This is an photo I took of Colm, with a piece of paper using slow shutter speed with flash.. As usual, I added my own idea to the photo. Let me know what you all think. Its original title was Boxing Helena, but I changed it. Thanks, Syyd

This reminds me of 'Man Ray'. Of course it is also totally Syyd Raven. I love the way you blackened one eye and the solarisation effect just on the paper. Inspiring...

It's art for sure, and good art at that, but I'm having real hard time thinking of any photography-related critique here. Perhaps, it is more of a 2-D gallery work, even though a photo was involved in the process. Don't get me wrong, Syyd, I've been an admirer ever since I joined Renderosity, but even your photographs look like paintings most of the time. A different, more creative realm, when you not only need an 'eye', but also an imagination that is out of this world. My applause...

a1000. I am not in here defending my wife. Infact in some ways I do agree with you but you have struck a chord in me and I have to rant awhile. So please bear with me. IMHO, Photography had a real hard time being recognised as an art form in any way. Now, there is 'Art Photography' and there is plain old photography that has had a thousand different realms lurking in and around it since the first camera was invented. Also IMHO, if an 'Art' image is based around ie. the image above then it should be classed as 'Art Photography'. I mentioned 'Man Ray' above. If he was not an 'Art Photographer' then I don't know who was. Would 'Man Ray' have been happy with this above image had he created it? I think he would. Now we find we are in the early stages of digital photography. If I take a 'digital' photograph with my Nikon camera and transfer it to my computer. Load it into photoshop and tweak the contrast, the color balance and add an unsharp mask, maybe even make it bluetone or sepia. Is it still classed as a digital photograph? But, if I go a stage further and add some special FX filters, maybe some distortion using 'kai's Power Tools. Is it not a digital photograph any longer? Where do we actually draw this line? And is there a line to draw? If we are lucky we may see some work in this photography forum that makes us go 'WOW'. It is up to people like us to make some sort of difference. Revolutions in art are often started by small groups of people in assosiations and clubs and societies. Take the 'Pre-Raphaellites' for instance. Take 'Renderosity' and 3D art. I have no gripe whatsover with classic photography. We have seen some great examples here already. But where would we be if we choose not to push the boundries? Syyd has a different way of looking at things. She can see a photo of a child with a ball and find death, destruction, the crucifiction or Jesus and the holy mother shopping at Wegmans' on a Saturday morning...:) I say it is photography and I also say that photography is in a wide sense 2D. MAN RAY 'Photograph'... Rayograph, 1927 Just my 2 cents. Colm...

Well, as long as people who do 'straight' photography (Like I do as I have no photo editing program nor have any idea how to use one..) and people who know how to take a basic image and turn it into something very artistic by using a computer are equal (holy crap what a long sentence) and one category isn't considered 'better' than the other...I think it's great that people are expressing themselves artistically, by using all kinds of means. Eh..I need to take a breath now.

When I first looked at this photo, I thought, man that is exactly how I felt like last night (had a migraine that wouldn't go away not even with my new wonder drug.) then I looked more and more, saw what Syyd wrote and then looked at it more. I kept looking at it, wondering how in the heck do people get their imagination to work like that. I think its a great photo and I don't think there is any critiquing I could do with it.... Leigh

Thanks all, leigh, I have a funny imagination and have a tendency to get lost in work. Not poke my head up, and just go out of myself till I am done. You actually wouldn't believe in some respects, especially the left corner, how close to the photo it actually came. I have to admit being inspired by Man Ray. Februus turned me onto him over a year ago, and I got a book and for days just poured through his work. He is like the Dali of photographers to me. Leigh, I believe it about the migraine. Thursday morning it got so bad, that my head actually started pulsing and pounding, and I thought I was going to have a stroke. Please take care my friend, I am still going to get the Imitrex though. I think the idea is to get them before they blow bigger, if I am not mistaken. There is also acupressure, and as much as I balked at it, it works. Have your husband apply pressure in increasing amounts to the area on the opposite hand of the headache, of the center of the web between the thumb and index finger. Go as deep as you can with the pressure, in 30 second increments, two or three times. It works almost every time, in relieving the pain, I believe it is because the focus in on the hand, and the pressure draws pain from the opposite side of the body. a1000standard, I believe you are correct in saying this is as much a 2dwork as a photographic work, so I would say that I fall in between...I always do, grey area is my business LOL.

