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Jefferson and Washington(s)
Jefferson and Washington(s)
levyj413

See how this photograph was created!


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Night Shot IV (Basic Editing)
Collection: Other shots
Camera: Canon PowerShot S2 IS
Location: Washington, DC
Date: Apr 9, 2007
Aperture: 8.0
ISO: 50
Shutter: 15s (see comments)
Galleries: Architecture, Travel
Date Uploaded: Apr 10, 2007

It's always a challenge (pun intended) to shoot the Washington, DC monuments creatively because they've been photographed literally millions of times. I initially went out to retake this shot from my portfolio:


I got some very nice results, too. But then I wondered about doing multiple exposures in one shutter click. And I decided that having two Washington Monuments would be better than just one.

How I took the shot.

This was a lot of fun!

Editing was, well, basic: a small rotation, cropping, noise reduction, a slight curve, upped the blacks a bit with a selective color layer, and sharpening. Oh, and I cloned out a few hot pixels.

Post-challenge: yippee! 2nd-most comments ever and 7th-highest score ever. I think it's interesting that the two negative comments are from neighbors. I have no problem with anyone's opinion - how boring it would be if we all liked the same things! It's just interesting.

I'm also not really arguing that the buildings look better this way than in real life, only that the triple exposure added visual interest. :)

Statistics
Place: 34 out of 266
Avg (all users): 6.3764
Avg (commenters): 7.0476
Avg (participants): 5.9176
Avg (non-participants): 6.5860
Views since voting: 2747
Views during voting: 430
Votes: 271
Comments: 35
Favorites: 4 (view)


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AuthorThread
05/30/2007 03:31:34 PM
Dont you hate it when you put all your time into one shot and all you get is 34?

You should have been in teh top 5 for this shot. I loved it. Gave you a 10 all the way...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/30/2007 03:41:40 PM
You know, when I voted on this during the challenge, I really liked it for the clarity and the reflections. And I saw it was "validated" and I had no idea what on earth was wrong with it. Well - gee - I sure am unobservant. Knock on head - there is only ONE Washington Monument. So - wow what a great pic! It's very beautiful. Very clever way to design the pic. Thanks for explaning how you did this.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/25/2007 04:25:32 PM
A great symettrical piece here. Good use of the reflections, and very clever setup!

  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/19/2007 05:47:05 PM
Great work! Amazing shot. You have a great notion of visualizing the shot. Truly unique and glad it did so well for you

I am guessing the low scores were because it was "Basic" and many didn't deem it basic. Too bad it wasn't advanced, because some people just don't give the benefit of the doubt.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/19/2007 06:48:49 AM
Wow Jeff! This is gorgeous! Very well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/19/2007 05:06:44 AM
Originally posted by Art Roflmao:

Shazaaam, Jeff! Amazing work!! But you may have shot yourself in the foot because I believe many voters will lowball if they think it this was done illegally (even if the red text says otherwise) or if they think it was done through legal trickery. That's the only way I could explain so many votes of 5 and less, IMO.

btw, in your diagram, where it says "camera on tripod" it should have said "grassy knoll" :)


I don't believe that's the case. The only way to know this was done with "one-shot multiple exposure" is if you have actually been there (or at least seen a lot of pictures of the place).

For my part, being an European who have never been in Washington, I had no idea and took this as a normal one-exposure shot. (and a nice one)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/18/2007 08:48:56 PM
Thanks for explaining the process of multiple exposures. I'm going to give that a try. Considering the difficulty of this technique, I think this is a superb accomplishment.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/18/2007 11:53:36 AM
Yes am One of the neighbors, I was not being negative, I was just questioning it how it was done. I gave it a ten, once he told me how it was done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/18/2007 10:05:30 AM
I still think this is one of the prettiest night scenes I've ever seen! It is breathtaking. . .and it should have scored much higher than 6.3!

  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/18/2007 08:34:54 AM
Very nice shot Jeffrey. You're the master of the monuments.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/18/2007 08:19:18 AM
Woo hoo! Great score, Jeffrey! Looks very complicated - that diagram gives me nightmare flashbacks of geometry class :-) Seriously, excellent image and great job of pulling off an illusion successfully in basic editing.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/18/2007 05:00:01 AM
Very clever! I thought this was yours but got confused when in one of the forums you said you tried something different... Then again, this *is* different!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/18/2007 01:52:26 AM
Shazaaam, Jeff! Amazing work!! But you may have shot yourself in the foot because I believe many voters will lowball if they think it this was done illegally (even if the red text says otherwise) or if they think it was done through legal trickery. That's the only way I could explain so many votes of 5 and less, IMO.

btw, in your diagram, where it says "camera on tripod" it should have said "grassy knoll" :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
04/17/2007 07:38:03 PM
OK, David Copperfield in reverse, how did you do that?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/16/2007 02:56:52 PM
How did you duplicate the washington Memorial would that be a disqualification?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/16/2007 08:23:58 AM
would have been a nice shot without the double exposure and the physical movement of the monumnets. They are beautiful all by themselves.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/16/2007 01:13:53 AM
great photo, congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/16/2007 12:43:18 AM
I got a prett good idea who did this ;p, my guess is you used a black cloth took the phot on the right, covered it, rotated tripod to the left and removed the cloth, nice work jeffrey, good luck. If your name is not jeffrey, I apologize, your shot is very well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/15/2007 11:41:01 AM
Certainly not a standard DC shot ;-) Can't wait to see the details; you've definitely created a pretty, balanced night scene.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/14/2007 09:31:24 PM
Nice reflections.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/14/2007 07:33:52 PM
I guess I am confused as to why you would do this in an image of a well known spot. Why is the Washington monument in the image twice? I don't see it for the sake of art.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/14/2007 03:47:50 PM
Nice exposure and great reflections off the still water. :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/13/2007 06:45:24 PM
Jeffrey is this you?? Love the towers (washingtons) the red lights at the top make them take on an almost living quality, the reflection rocks also!!very nice shot!! 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/13/2007 12:51:30 AM
Nice the way Bush had another Washington Monument built just for this picture - Nowadays he'll do anything for a better performance rating. LOL!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/12/2007 11:36:42 AM
This is beautiful, but I am totally confused by it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/12/2007 12:16:14 AM
Marking as a favorite - as I need to find out how you made two of the Washington Monument! Well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/12/2007 12:09:32 AM
gorgeous
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/11/2007 09:22:48 PM
Well this is interesting! I see it has been validated already (that was quick). I guess this is a double exposure. It's very clear, not bad!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/11/2007 05:56:39 PM
WOW!! You did some AMAZING photography here!! If I didn't see the "This photo has been validated" stamp, I'd wonder. I am in awe of this photo. It is so stunningly beautiful. Night photography at its best! Razor sharp and crystal clear. And of course, the magical water with accompanying reflections are out of this world! Bravo!!! 11 (there SHOULD be a 10+ for photos like this!)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/11/2007 03:36:57 PM
Great subject. Well composed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/11/2007 12:06:01 PM
very nice :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/11/2007 11:19:43 AM
Good idea using reflection. I like the almost symmetrical order of things too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/11/2007 11:05:07 AM
I see this has been validated, but it just doesn't look right to have two Washington Monuments.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/11/2007 10:57:32 AM
Hmmmm, looks like Jeffrey at his memorials again :-) How in the world did you pull off two Washington monuments? It's a conspiracy, I tell you - they are popping up everywhere!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/11/2007 12:09:31 AM
Camera in mirror mode?
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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