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chromasia.com

This shot was taken in the same window as my entry for the day before yesterday, and while I'm mostly happy with it I do think it could have been a little clearer. One of the things I like most about shooting in reflective surfaces is that it gives you the opportunity to play around with merging two alternative realities – the scene within the shop and the outside world – but the light does have to be right. In this case I suspect that had I been there 30 minutes earlier the glare from the window would have been a little easier to control (i.e. the sun would have been at a different angle).

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5.39pm on 11/10/04
Canon 20D
EF 17-40 f/4L USM
38mm (61mm equiv.)
f4.0
1/30
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comment by Andy at 10:24 PM (GMT) on 11 October, 2004

Oh wow... the merging taking place in this scene is brilliant. Seriously amazing shot.

comment by Turfdigger at 10:47 PM (GMT) on 11 October, 2004

What a superb blend!

comment by pierre at 11:10 PM (GMT) on 11 October, 2004

Very well done David

comment by justin at 11:27 PM (GMT) on 11 October, 2004

Great composition, with DOF just right. Nice one!

comment by Jarod at 03:15 AM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

Looks very surreal. What color editing did you do to the original?

comment by koozeh at 04:44 AM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

That's a great shot :) I say so because it made me believe that it is the roman empire era! It should be a good one then, shouldn't it?

comment by Wen at 05:59 AM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

I've had you on my favourites for ages. Just thought I'd drop a note finally to say that this is yet another beautiful one. The colours and tones are great!

comment by Marc at 06:16 AM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

I think this might be my favorite of your photos. I actually didn't realize it was a reflection shot until I read the description. Definitely VERY surreal and somewhat haunting. The merging of these words is amazing in my opinion and the lack of color is an absolute brilliant choice.

Really great.

comment by PhilB at 07:28 AM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

Excellent reflection and great choice of sepia colour!

comment by steve at 08:24 AM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

David,

You're turning into the "reflection guy" ;-)

Not that it's a bad thing. I have a hard time not being the "macro guy" sometimes.

This one has some very nice subtleties. Great contrast. I might've burned in the light text on the front two horses just a bit.

comment by djn1 at 09:44 AM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

Jarod: the main colour editing was achieved by using a Hue/Saturation layer to colorise the image (settings = 47, 27, 0). I also masked this layer slightly to allow the original colour of the horses and figure to show through; i.e. you might have noticed that they're slightly more bronze coloured than the rest of the image.

steve: yes, on reflection (no pun intended ;-) that might have been better.

comment by soroush at 03:24 PM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

this is just like a dream, and those hanging curtins with a little writing on them make such a surreal feeling. sharp and smart shot.

comment by peterv at 07:14 PM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

Superb photo, great colour, works on so many levels, the way you've composed that painted backdrop to hang 'in front' of the street buildings, and the tower thingie ontop of the building looks like a mask.

comment by rmc1579 at 08:17 PM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

Very cool pic. I really dont know that much about photography but i think this pic makes me think on the romans. I really like it.

comment by djn1 at 08:59 PM (GMT) on 12 October, 2004

Thanks everyone.

What I like about this shot, which seems to have been picked up in the comments, is that of all my recent reflection shots this one does a good job of blending the various layers, both photographically and in terms of content.