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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 66: Bluejeans (host: Sergio Rojkes) >> Eligible > 10th Place
I, Thy God, Is Come...All Hail *
by Traveller
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Traveller

10th Place
I, Thy God, Is Come...All Hail *
by Traveller

22 April 2006

This is a Tall image, making it difficult to display without a little scrolling. I've cut this down twice to make it fit...and I may do it again at 375 pixels x 602. I'm just not yet sure what I'm losing in this process. But I love the upper windows and and worked to enhance them, so a differing crop is not an option. Best Wishes, Traveller (I did try a test post in a different browser at 375x602, but did not like it. So, this is what it is...a balance between size and quality)


other sizes: small medium original auto
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Canon DSLR Challenge28-Apr-2006 13:07
This BW one is a nice take on it too, except it's ruined by the large black blob that takes up the entire lower right quadrant of the image. You definitely chose the right frame. Oh, and as for the wit lindows - er, I meant lit windows, I do love them and yes, they add tension to the image but this is a tense scene so it's very appropriate. ~ Lonnit
Canon DSLR Challenge28-Apr-2006 09:36





Guest 27-Apr-2006 21:32
Traveller, what a capture, well done! It's wonderfully atmospheric and dramatic. The top floor being lit while the other floors are dark is eerily powerful. Congrats. -Michael
Canon DSLR Challenge27-Apr-2006 01:50
Did you ever see that comic strip in Readers Digest that showed two large men looking at a two inch television set and exclaming, "Look at the size of that linebacker!"? I think that would be apropos here. -- Victor
Canon DSLR Challenge27-Apr-2006 01:20
Traveller.
You have turned in my mind a mundane topic into art. This is powerful, and you have made this work. My only negative point is the lights in the top windows. The smoke and lights help to draw the eye to the person at the base of the bulding, which is what you want, but the lights in the top have the opposite effect for me. I feel as if the lights at the top are competing with the main subject at the base. I do not care that the building "looks" twisted. Composition and contrast can dictate the eye's movement. Do you want the focus on the top of the building ar at the base. Maybe if you either cloned out or cropped out the lighted windows you may also detract eyes from the "twist" as well.
Thanks for posting this traveller. My favourite.
Richard Adams
Canon DSLR Challenge26-Apr-2006 22:37
But of course your opinon was correct. I wouldn't consider a top crop on this. I still think this would be super in a huge print. Maybe you could print it the size of the building, on a giant fabric and then hang it on the front of the building!!! You'd have to crop out the circletop windows at the bottom though. ;) ~ Lonnit
Guest 26-Apr-2006 20:54
I tried what Michael Soo suggested (used screen blending mode for the windows), but I don't think it works well to crop. Part of the strength of the light-beams gets lost without the darker top of the image. I tried many different crops and came to the conclusion that none were as good as this one - all just in my opinion of course...
Guest 25-Apr-2006 16:01
Great imagery. Now, don't you think if you photoshop those top lighted windows to the
bottom and then recrop the image, it would be more powerful? ;)
- MS
Guest 24-Apr-2006 19:28
Trav,
Your photography appeals to me... I like this photo. This has more appeal to me as a PJ (from your past life) than a blue jean photo. Much is already said about the twist et el, and I see it too. But I think in a big picture its insignificant. Its probably the result of wide angle, or correction of prespective in PS. I am not too concerned about it. This is a shot capable of making a huge statement. This does it for me.
-Cat
Vikas Malhotra24-Apr-2006 07:34
I have to confess that I keep coming back to this photograph, it just has an amazing impact on me and I truly love it. Its more like a moment of a lifetime kind of a shot; something akin to the breaking of the Berlin Wall, say. Full of drama, full of mystery and suspense. Traveller, hats off to you for this image.

Cheers, Vikas

PS: I do see what Lonnit is pointing out but for me that doesnt detract from the image. I did take the pic into PS and played around with it a bit; its a different version, not necessarily better but can email it to you if you so wish. Nevertheless a fabulous photograph.
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 18:24
Yes, Victor, I've come to realize that I agree that it must be a limitation of the challenge, not the picture. I'm sorry I gave Olaf credit for that, not you. I was in error on that.

I could definitely see this as a full wall mural in a double height room! Ahhh, now THAT would be stupendous!!! I just KNOW it would hit me then. ~ Lonnit
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 15:34
Traveller, I've not said this before, but I think now may be an appropriate time. I think your pictures would work better as a collection than they do as single entries into these challenges. Something like a large format coffee table book is what I have in mind. If I had such a book, I know I'd spend hours looking at the pictures.

