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NICELabs — Water Lily
#lily #nature #photo #water #niceman #nicelabs
Published: 2015-07-19 01:31:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 1644; Favourites: 18; Downloads: 0
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Took this pic a year ago just after I bought my new camera. Testing out the zoom at a little sink-pond back in the woods on my property. Always liked how this turned out, so I thought I'd share
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Comments: 25
alright, you want a critique, huh? *cracks knuckles*
at first glance, i thought this had to be photoshopped up the wahoo. i thought maybe you used one of your environment rendering programs to make this. but reading, i see you took a picture. did you use a filter over it?
many times, natural photography loses its appeal because the images can be so stark. but looking at the undersides of the lily pads, at the veins, it almost looks like there's a filter or some sort of softening blur used that made it look less intimidating. nature is beautiful but can also be harsh. something about this image feels like that harshness was taken away. not sure what you did because i'm no photographer. but artistically, whatever that was, i like it.
i also notice the same aspect on the curled up and decayed leaves further in the background. they just don't look glaringly 'real', they look touched up. so you must have really worked on the angle to get this just so.
i really appreciate the lily near the middle but slightly off to one side. too close to the middle and it would have looked too much like a set-up. also, the sunlight didn't take away from the lily, and actually makes it seem as if the lily has its own lighting. kind of like in 3D, self illuminating? that's how the lily looks, because it's giving off this bluish glow rather than the more yellow sunlight on the lily pads near the right of the image. i think that was really great, it helps give the lily an ethereal glow which contributes to the almost 'super natural' look of the image over all.
if i had anything negative to say, let's see. it would be that the wind perhaps picked up and flipped up a lot of the pads? i don't know if they were blown that way and used to it, so are always curled up - or if you waited for the wind to do that. it might be intentional, it definitely 'adds' to the pic. but i kind of miss seeing pads myself in real life, and would have loved to see some more of the smooth shiny tops of them.
really, that's the only thing i could say. the way that part of the pic is shaded and part isn't, is wonderful. placement of the focus of the lily is perfect. and the curled pads allow us to see that softer edging, if it was a filter or not.
great share!
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Thank you very much
This pic is totally stock. Didn't even resize it. Was walking in the woods and just decided on a whim to zoom in and take a shot of the lily, so everything you see there is how I saw it. No set up time or positioning. Just got what looked nice in the viewfinder and snapped. The little pond has trees all around it too so there wasn't any wind. I think the curling and such was due more to the plants themselves than anything else.
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Very serene. Just because it's simple, does not mean it's not beautiful and peaceful looking. I love the angle of such photographic and how the water seems to sit around it, as if it's not even there. A picture like this just shows how beautiful mother earth can be, even in places you don't think you can find such beauty.
Even the decaying parts of the Lilly pads, bring out the raw earth. It just goes to show you how photographs like this can really bring out the beauty in all the things around us.
Nice work, I can't wait to look at the rest of your gallery.
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Thank you so very much
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Oh you are fine, I looked over your gallery. I love it all haha
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Thought I’d pass by and see what I’ve missed these past 3 months. Lo and behold I’m transfixed by the very first one I look at…. Never has my gast been so flabbered!
32-hours-per-day NICELabs, worker, carer, stalwart, encyclopaedic knowledge of all, accomplished writer, illustrator, modeller, musician, Sci-Fi sensei, video game master, wit supreme, cinephile extraordinaire, the list goes on forever… And yet he still manages to stop and smell the roses. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
You put us mere mortals to shame.
All of the comments below extol this unquestionably beautiful photo but what I see is the synthesis of a languid lily and an unbelievably dynamic Renaissance Man… And it makes it even more beautiful... Deviantart's first transcendental deviation
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too kind my friend
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Love this photograph, the pristine whiteness of the petals against the decaying leaves makes me think of a perfect moment (the lily) amidst life's journey to the ultimate decaying moment (death)
God I have to get out more LOL
Oh one last thought......I can just imagine an alligators snout surfacing slowly through those leaves and the lily perfectly poised on his head as he does so....hows that for a decaying moment if you happen to be enjoying a nice swim......
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Very glad it evokes such imagery for you 
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I can remember many times after canoeing up river and getting all hot it was heaven to strip off and just float about in the water, it was a very sensual thing to do, however, although I would like to think that was what you might have had in mind when you said something else can be waiting for you.....I distinctly remember one of your heroines getting practically eaten alive by maggot creatures so forgive me if I don't jump in and start doing the breast stroke
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Well, that was more of a dramatization.... you should be perfectly safe. Trust me 
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Mmmmmm Of course I do trust you, and I totally understand the render was a dramatization of a sort since it was very dramatic, the girls terrified screams still echo in my head to this day.
I also feel reassured that my life is in safe hands since you are obviously an accomplished life saver.....whether my breast(stroke) is in equally safe hands I'm not so sure hahaha.
The only safe thing for me to do prior to stripping off is to check you over for any hidden maggot/worm-like/tentacle things on your body ^^
If I find any rest assured I know just what to do with them
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I have no doubts that you do, love
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Thanks for sharing this moment of peace and serenity
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very serene. excellent framing.
artfully balanced piece.
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