Chance encounter with the elusive Alien Queen...
Nikon Df, Cosina Voigtländer Nokton 58mm F1.4 SL II S, 1/500 sec, f/4.0, ISO 100 (Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia, May 2023)
Eastern White Pine March 2024 Nikon D7200 + Nikon 16-80mm f/2.8-4 E VR
@ 18mm ISO 100 1/100 sec f/8
Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/2000 sec, f/4, ISO 100 (Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia, December 2022)
Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 (George Washington's Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 2022)
Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S @ 70mm, 1/650 sec, f/4, ISO 100 (Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia, October 2020)
For several years I've been experimenting in PP with flipping photos horizontally. I believe it is mostly related to how I look at photos - my eyes usually enter from the left, and I tent to explore the photo from left to right, top to bottom (just like I read and write), unless the composition guides me in a different direction. So this may be a cultural bias.
Sometimes, the composition does not work for me for this very reason. As I start exploring from the left, my view may be blocked right away by certain large vertical objects, and has a hard time moving past them. In such cases, I flip the photo horizontally and check if the composition works better that way. In many cases, the composition is indeed better - not only I can start exploring, but those very large vertical objects are now on the right side, and keep my eyes in the photo.
Of course, this will not work in some cases - for example when the subject in the photo is well know, and it looks weird when flipped. In other cases it "almost" works - I photographed a car on a street once, and the composition looked better flipped, but now the steering wheel was on the wrong side...
This is an example of the composition working better for me when the photo is flipped. First, the original:
Now, the horizontally flipped photo:
Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S, 1/2000 sec, f/1.8, ISO 100 (Manassas National Battlefield Park, October 2022)
What do you think?
Sometimes our minds trick us into "seeing" things that aren't really there by misinterpreting visual patterns...
What do you see in this photo?
Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8 S @ 200mm, 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 (Stone Bridge Trail, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia, November 2022)
A branch like a squirrel !
Nikon Z6III, Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S, 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 (Green Spring Gardens, Alexandria, Virginia, July 2024)
Red Maple on Paradise Beach, Ajax, Canada -Oct 2024
Nikon D7200 Nikkor16-80mm f/2.8-4E @ 34 mm ISO1600 1/160 sec f/6.3