostly pretty faces and smiling teeth, but also one involving a motorcycle stunt, and the idea of a building with a falling motorcycle on it was bizarre enough to whet my appetite, so I waited for the loop to show it again before pressing the shutter button. Photographically, I was travelling light that day, with a couple of primes, so could not zoom in. As you can see below, the photo as taken doesn’t really work.
Like Minnie, I too squirrel away my failures, and sometimes rescue them with better software and skills or, as here, by playing photographer a second time, using the crop tool to remove the unnecessary, and effectively be the telephoto that I didn’t have at the time. That left me with this image, which is what I was going to post on this thread originally. (I am always pleasantly surprised at how well the sharpness of the el cheapo Olympus plastic fantastic 45mm (90mm FF field of view) stands up to considerable cropping.)
At the last minute I decided that if I wanted a surreal image, I should go all the way and remove the last clues to the objective world, leaving a beautifully ornate lamp, a falling motorcycle and rider and a line, which usefully aided the balance of the composition. Bizarre and interesting!
I came up with two versions. This one …..
…. and this one, which I posted.
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It's a classic b&w image and works best as is. Well done.
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I agree with Minnie, rails have to go. They just disrupt pure and natural image of a tree.
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Mike . . .
Victory!
Twelve solder joints. Not pretty, but when I turned the water pressure back on - not of molecule of water leaked anywhere!
Rich
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Thanks Pete, an artist should feel no compulsion to explain their work but I love it when they share the thinking and development and we can go along for the ride.
I suspected there was a message in the title but I wasn't seeing it.
The white background is better in bringing out the sharp lamp edges and the ultra real makes the indistinct area all the more challenging as we mull over the image.
Leaving the red bits would be good too with the white background.I go through my catalogue every now and again and I cull ruthlessly. It's mainly cropping possibilities that I'm looking for when when I revisit less interesting shots with an axe in hand. Digital has changed my approach to cropping. Apart from shots I take of landscapes where I'm thinking of large prints and sales. I no longer bother with careful framing as I take the shot. I'll look for lines and ideas but assume I'll be doing the careful framing in PP. If I get time I'll revisit the responses to my Japanese post this week and discuss in camera and pp framing some more.
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Notre Dame Basilica of Montreal
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It's an extraordinary photo that draws me in like a magnet.
Where should I start?
The tour guide celebrating the tea-making process, as many do in Libya.
The lighting, the color of his clothes and the reflections of the fire on his face...
All the best things come together in this composition.
I can understand very well why you remember this photo again.
It's worth it. -
Wow! No matter how you arrived at that image it feels really balanced. The colours, tones and transitions work so well together - dreamlike...
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Very good photo, I like it a lot.
