Congratulations to hasenbein for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 4 votes - View Previous Winners
This Tuesday I had the privilege to be in the most fairytale-like hoar frost conditions I have ever encountered. It was in the Harz mountains in Germany, near the small town of Thale. As opposed to most years, this year we actually have a proper winter here :-) , and several days of ice fog had sculpted a special white landscape. It was not easy to find working compositions, and it was not easy to process the photos so that, while having enough contrast, at the same time the "whiteness" is preserved, but I hope my photos bring across the atmosphere.
those pictures really bring out the beauty of cold in nature. it makes me feel cold just looking at them. the frost coatings and formations showcase a natural beauty that man cannot duplicate. thanks for getting out in the cold and then sharing them with us.
Fantastic set if images, Hassenbein! Wonderful conditions and you made some really sweet compositions. The first three are my favorites. You have my vote for Feb. 20 TOTW.
My favorite is the third. You might consider taking that one to B&W--for me the bit of brown at the lower third is a bit of a distraction within an excellent form and texture shot.
I love all of these. The first two stand out for me, but they're all tremendous. More than anything, they make me think of silence, and stillness; but a full stillness rather than empty, if that makes any sense.
dalongfellow wrote:
My favorite is the third. You might consider taking that one to B&W--for me the bit of brown at the lower third is a bit of a distraction within an excellent form and texture shot.
Yes, I had spotted that, too. Thanks for your suggestion!
Although I am in no way against editing things out - actually I very much like to use the AI remove and generative fill tools in Photoshop to remove branches and other things especially at the edges of images which I couldn't avoid when shooting -, I somehow decided to not do that this time. The only edit is in picture #5 where on the left side a bit of a branch was intruding, thus destroying the clean "bouquet" composition.
JWRisinger wrote:
I love all of these. The first two stand out for me, but they're all tremendous. More than anything, they make me think of silence, and stillness; but a full stillness rather than empty, if that makes any sense.
Actually it was really still when I was there. Not only there was no wind, and (at least the first few hours) I was virtually alone in that area; all the snow and ice also dampened sounds that occurred. Makes one somehow happy in that calm way which is a feature of real, nourishing happiness.
Rajan Parrikar wrote:
Outstanding set. The first 4 are very special, the final 2 don't quite meet that same standard.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean; that's what I thought about them, too. Was just interesting for me to hear what others say.
By the way, all images shot again with my favorite workhorse combination: Tamron 50-400 on Sony A7RV. Focal lenghts of the 6 images (before cropping, according to EXIF): 91, 93, 186, 67, 186 and 174 mm. You can tell I am somehow a tele guy 😁
CDalessandro wrote:
Wonderful work! 1,2,3 are my favorites. I hope you print at least one large and hang proudly. Beautiful, Hasenbein!
Carol
Thank you very much - I just printed 3 photos large for my living room, and it was not cheap. So next time for printing will probably be in a few years. But perhaps 1 oder 2 of the above photos will end up in my next calendar.
hasenbein wrote:
This Tuesday I had the privilege to be in the most fairytale-like hoar frost conditions I have ever encountered. It was in the Harz mountains in Germany, near the small town of Thale. As opposed to most years, this year we actually have a proper winter here :-) , and several days of ice fog had sculpted a special white landscape. It was not easy to find working compositions, and it was not easy to process the photos so that, while having enough contrast, at the same time the "whiteness" is preserved, but I hope my photos bring across the atmosphere.