By the way, I'm the type of person who doesn't like watching movies on a television set and will always go to theaters no matter how cheap DVDs get. There's something about the angle of view of the picture that really adds impact to movies. That is exactly the same thing I was trying to describe when I suggested this would work better as a large print. This should not be construed as a criticism but a compliment. Put another way, the picture is too big to fit in the challenge. -- Victor
Guest 23-Apr-2006 10:42
When you put it that way, with 'Trouble' taken out of its context it gets a whole different meaning - far from what I was trying to say: the small screen-sizes possible in these challenges often don't do of your photographs justice - that's what I was trying to say. As you say, you like to include it all - or a lot - in your shots. That often works better with large prints.
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 10:07
Hi, Olaf, thanks for the thought. I do print big, that's always been my tendency and how I see things as a final product. But I'm not sure that I'm having, "Trouble,"....lol, either. Some people like my work, others don't. I certainly didn't expect anyone to swoon over this image. It is what it is, I did my best with it, but it's not cr*p either. I am somewhat resentful of this implication. Let’s see others submit better and more interesting work.

The truth is that I'm a middle-tier talent. Many people are just head and shoulders above me in skill and vision. My hat's off to these people. However, this is not to say that I don't have anything of value to contribute. I have a very busy alternative life. I am, at least to my clients, a person of some importance. People's lives always come first. Somewhere in this mix I try to produce a little Art...for fun, occasionally for profit.

Hey, not a bad gig. But you are right in that this will print extremely well. Be that as it may, I've just received an email request to fix someone else's images...some tiny newspaper has some shots that went extremely bad. A Challenge! I'm off to the races...lol

Best Wishes, Traveller
Guest 23-Apr-2006 08:43
I like it as it is. I like the lit windows as well. Traveller, I think the trouble with your photography in these challenges often is that you are forced to show images, that would be best very large, very small.
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 07:38
I don't notice the twist. I think what Lonnit is seeing may be different than the optical illusion I described. If you take your image and duplicate it, reverse the duplicate left to right and then paste it as a new layer setting blend mode to difference, you can see that the vertical edges of the building are, indeed, vertical. However, the horizontal lines are not horizontal. One side of the building is at least 5 pixels higher than the other. But that's not necessarily bad. If you were standing to one side of the center line, perspective alone could account for this. And it would appear on the picture unless you were using a lens that corrects for distortion and the lens is normal to the building at the time of the shot. You could point the camera to the side and then crop, sort of using your lens as a tilt and shift lens. At least that's the way I see it.

I wouldn't worry about it. I don't think it significantly detracts from the picture. -- Victor
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 06:55
Victor, I do know that you have an interest in optical illusions. I don't actually see the twist though...however could it be that I am actually standing below street level in relation to LA City Hall, which this is? Who would know how long this would last? I came down from the Superior Court building, down the stairs through the Walk of Flags, down more steps and over into the parking lot of the Criminal Courts Building, shooting all the way. This particular parking lot is below the grade of City Hall...further, I was not perfectly centered and...alas, this was the end of whatever was being filmed...the preultimate moment if you will. There was nothing of its equal to be shot. Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 05:54
Down to the right, you mean? I get the impression when I look at the picture that I'm seeing the building from a bit left of center. It surprised me a tad, when I looked carefully and noticed the line marking whatever the person wearing the jeans is standing on is about as level as can be. Maybe it's because he's not centered with respect to the building.

Traveller, I hope my comments don't seem negative. I posted partially in response to Lonnit's solicitation, but also because I'm generally intrigued by optical illusions. Something's going on here, and I think it's worthwhile to discover the nature of the illusion, if there is one.

By the way, what are those faces? And, have you considered rendering this in black and white? I suspect it would have more impact that way. -- Victor
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 04:36
Victor, I know the effect you are talking about. I pretty much figured the angled light beams and the electical wires at the bottom were doing just that. Pulling it into PS did reveal though, that the tops of the top row of windows is angled downwards, although the bottom half of the image is not tilted. ~ Lonnit
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 02:59
Oh, and a very special thanks to Vikas. Your taste really isn't that bad...this is a decent image...with Facist overtones. It can pack an emotional wallop for people that see it, or have lived it, or whatever. Your's is the only positive comment and...in these trying times...lol...I really appreciate you of all people responding positively. {grin}. Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge23-Apr-2006 02:45
Lonnit, I don't see the twist you're talking about (and you know I can be anal about such things if I put a mind to it). But maybe it's an example of this illusion (get pencil and paper to follow along). Draw several parallel lines, or simply use a sheet of notebook paper. On one line, draw diagonal lines, and on the next draw diagonal lines pointing the opposite direction, continue with as many lines as desired, making a sort of herringbone pattern. This produces an illusion where the parallel lines appear not to be parallel at all, but seem to converge at one end or the other.

