* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #877 / Revived #097 on 2025 02 05*

First a quick heads-up: we are nearing a milestone.
In just THREE weeks, the 100th edition of this thread on DPRevived will be published.
Let's not let that pass without fanfare. Suggestions are welcome.

But now on to the order of the day/week:

Welcome to the Wednesday Comments and Critique (No Theme & No Brand) thread!

We are dedicated to continuing the great tradition of this C&C thread because we are convinced that looking at, and talking about images is vital for better photography.

Our tried and tested concept (15 years and running!) is a weekly "peer-to-peer" photo comments & critique encounter, in which you GIVE and RECEIVE.

The idea is simple: you post a photo or photo-based image that you have made and get critique on it. And in return you give other people your honest but constructive opinion of their images.

Any Theme, Any Camera, Any Style, Any Subject.

We are still figuring out how to create the convenience of threaded view on this new forum.
For now, let us agree that you post an image or essay with a title and short explanation, and that all comments include the image as a quote.
Replies to comments may or may not include quotes.

THREAD GUIDELINES – THE SHORT & SWEET VERSION
• This thread does not care about brands. It’s not about the tool, but the image.
• Post one image or essay that you have made and would like to get comments on.
An entry can either be a single image or a short essay. With an essay we mean not a collection of random images without any connection, seeking C&C on more than one of them. We mean instead a limited number (3 to 10) of connected images that together try to tell a story, create a fuller picture of a situation, event or location, etc.
• Add a clear title to your post to distinguish your entry.
• Look at the other images/essays and give your comments on at least one of those.
• For comments, try to go beyond a simple pat on the back or a short dismissal.
• Do you like an image (or essay) ? Try to explain WHY it appeals to you.
• Negative feedback is OK (we all want to learn), but be polite and constructive. Try to explain why the image (or essay) does not appeal to you and how it might be improved.
• Please stay on topic, i.e. concentrate on the image and the photographic comments, without getting into politics or other distractions. No non-photographic arguments.

The critique you give is vital.
What was your first impression? What catches your eye about an image? Why?
What do you like, and what distracts you? What would you change?

Fiddle with the image in your head - composition, perspective, color balance, exposure.

PLEASE NOTE CLEARLY:
Unless the original poster specifically states (for every individual posting offered for C&C) that they do not want their image(s) to be downloaded, altered or reposted, it is understood that within the context of this thread, other participants are free to download and alter the posted image and repost it in a reply for C&C purposes. That reposted image may remain permanently within the week's thread, or you may remove it after a short period of time if you prefer. The downloaded and altered images are not to be used for any other purposes nor uploaded anywhere else than within the context of the C&C in this thread. No copyright disputes here!

Encourage - it is a scary business putting your work up for other people to judge!

More general feedback is also welcome.
Do you know something about taking the same sort of image that would make matters easier - share your own as an example in your reply.

Have fun, be respectful and let’s stick together!

HOW MAN TAMED THE DRAGON

Last week's experiment to revisit and revise an image of Libya 2009, made me realize (with shame) how many images I still have on my harddrive, unexplored and untouched after the rather frantic bit of traveling we did in the past 15 years.

Here is one from our trip through China in March 2019, with the last of the day's sun on the rice terraces near Ping An.
Some of these are appropriately called the Dragon's Backbone terraces.

It was the season in which those terraces are not lush with fresh green rice plants, nor golden with ripe plants ready for harvest..
Before getting there I had been worried that the views would be sub-optimal.
Turns out that the fields being flooded, and getting readied for the next cycle, is not bad at all.

I had never actually processed this image before.

(Cautionary tale: it's not a bad thing to have a backup for your backup.
On that China trip I had managed to break not one but two cameras. I had dropped my LX100 onto its lens while walking on the Great Wall (third day of our trip), and a few days later, the shutter of my E-M1 had reached the end of its natural life cycle after several tens of thousands of actuations.
I bought a new (secondhand) E-M1 on the final days of our trip, in the used camera walhalla of Hong Kong.
But in the meantime there were almost two full weeks where I was very happy that I had been so cautious as to also stuff the ultra petite GM-5 in a side pocket of my camera bag. That little gem of a camera with two lenses and two batteries recorded most of our China trip.)

The Ochre Pits.
A dried up watercourse in Central Australia that has multicoloured clays and rocks that are used for pigments for traditional art and body painting.
Pigments from this location have been found over 1000km away suggesting that the pigments were used for trade.

There wasn't much color in it to begin with...

Pearl River bend last week in fog.

""" Waiting...***

Empire Sandy moored in Toronto Harbour over the winter months and waiting for Spring.

She was built in England and joined WW II effort in 1943 as a deep sea tugboat vessel. Came to Canada in 1950's and was a workhorse towing timber in Lake Superior, Ontario. Late 1970's she was totally rebuild in 1880's fashion as a sailboat and became a Tall Ship.

At present she is the biggest sailing schooner in Canada and is used as a charter vessel for corporate functions etc.

Now, that is a multi season image. Could be anytime, but above all it posesses timeless atmosphere of mystery. Excellent effort.

Very unique and modern take on an entrance. Colours and contours of a structure against nighttime make it interesting.

Earthy mosaic with fabulous variety of natural colours draw your eye towards the surface for exploration. Like an abstract painting. Super find.

This is absolutely amazing image. Longer I look more I see. Colours, shapes, textures and above all - I did notice human figure and a lonely tree. These 2 elements, for me create juxtaposition so necessary to admire this capture. Exceptionally unusual photo of a natural phenomenon. Superb.
Almost like a shell...

Warm to Cold

Yesterday was a dreary, cold day with low cloud and a bit of mist in the air. Then the radio reported bright sunshine and clear blue skies at the top of our nearest mountain (if you call 880m or 2,900ft a mountain!). There was a weather inversion, causing the air near the ground to be colder than the air higher up, with clouds of freezing fog near where the two layers met and, with no wind to stir it up, it stayed that way. Since there is a road to the top of the mountain and only a good half-hour to get there, it was an easy decision to jump in the car.
Oh boy was it worth it. The beauty was a welcome magic potion for eyes and soul, and it was great fun photographically too.
Here is one with the foreground trees in the dying rays of the Sun, dark trees lower down whose frost had already been melted but now in shade, ghostly white trees no longer in the freezing fog but stll covered in frost and then the fog itself.

Like a minniev's shot above, this image has a fabulous atmosphere
, but with colours. Kind of seasonal layers from warm to cold. Amazing capture of nature at it's best.

It is a great and tasty layer cake of an image.
I've toyed around a bit with possible other crops (not necessarily better, but just different from the original) : * 1:1 square; * 3:2 horizontal and 16:9 horizontal, * and even a 3:4 vertical to see if that created even more depth by emphasizing verticality.
But with every attempt, my mind's eye clearly felt I was missing something essential: * the rhythm of the trees, * the gold at the bottom, * or the darker sky at the top (the image is less succesful if the sky is all white).

So there you have it. No suggestions at all for another crop.

Bottles

A booth at a street fair.

Rich