ancient walled city Photo

Photographer’s Note

Pingyao (Chinese: 平遥) is an amazingly preserved ancient town in Shanxi province, some 700 km from Beijing. It still retains its layout from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The city walls of Pingyao were constructed in the 3rd year of the Hongwu Emperor (1370) and have six barbican gates, this pattern is similar to that of a turtle (the head, tail, and four legs), earning the city the moniker "Turtle City."

The walls measure about 12 meters high, with a perimeter of 6,000 meters. A 4-meter wide, 4-meter deep moat can be found just outside the walls.

Aside from the four structured towers at the four corners, there are also 72 watchtowers and more than 3,000 battlements.

This picture was taken from the western gate looking to the north.

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Camera: Nikon D40
Shutter speed: 1:250sec
F-stop: f/10
ISO: 250
Focal length: 55 mm
Metering mode: Pattern
No flash / No tripod

saxo042, jhm, albertojr, trekks, Floydian, liquid_sk, Bruno40 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

saxo042 (16554) 2009-03-29 12:05

Hi Benny,
A very good photo of this impressive wall! The wall itself, and the path along, provides a very good depth. But I´m not so sure about the blurry and unfocused piece of stone to the left really benefits here. Maybe you should have cropped it away, or aimed the camera a bit to the right to avoid it. I won´t bother to make a WS, but what do you think?
Kind regards
Gunnar

lousat (16420) 2009-03-29 12:45

Salut Benny,cette photo souvien moi un peu les murs de Marrakech..ehehe..mais c'est une autre monde! Magnifique perspective,excellents details et couleur aussi sans le soleil,mes plus gros compliments,bonne semaine,Luciano

sevy (14070) 2009-03-30 2:18

Hello Benny,

Those walls are impressive. Despite the smooth lightning, you managed a nice shot playing on deepness wih a very clore foreground on the left and the walls on the right driving the look to the end a bit hidden in the fog.

Yves.

Flavia (10202) 2009-03-30 3:35

Hi Benny,

Great place! Excellent deph and coour combination, sand and green. I like the way you used the path on your compo, but I find the wall on the left qite disturbing. Did you try a vertical framing? Or maybe just croping a little to reduce the place it takes in the frame...

Regards,

Flavia

jhm (83742) 2009-03-30 5:41

Dag Benny,

Door uw excellent hoek keuze krijgen we een fantastische diepte.
Dit small paadje leidt ons wel zeer diep naar achter toe.
Ja de muur constructie is wel niet alledaags en zeer mooi om naar te kijken.
NB: Bedankt voor uw extra informatie over het Steen, en wat de Langewapper brug betreft, dit is iets waar ik mij als Oost-Vlaming niet kan over uitspreken, Antwerpenaren zullen wel beslissen via hun referendum, of zijn ze het niet eens misschien?

Groeten,
John.

albertojr (738) 2009-03-30 6:29

Your idea to get a repetition is excellent.
tfs,
Jon

trekks (14336) 2009-03-30 16:38

hi Benney

No bullet will not stop me from appreciating and admiring this fine capture of the landscape and ancient architecture from China. Let me guess that you were up on the fort wall and enjoying the scenery and history when you found this edge which looks into open space to show a path leading far off. I appreciate your POV to show this by allowing me to see unobstructed view of the long stretch of wall so clearly and outlined nicely against the plain bluish sky. Very good depth provided by your f/10 aperture. I just hope you were not standing too close to the edge for a fall :))

Fine TE post!

tfs, bill

Floydian (30970) 2009-03-31 0:53

Benny,

Natuurlijk ken ik de Chinese muur, maar van deze had ik nog nooit gehoord en al helemaal niet dat het een deel uitmaakt van een complete stad. Je compositie is wat mij het meest aanspreekt, maar ook de zachte kleursetting is iets wat ik graag mag zien hier. Perspectief is zorgvuldig gekozen, net als het stukje muur links wat er voor zorgt dat er daar geen gat onstaat....zeer goed overna gedacht.

Groet,

Henk

molla (6931) 2009-03-31 22:48

Hejsan Benny
Just the fact that this image is empty on people( and that's something not so common in China)
makes it more impressive. also like the kind of light that's
so common in this part of the world, kind of hazy blue

Anders

kschanna (6) 2009-04-04 4:41

Hello Benny

I see a composition there, I disagree with the ones who see the blurred f/g as distraccting.

Thanks for sharing
Kamran

Poet (354) 2009-04-06 8:53

Ik vergeet bij jou steeds in het Nederlands te schrijven, is veel gemakkelijker voor mij ;-))
Wat een prachtige stukje historie heb je hier gefotografeerd, ik had hier nog nooit van gehoord, maar ja China is zo ontzettend groot. Een mooi beeld met een mooie diepte erin.

Angshu (34219) 2009-04-09 21:57

Hello Benny
I did not know of this place before. Good perspective of the wall with the towers. I'm not sure of the OOF wall on the left. I might have cropped it, but the fact that you didn't, obviously you had some reason for it. A fine post otherwise!
Best Regards
Angshu

liquid_sk (264) 2009-04-15 3:28

Hello Benny!

Nice composition, good framing... also fine POV & DOF. Keep up the good work!

Regards,
Slavko

Bruno40 (6442) 2009-05-10 5:36

Hi Benny,
I did not know this place, thanks for sharing with us. very insteresting place and note. I loke the POV and DOF. I have my reservation with the wall at the left, but still a good photo.
cheers
Jorge