Lift-off

[Don Ellis]

This is a new tower under construction on the Hong Kong waterfront near the Star Ferry Pier. Climbing to the roof of the Star Ferry carpark (there are stairs -- I wasn't suffering for my art here), I lined up a yellow street lamp in the lower right to give it a little ignition, tilted the building to a sub-orbital angle, made sure there were clouds in the background for atmosphere and here you go.

http://www.kleptography.com/dl/takeoff.jpg

Camera Model: Canon PowerShot G2
Firmware: Firmware Version 1.01
Owner: Don Ellis
Date/Time: 2002.04.08 08:22:34
Shutter speed: 1.3 sec
Aperture: 3.5
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Single frame shooting
ISO: 50
Lens: 7.0 to 21.0 mm
Focal length: 9.0 mm
Subject distance: 22.273 m
AF mode: Single AF
Focus point: [Center]
Image size: 2272 x 1704
Image quality: Raw
White balance: Auto
Saturation: Low
Sharpness: Low
Contrast: Low

[Roger_Cavanagh]

Don,

Great idea, well-executed! My wife is from Hong Kong, and we hope to go back for Christmas this year. I'm looking forward to taking my D30, but I expect that this building will have been replaced by then, the way things change in HK. :D

Regards,

[gandini]

As always Don, you give us something wonderful to feast our eyes on, and salivate over the things made possible with a fine mix of creativity and Canon G2!

You seem to have a lean on your vision these days. The temple-at-an-angle one just didn't do it for me, I'll admit. There were so many great lines in that image I would have just left it vertical and horizontal, and let viewers enjoy the formality of it. But this one really does take off with the diagonal. The yellow light at the bottom really anchors the eye and sends you up to the left to find the nose cone. A bit wider framing would be even better, but perhaps the setting doesn't lend itself to exposing more at the lower right.

Anyway, as always, thanks Don for another serving from your stolen cookbook.

cheers,

[Griffin]

Hello,

That is International Financial Centre Phase 2 under constructions. Don, that is a very great photograph! I was at Central Star Ferry 2 hours before you take the picture. :) Thank you for sharing. I guess it would be completed before this Christmas.

About D30 in Hong Kong, I am not sure if you can still get it here by that time cause D60 would be flooding the market by then. :D

Keep on shooting.


Griffin.

[Don Ellis]

Roger_Cavanagh wrote:
Great idea, well-executed! My wife is from Hong Kong, and we hope to go back for Christmas this year. I'm looking forward to taking my D30, but I expect that this building will have been replaced by then, the way things change in HK. :D


Hi Roger,

With a comment like that, you're obviously very familiar with Hong Kong. In the late '80s, I lived in Western District -- Sheung Wan -- about a block from the post office that was the architectural twin of the now-preserved, historical Western Market. I got a parcel pick-up notice in the mailbox one morning, walked down to the post office and found ... it was gone. Not just torn down but all the rubble carted away and the plot cemented over.

Amazing ... but not at all uncommon. I hesitate to give people directions based on buildings anymore.

Don

P.S. Oh, yes, thanks for the other comment as well. :)

[Don Ellis]

gandini wrote:
As always Don, you give us something wonderful to feast our eyes on, and salivate over the things made possible with a fine mix of creativity and Canon G2!

You seem to have a lean on your vision these days. The temple-at-an-angle one just didn't do it for me, I'll admit. There were so many great lines in that image I would have just left it vertical and horizontal, and let viewers enjoy the formality of it. But this one really does take off with the diagonal. The yellow light at the bottom really anchors the eye and sends you up to the left to find the nose cone. A bit wider framing would be even better, but perhaps the setting doesn't lend itself to exposing more at the lower right.


Well, when you can please the critical Gandini, you've done well. Thanks very much.

You're right about the lean ... I've been trying it out with a few shots these days but, with a few exceptions, it's better if you have have a reason for the tilt. This one did.

As for framing, there was just too much junk in the lower right that I would have had to clone out so I kept that area tight around the light. And then I just matched the framing on the nose cone. Having said that, more space above the "cone" might have been good as well.

As for the temple shot, thanks for the truthfulness. I went back the next day and tried normal framing but it just wasn't as interesting. The temple is in the village, however, so maybe I'll try again.

Thanks, as always for your comments.

Don

[Don Ellis]

Griffin wrote:
That is International Financial Centre Phase 2 under constructions. Don, that is a very great photograph! I was at Central Star Ferry 2 hours before you take the picture. :) Thank you for sharing. I guess it would be completed before this Christmas.


Hi Griffin,

You always come through with the information ... whether it's the Chinese inscription in the temple or the name of this building, which no one has been able to identify for me until now.

Thanks very much for your comments. If our paths keep crossing, one of these days you may appear in one of my photos. Hong Kong really is quite a small place for such a large city.

Don

[onehotrx7]

Hi Don,

I quite like the slant - both on the temple and this shot, although it does work extremely well on this one...

Inspired by your temple shot, I took a landscape with a diagonal horizon on a recent trip - it was one of three shots that people 'really' noticed when looking through the 'best' shots - admittedly, several were asking 'why' I'd taken it on an angle, but regardless, that particular shot got a lot more attention, where similar, to my eye, better shots simply got 'browsed' through...

Such is life, I guess - and they say you can't please all the people all the time...

Cheers,
Stuart

[Griffin]

Don Ellis wrote:
Thanks very much for your comments. If our paths keep crossing, one of these days you may appear in one of my photos. Hong Kong really is quite a small place for such a large city.


Don,

I guess it is just because I was the other poster here from Hong Kong. May be one day we shall meet, in one way or the other. :D You live in Lantau Island, right? I live in Peng Chau.

See ya around!


Regards,
Griffin.

[Don Ellis]

Griffin wrote:
I guess it is just because I was the other poster here from Hong Kong. May be one day we shall meet, in one way or the other. :D You live in Lantau Island, right? I live in Peng Chau.


I hope when we do meet, you're not in a car and I'm not in a crosswalk. Leela and I love Peng Chau ... not that we've been there recently. We're out in Clear Water Bay now, having moved from Stanley a few years ago.

To keep this somewhat on topic, I took a look at this photo on my website and it's surprising how much difference a background makes. I like Pekka's background for most shots, but for this one the bright background makes it difficult to see the clouds in the lower left of the picture.

If you're interested, click on this sentence and maximize the resulting browser window. (http://www.kleptography.com/angles-liftoff0460.htm) Wait a few seconds for your eyes to adjust. Clicking the picture will get you a larger version.

Cheers,

Don

[Don Ellis]

onehotrx7 wrote:
I quite like the slant - both on the temple and this shot, although it does work extremely well on this one...


Thank you ... I liked the slant on the temple as well, but I have a feeling I'm in the minority. Still, as you say, it has more stopping power than "just another temple."


Such is life, I guess - and they say you can't please all the people all the time...


True. Even pleasing yourself is difficult at times.

Cheers,

Don