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Radio City 2 - MARK MILLEN
There was lots of people walking by and tons of traffic. This is a 5-10 second exposure. Tabletop tripod on a stone wall. Large of perspective correction in PS. Taken week of Oct 14 2002. I've been using 400 and 800 ASA film with this lens so I could shoot handheld. Even in bright sunlight I've rarely got a shutter speed above 1/90 sec. In typical lighting conditions it's usually 1/10 - 1/30 sec. I'm not fond of the 800 ASA Kodak Max. The Kodak Supra 400 is better, but I still prefer the Kodak Supra 100 and Fuju Velvia. I'm going to have to lug around a tripod now in order to use these slower films. Even with the fast films the slow shutter speeds are making camera movement apparent. Selected for the Hall of Fame on 2003/Nov/01
| Camera: | Contax G1 |
| Lens: | Carl Zeiss Hologon 16mm f/8 |
| Film: | Kodak Max 800 ASA |
| Exposure: | 5-10 sec |
| Flash: | |
| Support: | |
| Filter: | Graduated ND filter |
| Adjustment: | Perspective correction in PS |
| Posted: | 23-Oct-2002 |
Rating: 9.10 (40 ratings)
Comments
WOW Mark!!!
WOW, WOW, WOW!!!
Robin Kleb 23-Oct-2002 at 22:02Too good!
I like this so much! Too bad it wasn't a 2 second exposure, might be a shoo-in to win next month's competition...
Steve Novosel 23-Oct-2002 at 23:43Great
Just great. This is fabulous overall, but I think the guy with the mobile ( I presume) lifts it above an architectural shot.
Steve McBride 24-Oct-2002 at 01:42this is simply superb Mark
Apart from an almost perfect exposure... the balance between the buildings in background, lit by the neon Radio City mid-way and anchored by the human elements foreground sends this pic into a level way above good..... I miss the Big Apple looking at this pic (12 years)....and I mean it. ed
Ed Ng 24-Oct-2002 at 09:32Mark
this is a great picture. It is well composed and well executed in every way. What I particularly like about it is that you, for once, introduced humans in your picture. To me is feels much richer that way. Maybe you would consider doing it more often? :-). Congratulations on a job greatly handled.
Knut Skjærven 24-Oct-2002 at 13:49Fantastic shot
Mark, good to see you back with a vengeance and pushing the envelope with an even wider lens. :-) The only reason I might not give this an even higher mark is that I could imagine a whole series with various combinations of people and moods...which would be an award winner in my book. But the colors and scale here are pretty magnificent regardless...I feel absolutely insignificant having tried this type of shot with a mere 28mm and grainy high speed B&W. As far as high speed color, you should try Kodak Supra 800...still grainy, but in my experience the best of the high speed color films if you don't enlarge by too much.
Robert Mirani 25-Oct-2002 at 16:08Thanks Everyone !!!
It's nice to be back. I had no computer for two months and I've been working tons of overtime. The small amount of free time I've had has been mostly devoted to dancing. Two years ago I started learning Argentine Tango and I am so addicted. These days it's a tough choice to either bring my camera or my dance shoes. I got the hologon a few weeks ago, and I've shot four rolls of film already. This lens is so cool. Now that my computer is up and sort of behaving itself I've managed to scan in a few images. More to follow.
MARK MILLEN 25-Oct-2002 at 18:38Top Notch
I didn't have time to comment on this when I first saw the thumbnail, but this is just an excellent photo. Nice work!
Karl Winkler 27-Oct-2002 at 10:09Fantastic!
I think this is absolutely fantastic. It ALMOST inpires me to drag my tripod out of the closet. I normally try to make some type of constructive criticism but I honestly can't think of anything that could have been done better here. The blurred people and the guy with the cell gives me a sense of the hustle of a metro area and I could see this image as one of a series about our times.
J. Lee 27-Oct-2002 at 17:18How Many To Get This One?
Just out of curiosity, how many frames did you take of the scene before you got this one guy standing still just long enough? Great shot, and the colored reflections (a superwide specialty, usually) work wonderfully here.
Kevin Bjorke 27-Oct-2002 at 23:47-
Amazing. I have hardly anything to add. Or maybe that the fact that most of the people are just silhouettes is what makes this image so strong. And yes, the guy making a phone call.
Wilfred van der Vegte 28-Oct-2002 at 07:48Silhouettes
I took about five frames and selected this shot as the best. The rest were OK too. The differences between this and the others were mostly I was slightly changing the elevation of the camera to play around with the distortion caused by the extreme wide angle. All the shots had people in silhouette. There were so many people walking by I didn't think any of these shots would come out well. Not to mention the traffic. The guy on the cell phone was initially right in front of my camera. He was literally three feet away, totally blocking my subject. I was patiently waiting for him to move away so I could take these shots. He was having an animated conversation, but must have finally nioticed me with my camera set up, and moved away. He looks small in the image but he's only about 10 feet away from me. I wanted him further away. I thought I'd wait a little longer for him to leave, but I got tired of waiting. In the end the silhouettes of people standing in fropnt of the white lines in the crosswalks played very well. Interestingly, the color prints that came back from the processor were highly saturated. This web image doesn't capture the richness and vibrancy of the traditional color print. I tried to get my scan to resemble the color print, but gave up in frustration. Perhaps I need a new scanner that has more "D" range. My scanner is about 4 years old and has a "D" rating of 3.2 with a maximum resolution of 2700 dpi. I tried playing with the 'curves' function during the scan. I suppose I could also learn more about how to use the scanner properly. I kinda of just got the scanner to do a decent job and didn't bother to read up on the science and technique behind it. Learning how to use PhotoShop would also be a step in the right direction. Thanks again everyone for your comments. I've been so busy at work that sometimes weeks have gone by and I haven't logged onto the site. I'm sure I've missed a lot of good images. I'll try to log in a little more often to post some stuff, and to rate your images too.
MARK MILLEN 28-Oct-2002 at 08:36Craft. . .
Mark, since I'm inpartial- Ha! Leave your dancing shoes in the closet. And tote the Holagon. Much. Much. More!
Jerome Belthrop 30-Oct-2002 at 08:52Incredible
One of the best time exposures I've ever seen. Amazing!
Gregg Humphrey 30-Apr-2003 at 18:53worth a second comment
Mark, please tell us you have won at least one major photo contest or award with this shot. It really is astounding, and this single image justifies the expense of the 16 mm!
Gregg Humphrey 30-Apr-2003 at 18:56...
Gregg, Thank you for the wonderful praise. I've never entered a contest, nor have I ever attempted to market any of my work.
MARK MILLEN 07-Jun-2003 at 14:10Thoroughly well deserved
Congrats
Charez Golvala 03-Nov-2003 at 01:00Congratulations!
This brilliant image is long overdue for the HoF
Gregg Humphrey 03-Nov-2003 at 12:17Oh Boy! HOF!!!
Thank you everyone! Yippee!
MARK MILLEN 07-Nov-2003 at 09:05Super Shot!
The world looks so much different under neon light. You've captured this one with style and artistry. Sort of makes me want to brave the city streets at early morning hours - shots like this make it all worthwhile. Including people in the shot is important .. they give perspective and life to the street. This pictures a winner!
Michael Christensen 10-Dec-2003 at 00:54Damn! What a picture!
K. Michael Photography 05-Sep-2005 at 22:05A wonderful balance
of figures and exposure in this super-wide urban composition.
Gregory Moss 26-Mar-2007 at 17:40