July Title - Pillars At Jerash

How I did it -

"Pillars At Jerash"  was exposed during a trip in January 2010 to Egypt and Jordan.  Jerash was a Roman fortress and trading center north of Amman in northern Jordan.  "Pillars" was made into a mono image using NIK Silver Efex Pro.  Silver Efex allows sepia toning and this might have been effective in showing a more antique effect but in the end used only a neutral presentation.  The original color image was cropped to my usual 8.5 by 11 size for printing

COMMENTS: 

David Halgrimson	Nice pull of the eye into the image. It has good contrast and detail and interest. I might remove or crop out the partial pillar on the far left and maybe tone down or crop out some of the foreground, it's a bit hot and tends to keep the eye in that area.
Mohammed Arfan Asif	James, the play of light and shadow is amazing here. The repetitive pattern of pillars and shadows is most pleasing. I understand you have a preferred aspect ratio. For me the image needs to be cropped a little from the lower edge upto the lowest shadow. The whites below the closest shadow does not help the image. A crop there would help us to go back to the concentric curves and pillars. The details, texture and superb lighting have all helped enhance the interesting historical subject.
Jerry Hug	Yes I like the b/w image without color toning. Your contrast is wonderful. You may want to consider cropping off the bottom shadow almost up to the next long shadow and make a panoramic image to give the image more compositional strength. If 8.5 X 11 is more important, then that idea is out.
Paul Hoffman	This is all about light and structure which you have arrange well. The diagonals from the shadows and the upright of the pillars compete well together. Then the lines of the stones hold it all together. Nice arrangement.
Jon Brehaut
Roc Godec
Jim Baker

Member Bio

James Baker - Biography Currently serving as Star Rating Director (Color Prints), Jim Baker joined PSA in 1976.  A career-long educator, he retired from the Portland, Oregon Public Schools as supervisor of Audio Visual Services.  He has served as chair of the PSA Certain Society Awards committee and the ethics development committees. He served as review editor of the PSA Journal  and was twice chairman of PSA Cascade Chapter.  He has served as Region Director for PSA Region 23  as well as serving as Associate Director-membership of the Pictorial Print Division’s American Portfolios program and Director of the Photo Travel Division program library. He served as chair of the Columbia Council of Camera Clubs  where he also served for 9 years as editor of the council’s  award winning newsletter.  He served as a member of the PSA Board of Directors (Vice President- Chapters, Councils and Clubs).  He was awarded the APSA in 1998 at the Orlando PSA Conference, the FPSA in 2008 in Portland  and the PPSA in 2009 in West Yellowstone.  He has service awards from PSA, Columbia Council and Cascade Chapter as well as PSA editorial stars . He is a star exhibitor in color and black & white prints and EID color and monochrome.