A Clouds Ballet at Sunrise
by AllenP

Comment by mbrutus2009:
I'd be interested in see what this looked like as a colored shot. Either way this was my pick for the blue... Awesome photo and congrats on the win. :)

Matrixology
by AllenP

Comment by AllenP:

Originally posted by jagar: How dare you be better looking than me and score higher, it's just not on man. I expected to see this one at the top.

No way John. You're da bomb! ;)

Matrixology
by AllenP

Comment by jagar:
How dare you be better looking than me and score higher, it's just not on man. I expected to see this one at the top.

A Clouds Ballet at Sunrise
by AllenP

Comment by graphicfunk:
When I study any contest image I do not see borders. This image is a 10+. It displays the power of black and white handled with aplomb. Kudos!

Matrixology
by AllenP

Comment by mrchhas:
Someday I'll get to this level.... excellent work.

A Flow of Warmth
by AllenP

Comment by BrennanOB:
Skirting the mundane (yawn, another flower shot) and coming up with such a distinct and complete image deserves special recognition. Deciding to go with such a narrow DOF and placing that focus waaaay over tot he side should have been disastrous, but your framing and the swoop of that petal on the left really make it sing.

A Flow of Warmth
by AllenP

Comment by neenee1999:
Great capture! Wonderful flowing tones.

A Flow of Warmth
by AllenP

Comment by Denielle:
Interesting shot. Nice macro. A little sharper and it would have been outstanding. Love the colors

A Clouds Ballet at Sunrise
by AllenP

Comment by AllenP:

Originally posted by oldbimmercoupe: border adds 100% black which hurts image due to midtones being dominant.

That is the very reason that borders in fact help the eyes to draw to the image. We must be seeing things quite differently, Mr. Border Police ;)

A Clouds Ballet at Sunrise
by AllenP

Comment by AllenP:

Originally posted by hahn23: Magnificent sun star. I love the sky. The image could have been better had you allowed more shadows in the areas which would have been naturally in silhouette. By HDR illuminating so many normally dark areas to such a mid tone gray, it hurts the natural appearance. I don't mean you had to let all go to silhouette, but make you could have made the scene look more like what the human eye can see when looking into shadows against the sunshine.

Thanks, Richard, but when I was standing there, I was able to see those details to the same level of brightness that you see here. Since we only see one side of the photograph, we don't have the other side to compare it to. I am sure if the picture was taken sideways in such a way that we could see both the front and behind the tufas , we could see the tonal/brightness differences hence not having this issue. My point is, one has to see the difference in brightness to draw a conclusion like that, one side is not enough.

Message edited by author 2012-03-28 12:07:23.