I can't remember the source, but one photography tip when doing outdoor photography is to 'look back.' That means that we often view with the idea of the sun being behind us, but sometimes shooting into the sun can create interesting opportunities. This was taken on a very sunny, mid-afternoon in Manhattan's (NYC) Central Park near. I thought the lighting was intriguing with the clouds -- even shooting ISO of 100 and closing to f/22, my shutter speed was 1/640! Processed in a combination of Aperture and Color Efex to bring out the snow and sunbeam highlights, while not losing the sun flare.
All this MadHatter chatter has me thinking of mystery and strange happenings so while I can't think of a particular scene that would fit, I thought it fit the ambiance of many of the images posted by the @madhatters this past week.
An alternate for today is Fish's Fatal Confusion (just for fun): http://365project.org/taffy/special-photos/2014-02-16
Thank you all for your incredible response to my images from the 9/11 memorial. It's heartwarming to know that so many of you had a sense of how it felt to be there, which is what I had hoped for in posting. It's a very special place.
I like it, it struck me as I thought it was the moonlight and a lot more vivid than my shot taken at night. I now know why, great detail and visually creative F
wonderful shot again. when I take into the sun I get a blown out white blob. how do you get the lovely sparkly star effect? is it to do with the fstop?
I wouldn't have guessed it was taken mid day. I thought you were very courageous to take at night in what I'm guessing is a park. Great shot. Love the reflection on the pavement.
Beautiful sun flare and reflection of light on the pavement! You have such an artistic eye- seeing sunlight and steps - then turning it into an intriguingly beautiful scene! Wow and Fav!
@jaynspain Thanks Jayn. I don't know this for certain as it's been trial and error, but it seems that the f-stop is critical. During the day when it's bright, f-stop alone isn't enough, so I do a combination: (1) lower the ISO as much as you can and (2) close your f-stop as far as you can. Then shoot and adjust one or the other (ISO is best) as needed. You don't want to change the aperture setting as I am pretty sure that is what is giving us the burst. We had a sun-flare camera setting challenge in maybe July 2013 so you may want to go back and check that out. It might have been late June or early August, but I'm almost positive it was July.
I really like how you've created (not just captured) a mood to go along with the image.