raw power

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no, i won't bore you with this topic here again. but raw power this is, the power of the green weißbach waters (which is kind of oxymoronic as weißbach means white creek) cascading down in their canyon. having worked quite a while on this picture i am still not completely satisfied. i think i managed quite well to bring out the deep colors of water and moss as well as the brilliance of the reflections, but compositionally the right border puzzles me because of the out-of-focus blur. f-stop was already 11, 16 might have been better but at an focal length of 180 mm-e i doubt it would have rendered the rock in complete sharpness. i tried some cropping, but for several reasons i want to stick with the old barnackian 3:2 ratio (i estimate it to be more dynamic than 4:3) and then i loose too much of the diagonals, rocks and whitewater. so i will have to live with it. a view camera might have helped to solve this problem, or 2 shots with different planes of focus (i had used a tripod anyhow) and following combination in the gimp. alas - would/should/could doesn't really help, so i enjoy what i have got and what i am able to destill out of it.

this photo on flickr

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Weißbach flowing

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recently i had discussions with colleagues of the local photo group about moving water in photography. there are obviously two fractions: flow haters aka. freeze lovers and soft flow lovers. whilst the latter enjoy the extension to the human eye in form of the camera's ability to show the movement of the water, the first party bluntly rejects such pictures. for me, both forms of rendering are valid but I do enjoy very much the flow, expressing a distinct feeling of time passing, energy coming and dissipating and offering the eyes and the soul a place to dive in, melt in and re-unite with nature.

the little Weißbach canyon becomes more and more a place of rest and regeneration for me, and capturing the stimulation of all senses in a photography is an everlasting challenge.

the image to the right is a crisp rendering of a spot nearby, strong more in the colors and in the v-shaped direction of the falling waters.

this photo on flickr.

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ice curtains

from yesterday's excursion into weissbach canyon. The light was quite flat on site, but raw processing with lightzone did small wonders. i tried to work out a good effect of the negative space embracing the icicles but still do wonder if it's the best possible crop.

paypal almost ruined the shot. if you could see this shot in full resolution, you would notice it's not razor sharp inspite having been taken with a tripod. But: it was taken with my old tripod, as paypal hold up the (bank collection) payment for the new one for 6 days and therefore it did not arrive in time. and the old tripod is too weak for camera plus zoom. can you imagine how furious I am?

this photo on flickr.

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