Lake

Tiller · Jan 11, 2014

A picture taken by my late grandfather

img071.jpg by tsmcdona, on Flickr

Rick58 · Jan 11, 2014

ummm...it's upside down?

Tiller · Jan 11, 2014

Yes, he said that's how he wanted it. Abstract-ish I suppose.

Rick58 · Jan 11, 2014

Got it. I never did understand abstract

limr · Jan 11, 2014

Right-side-up, it's a nice picture. I get the flipped over thing - I've seen pictures that work well that way and it can be a little trippy, though in general, this works better in pictures with much clearer reflections.

Having said that, I think it would work as an interesting Monet-esque impressionist photo if you crop it at the horizon and just have the reflections.

Tiller · Jan 11, 2014

Huh, like grandfather like grandson I guess. I really like this one upside down

limr · Jan 11, 2014

Well, like I said, I think upside down pictures can work really well. I just don't like it as much in this particular picture unless you crop out more of the non-reflective part of it. The ones that really work are the ones that have reflections sharp enough that it can fool you when you first see the picture. You're trying to figure out where the texture is coming from and then you realize it's the reflection and the picture has been flipped.

I think this picture is too obviously flipped. The reflections aren't sharp and the foreground branch gives the 'gimmick' away. The viewer questions why it was flipped. But the reflections have a really lovely texture and can be highlighted if the picture were cropped differently. It becomes more impressionist and interesting to look at as the viewer tries to figure out what the image is depicting.

Just try cropping to see how it changes, at least enough to get that branch out of the frame. I think it makes it much more effective abstract if you make it less obvious that it's simply a flipped image.