Palace in the Clouds Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is one of the so called palaces situated high up on the mountain side of the buddhist holy mountain Hengshan (2016 m). Fortunately we had pretty bad weather so I got some nice misty pictures. This day the clouds began just above the monastery.

This monastery contains several small temples and some larger palaces spread out over the slope and into a cleft in the mountainside. One can take a 45 minute hike from a parking lot up to the mountain or take the lifts. There are som (fake?) daoist and buddhist monks living here taking care of tourists (see my other picture from this place).

I thought about converting this to B&W but didn't get any results I like so if anyone can do anything nice with this I'd be interested in a workshop explaining how to make it contrasty and detailed and not too dark or bright.

GrahamB, bfly, pamastro has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

GrahamB (939) 2004-09-27 15:51

Nice composition and very atmospheric with the mist above and the dark forest below.
I'm not sure the thick borderat the top and bottom works as it gets lost at the bottom next to the dark forest.

bfly (5737) 2004-09-27 15:52

very very beautiful Simon..I am so happy you did not convert to bw..excellant colors and depth..the yellow roofs makes this more a painting and they might be losing the same effect in bw...very mystical and impressive..thanks..

jbweasle (9294) 2004-09-27 17:17

I like the colours and the atmosphere. The mountains of China are very beautiful. The borders make for too much darkness and my preference is to crop a little from the right. I have posted a B&W version as a workshop. Not sure it's any better than your original but gives another perspective on the subject.

[workshop] [compare]

pamastro (7213) 2004-09-28 1:06

I like the color more than I would like a black and white so it certainly works nicely like this. The dark red stands out in a subtle way from the dark green forest while the yellow then goes further out. The shroud of mist starting here at the temple was in a perfect spot for you. It gives such a mysterious atmosphere to the view. It also helps create the feel that it is appearing out of the mist and also out of the mountainside as a natural part of it. The frame is not a hinderance in my opinion. It adds a cinematic wide feel to the shot that heightens the sense of mystery. Excellent job, Simon.

pratyeka (277) 2004-09-28 4:03

Mysterious shot, depicting an interesting subject with a great and (in China) rare lack of humanity.

naxius (16679) 2004-09-28 7:01

Very good compostion and the way you have managed the light and the fog is excellent Simon.
I like it .

Alexandre

dominique (11403) 2004-09-29 15:03

like contrast with the fog and this architecture, can be that Ci is a little bit dark but environment on the photograph is very interesting bien considering

scalerman (25619) 2004-12-23 16:26

i've missed alot of your galleries thus far. very nice horizona shot - and a detailed note.