Photography
Statue of Liberty Overcast
Posted by none (New York, United States) on 4 December 2006 in Landscape & Rural.
The pride of my entire collection. I took a shot of this as a stray shot at first in order to test out how sharp f/4 would be at infinity on my 70-200mm. This is the second, more thought-out shot. Of course, there has been slight adulteration in order to eliminate some unwanted elements such as a tiny helicopter on the horizon.
I considered removing the water reflections on the bottom but it came out to be too harsh and too much blank space in my opinion.
As this is the one work I am most proud of, I would very much enjoy cons. criticism!
Kelvin Chan from New York City, United States
When I took the "Spotlight" picture, I was thinking of this one. I remember it was hung at the school entrance and I admired it for a long time. Looking at it now, it's still great. The clouds are priceless. The lighting is incredible. It's much superior to mine. One thing that I would change is not to leave the bottom all black. Putting some details in would help with the imaging, adding to the sense the depth that the clouds very much created.
4 Dec 2006 5:30am
@Kelvin Chan: In the original version I have on my computer, there are indeed water reflections and spectacles. Unfortunately, Am3 seems to have altered the colors and overall image greatly! It is a LOT cooler than my version and all of the shadow detail is lost too. I showed Dan the originals and he noticed the same problem with Am3. Of course the final product, the print, is what counts! Thank you so much though! Your "Spotlight" shot did remind me of this and it looks great and even beats mine a bit - I could never get the actual light rays that you have.
Ben from New York City, United States
You have one NICE pic here; we see the statue of liberty, the sign of American power, humbled by the mere presence of the sky. Love the black on the top and bottom, and really LOVE the lighting of the clouds.
4 Dec 2006 9:44am
Aidan from Seoul, South Korea
These cloud really add a sense of atmosphere to the image. I can't see the water reflections that you refer to - perhaps these have been removed in the compression of the image.
I wonder if cropping the image to remove the dark clouds from the top would help frame it better?
4 Dec 2006 2:29pm
Duncan Galbraith from kyoto, Japan
Great great shot. Wonderful. technically its a stunner, even more so reading your response to Kelvins comment. If this isn't enlarged to the size of a house and hanging on your wall you need a good talking to.
4 Dec 2006 2:31pm
Damon Schreiber from Toronto, Canada
Great work, Henry. There's power in the light and the darkness. I'd say almost equal parts hope and foreboding, so viewers can take away what they wish, emotionally. My only critique of the composition would be that I wouldn't have recognised the statue of liberty without the caption, and it would have been more viscerally powerful if I had. Perhaps if the shadows hadn't been knocked out, I would have recognised it. I'd like to see the version you had in mind, but either way, excellent work. I'd also like to see it bigger. This one is only 600 pixels wide.
Regarding Am3 changing the colours on upload, I'd say it's important when using Photoshop to proof the colours as Monitor RGB when you're working with an image. I find if I do that, then what I get in Am3 is what I had in Photoshop.
4 Dec 2006 2:55pm
Craig Persel from Montreal, Canada
Excellent, top-notch image. Very powerful work.
5 Dec 2006 1:14am
Michael Zhang from New York City, United States
Best Shot Ever. So fortuitous to catch these clouds. How did you plan out the second shot? The clouds and weather combo seem like once in a blue moon.
5 Dec 2006 3:52am
Ryan Yam from Quezon City, Philippines
Nice shot :) I think the equal parts of black at the top and bottom works well.
5 Dec 2006 5:48pm
Still from VALENCE, France
Beautiful composition! The light gives it a dramatic and strong touch.
5 Dec 2006 9:36pm
Moe from New York City, United States
wow i get such an ominous feeling from this photo. its awesome. i wish i had a better camera ;(
7 Dec 2006 7:30am
Kris [PiXistenZ] from Antwerp, Belgium
now that's what i call an impressive sky!! cool stuff!
7 Dec 2006 11:58am
Diane - Daily Walks from SF Bay Area, United States
I think this is really beautiful. Found your site via VFXY, where the thumbnail for this image really stood out. I love the intense drama of this via the very dark bands sandwiching in the beautifully lit clouds and horizon. VERY nice!
10 Dec 2006 4:36pm
PixBuddy from India
Really a very nice picture.. it left me speechless for a moment..
13 Dec 2006 4:17am
Ben from New York City, United States
Hey Henry, If u know of anyone selling a canon powershot s2 is at our school (which might also contain a 1gb ultra 2 card and 4 aa batts) can u notify me immediately and/or tell the dean that u found my cam (which is better).
14 Dec 2006 1:52am
Kathleen Connally from Durham, Pennsylvania, United States
Superb - a real eye-catcher. Nice work, Henry!
30 Dec 2006 5:09pm
greg from New Zealand
Your first comment suggests more detail in the bottom third. I couldn't disagree more strongly. The strength comes from the simplicity. And solid black takes a to a whole new place - the statue of liberty, almost on land! So well done. And no more detail please. Some things are best left to the imagination.
31 Dec 2006 2:23am
Visions by Dean Christopher. from Cardiff, United Kingdom
awesome capture...you should be proud!
20 May 2007 5:09pm
Canon EOS REBEL XT
1/4000 second
F/4.0
ISO 100
70 mm