One of the perks of my job as a college professor is that I get to do a bit of traveling. I teach photography and so every once in a while, I leave China, so always take my camera with me. Here is a shot of the Italian city of Florence, as shot from the bell tower of the same church. I climbed over 2,000 steps, going up the bell tower and on top of the dome you see in this photo. So, a few months back, I was looking through the images on a slow day and decided to add in a "solarization" technique to the image, just for fun. I liked the results, which you see here. I think as a photographer, it is important to view things in different ways, so that you keep your work "fresh", and I think I accomplished that here (your mileage may vary...). This same scene has been photographed thousands of times, but doing something different makes it unique to me. Anyway, Florence is a magnificent city and quite honestly, I would retire there if I could. Just awesome. Hope you enjoy and have an excellent day!
That is a very nice image. I like the red-brown tonalities interrupting the monotony of the blue roofs. The dome in the foreground offers scale to the viewer.
Very well done using solarization.
Nice take on the scene.
Florence is one of the worlds great cities, no doubt.
Foreground interesting. But the sky as done black looks unnatural and so distracts.
I've visited Florence on a tour. This is a very photogenic city. Just shooting it straight can produce worthy photographs.
I agree that trying a variety of techniques can keep the work of a photographer progressing. Fundamentally, however, the eye of the photographer carries the day when paired with effective photography skills.
Pixeldawg wrote:
One of the perks of my job as a college professor is that I get to do a bit of traveling. I teach photography and so every once in a while, I leave China, so always take my camera with me. Here is a shot of the Italian city of Florence, as shot from the bell tower of the same church. I climbed over 2,000 steps, going up the bell tower and on top of the dome you see in this photo. So, a few months back, I was looking through the images on a slow day and decided to add in a "solarization" technique to the image, just for fun. I liked the results, which you see here. I think as a photographer, it is important to view things in different ways, so that you keep your work "fresh", and I think I accomplished that here (your mileage may vary...). This same scene has been photographed thousands of times, but doing something different makes it unique to me. Anyway, Florence is a magnificent city and quite honestly, I would retire there if I could. Just awesome. Hope you enjoy and have an excellent day!
One of the perks of my job as a college professor ... (
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Solarization done in the darkroom was always an interesting effect. This was done by turning on the room lights for a second or two with the paper in the developer tray. I like your example as a color image. It looks like the combination of negative and positive in one.
Another outstanding capture!
camerapapi wrote:
That is a very nice image. I like the red-brown tonalities interrupting the monotony of the blue roofs. The dome in the foreground offers scale to the viewer.
Very well done using solarization.
No doubt! I am a museum junkie, and saw more magnificent art work in a few days then I had my entire lifetime. Just awesome. The Air B&B that I stayed at was also a 2 minute walk to the Ponte Vecchio. Such an awesome place!
UTMike wrote:
Another outstanding capture!
Thanks so much, Mike. A bit different, but I think if you don't experiment, you lose your creativity. Glad you liked and hope all is well. Good to be back and hearing from you.
Mark
anotherview wrote:
Foreground interesting. But the sky as done black looks unnatural and so distracts.
I've visited Florence on a tour. This is a very photogenic city. Just shooting it straight can produce worthy photographs.
I agree that trying a variety of techniques can keep the work of a photographer progressing. Fundamentally, however, the eye of the photographer carries the day when paired with effective photography skills.
I think I have to disagree about the sky. If you'll notice, the peak of the dome is middle toned, so if the sky were mid toned or light, there would be less impact and the spire would be diminished. I think that it also gives more emphasis to the city itself. And solarization is ALWAYS a large departure from reality as well. I appreciate the feedback though and thanks for looking. Much appreciated.
Tomfl101 wrote:
Solarization done in the darkroom was always an interesting effect. This was done by turning on the room lights for a second or two with the paper in the developer tray. I like your example as a color image. It looks like the combination of negative and positive in one.
Yup. I miss those days, too. I tried to talk my dean into making a darkroom here at my college and after a while, he basically told me to "shut up about it- not happening". I think this is a huge mistake because darkroom work will make better photographers because they understand exposure and other characteristics of image making more completely in comparison to digital image making and the "fix it in Photoshop" attitude.
Thank you to the rest of you who have so kindly responded. I appreciate the interest!
Mark
Pixeldawg wrote:
One of the perks of my job as a college professor is that I get to do a bit of traveling. I teach photography and so every once in a while, I leave China, so always take my camera with me. Here is a shot of the Italian city of Florence, as shot from the bell tower of the same church. I climbed over 2,000 steps, going up the bell tower and on top of the dome you see in this photo. So, a few months back, I was looking through the images on a slow day and decided to add in a "solarization" technique to the image, just for fun. I liked the results, which you see here. I think as a photographer, it is important to view things in different ways, so that you keep your work "fresh", and I think I accomplished that here (your mileage may vary...). This same scene has been photographed thousands of times, but doing something different makes it unique to me. Anyway, Florence is a magnificent city and quite honestly, I would retire there if I could. Just awesome. Hope you enjoy and have an excellent day!
One of the perks of my job as a college professor ... (
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Very nice subject and image Pixeldawg! Well done....
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