Colm, Fine ARt Photography, that's exactly what i missed. This place is so chockfull of imagery that it's easy to get disoriented sometimes. Good point. (hitting my head on the desk) Although not the biggest fan of Man Ray's works myself, I do appreciate his incredible originality and pioneering spirit. He really did have new and exciting things to offer to the world of photography, as well as to add oil to the fiery debates about the validity of photography as an art form. I'm glad we have a diverse audience with many differing opinions. In arguments the truth will be born. BTW, my hat's off to anyone who can pick up a cheesy webcam and churn out something that makes other people say 'WOW'. But enough ranting, see you in the next bout...

I'm starting to worry about this Forum. It's all becoming a bit heavy, and we are getting more words than photographs. People, let's keep it simple and short.

Jack, everybody, post away...Please. This is a 'Forum' though. It is a place where we can all share our photographs but also our ideas and our ideals. We are hear to to discuss and to show. Sometimes it might get a little heavy. I don't feel that this discussion has been heavy though. I feel it has been enlightening and it has certainly made me think. 'Thinking' in my honest opinion makes us 'do' things better. Discussion is a breeding ground for different points of view and thought that can often lead to a better understanding. As this forum is only a week old my guess is there is going to be plenty of discussion, and I for one welcome it. In addition to critiquing others work and posting examples of a given art form. Words are equally as important. :) Colm...

a1000, Here, here. And thank you so much for understanding what I was trying to say. Colm...

with the advent of the computer and digital pictures, photography will change, not so much because it now can change, but that we now can get closer to our imagination and the ultimate concept of what we originally invisioned the picture should be. already when we go see a movie, we can hardly tell what was actually photographed and what was created in the computer lab. i do believe we heading to a new type of photography, we are rapidly appoaching "Fantography" (my word) which originally may have started as a photo, but after we added, subtracted, multiplied and divided, is something from another world. having said all that, i like the picture Syyd created. it is mostly the original photo and the post work adds greatly to the mood value. it does bring up the question of how pure do we want to keep the bi-monthly photos of the photo contest?

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/~syyd/3dvision/

Gwyn... My feelings exactly. Just look around ourselves. All the boxes and boothes for the consumer to slide in their photo's and have them instantly croped, enlarged and even superimposed with Brittney Spears. One of the reasons I got indo digital art, especially 3D and Poser was because I was bored with traditional photography after 10 years. I found that I could make my own people and place them in my own environments. It was like psuedo photography. (see link) Even though, I was bored with traditional photography, that was just 'my' choice. Each to their own, y'know. As far as how pure do we want to keep the bi-monthly competions. I feel that is up to the person competing. I don't think we have to be restricted by rules of personal photographic style. EG... If the subject was 'flowers', one may want to photograph a traditional flower arrangement and submit it exactly like it was taken. Syyd may want to place her daughters face in the middle of the basket and submit it like that. I think we would put it to a vote and choose a winner that way. It isn't going to be a cut-throat thing IMHO. It hopefully will be a fun way of sharing and learning from each other. A competition for a brand new Nikon may be a little different tho'...:)

I thought of only participating in the contests as a forum moderator, but did not want the work to be voted on. I think that has moderators, we should host the forum and the contest. Gary you bring up a salient point. However, I am sure Man Ray and others like him, did not stop, when creating, to think about whether or not their work was traditional. There is nothing traditional about what I do, in the sense that it follows a typically given, structured format. My head is just too full of other things to bother. However, in doing bi-monthly subjects, I may reserve the right as well as others, to just say okay, thats great like it is, in it goes, or I see color, and darkness, and want to change it, etc. I only use what is available to editing a photograph, color, light, lens, and the almighty post tool of photoshop, and my brain (well we could argue about that one LOL.

I really like this photo and what you've done with it. As for critique -- your art, in whatever form, makes me go outside my own "vision". (for lack of a better word) I cannot critique something that makes me think and that makes me view things in a different way. I can only take it in. Does that make sense? :) I think of photography as art in itself and also as a tool or medium that can be used as a base or enhancement to something new. I don't think there are hard and fast rules. The interpretation or perception lives inside the person behind the camera. ~Lisa