Well, I certainly put the cat among the pigeons with this one, didn’t I? For the record, as the questions have been asked:
No – I don’t think a sunset is artificial light. (No physics degree I here but I would guess that’s natural light).
Yes – the picture does meet the challenge. The spire is lit by a floodlight, which qualifies as artificial in my books. For the remaining doubters, a clue here is that the sun is below the distant horizon and the illuminated spire is very much in the foreground.
Yes - I agree with the theme running through the remaining comments, made by those people who could cope with the fact that there were two types of light in the picture. The spire is sidelined because of the overwhelming sunset/cloud formation and negative space. I only gave it the minimum, of 1 point, for meeting the challenge on my own score sheet. I also agree that my intended symbolism of the “light of God” pointing to the “heavens” amid the surrounding darkness was too weak, I doubt if many people saw that.
The fact is I saw the picture and took it. I submitted it, as I thought others might enjoy it and/or offer some constructive criticism (thank you to those who did). I tried various crops and, although others reflected the challenge better, I felt this one offered the best compromise between meeting the challenge and presenting a dramatic image. In an effort to retain the dark clouds at the top, which were necessary for the framing, the significance of the spire was reduced (too much). Even though I was very pleased with the result, I didn’t expect it to score highly because the artificial light was too incidental. Still, nothing ventured….
I like this photo! But not for this challenge! The dramatic lighting is here I think, but it's absorbed into this marvelous sky. It really isn't contributing to the image at all. I think you could eliminate most of the earth altogether and it will still be a very effective picture. As much as i like the shot, it's not good for this challenge. - Inspzil
"Use a single, artificial light source to dramatically light the subject of your choice. " This certainly looks like "natural" light to me, and therefore I don't think that it is within the spirit of the challenge. lhall
This is my type of photo. A one in a life time of getting. Sky is so realistic can almost smell the morning freshness.The dark cloud at top finishes the framing with the darkness at the bottome. A 10 in my book anytime.
A spectacular cloud shot. but the challenge is to use artificial light not natural. The artificial light of the spire is incidental to the picture, not its strengh. If the challenge was "natural" light I would have given you a 10.
I have a feeling that a lot of people aren't going to understand this shot. I think that you could have made this photograph fit the challenge a bit better by focusing more on the steeple of the church, rather than the sky.... - JB
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