I think that is what's going on here. The verticals in the building are the parallel lines. The white streaks from the searchlights (I assume that's what they are) are the diagonals. Additionally, a diagonal wire cutting across the foreground does the same thing.

Regarding whether this image has emotional impact, my first emotional experience while visiting here was in response to reading Vikas' post, because it simply didn't impact me at all the way it apparently did him. I may have a different opinion if this were a 16 by 24 (or whatever the appropriate aspect ratio would be) print viewed from a couple feet away, but I don't think we're likely to get a view of this picture that way here.

-- Victor
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Apr-2006 19:50
Sorry to hear about quality of life worries, but glad you found some food and this scene. Really quite an astounding thing to come upon.

OK, I decided to pull it into PS and check it out. Here's what I found. There is a twist, indeed. The left side of the building leans .56 degrees to the right. The right side leans .52 degrees to the left. Ok, so that sounds like the perspective is pretty correct. However, although the surface he is standing on and the bottom windows are level, the top of the upper row of windows is tilting downwards on the right by about .57 degrees. Disclaimer to Olaf (LOL!) No, my measurements may not be as precise as yours. I count on you to make me look less anal. ;) So, there you have it - the building is appearing twisted b/c of this top tilt, but I think it is emphasized by the rays of light coming across the left.

I still wish I knew why this isn't having emotional impact on me. I just know that if I were there I would have been freaking over the scene and snapping like mad, and I'd be totally pumped about having posted it here. I hate when I know that logically an image should be hitting me hard, but emotionally it's not. I find it hard to believ it's the slight 'twist' that could be thowing me so much. There are sooo many great elements here! If you held me down and force me to find flaw, I'd say maybe I'd crop the bottom to not show the circle top windows, but again, that's such a minor thing and can't possibly be my problem. It must be me - it can't be the image; it's a really, really good image!

Anyone else experiencing this? ~ Lonnit
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Apr-2006 18:25
Regarding the curve to the right, I think that it is a function of an additional shadow running up the entire right side of the building from the spot lights largely being on the left, and they give this appearance as it naturally fades off a little. Though I have been playing with the Transform, Skew etc functions quite a bit lately, I did not do so with this image. Lastly, as Vikas gets to shoot what is in his environment, See his fabulous Lady in Red in the last Challenge, I likewise can only shoot what is around me. This is a lucky shot to be sure, but we also have to make a little of our own luck. Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Apr-2006 18:12
Thanks, Viaks, Phil and Lonnit with the Critical eye. In exhaustion I collapsed in bed last night at 8pm quite worried about the quality of my life...Groggy eyed and confused, I awoke at midnight and went out trying to find something to eat and instead found this extraordinary scene. I did shoot it quite a bit with the 200mm lens...and that is interesting also...but they are different than the Figure being dwarfed by the building. I haven't even looked at all the images yet...but I like this, so far, I like what it does and says. But we'll see as I process others. (PS I found a .99 cent Carl's Big Burger, a cherry yogurt and two Fiji apples to tide me over.) Best Wishes, Traveller
Guest 22-Apr-2006 17:42
Actually took me a while to see the small figure there.
I think you could lose the top 3 stories without losing the impact - and it would fit better on-screen (and would help with what Lonnit sees as the curve to the right - which I see too).
Phil
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Apr-2006 17:03
That's funny that it's hitting you so strongly, Vikas. I seem to be numb to the image. It looks like it should be a really powerful image, but I am getting an absolute zero as an emotional response. It looks like it's supposed to feel really dramatic, but it just doesn't. Maybe the fact that the building looks tilted or twisted is distracting me too much. Trav, did you perspective-correct this? The edges of the building do indeed look to be parallel to the edges of the frame, so I know it is indeed straight, but the whole building looks to be curving off to the right as you go up. ~ Lonnit
Vikas Malhotra22-Apr-2006 16:29
WOW> WOW
Simply awesome! WOW! One of the most dramatic and rivetting pics I have seen. Incredible!

Vikas