Having fun today with my D780:
I was walking around looking for unusual views that I could play with.
This was the best.
One minute earlier or later, the effect was gone.
A slight breeze created what I wanted. 
780_0101 | 2022-11-22.nef (29.8 MB)
780_0101 | 2022-11-22.nef.dop (14.1 KB)
I did not expect to find things like the previous shot, or the one I’ll post here. My eye was acting like a magnet, directing me where to aim my D780, and once it locked on, I just had to finesse the image. Starting tomorrow, I will try to find more “serious” photos to capture. I’ve also got to admit, the larger viewfinder of the 780 makes it easier to do this than had I been using my M10. I suppose “Live View” would have made everything even easier. Maybe.
I apologize in advance if these give anyone a headache…
780_0113 | 2022-11-22.nef (28.5 MB)
780_0113 | 2022-11-22.nef.dop (14.0 KB)
One last image before I go to sleep. I feel like I’m getting “dizzy” now, as while I’m fully aware of what I did, and why, when I look into the image I get lost. The dividing line between “reality” and “other” has faded away.
Like I said earlier, I think I’m done with this type of image for a while. The best thing they have done for me is to make the D780 more a part of “me”, sort of like a telescope that I can aim, and see what I am aiming at. But it’s more than that. As I was standing there with the camera in my hands, I knew perfectly what was what. But now, having worked so hard to get the viewfinder to look the way I thought I wanted, the completed images leave me feeling lost - much more than I anticipated. The conditions were perfect for accomplishing what I was trying to do, but if I waited a minute or two, the image was “lost” - in direct proportion to the breeze that came and went.
780_0095 | 2022-11-22.nef (32.3 MB)
780_0095 | 2022-11-22.nef.dop (15.0 KB)
Mike,
Your image appears to be a reflection in a pool of water. I hope you don’t mind that I reworked it. I didn’t use your .dop file. Instead, I first removed the crop because I felt the “sky” was too interesting to be cropped out. I used the Fuji ACROS film simulation from the FilmPack digital films folder and made some modifications using the channel mixer. I modified the image to make the image darker and moodier. I also gave it a bit more definition, added a blue filter to cool this reflected image, and used local adjustments on the shirtless man to make him pop a bit in my darker version. I am not suggesting my approach is better. It was just an experiment and I wanted to share it with you. .
Mark
First of all, anyone here is free to re-edit anything I post here in any way they want. From viewing your image, I see two things that I did which I now realize were more effective the way you showed the image.
I made the image so bright, on purpose, but your image “fits” the proper mood for the image, “darker” and “moodier” to use your words. Regarding the sky, one of the last things I did was to remove all that “debris” at the top left, but leaving it in place makes the image more “truthful”.
The shirtless guy was when I was almost done aiming the camera - I waited until the “dark” guy was in front of the “white” of the building, and got lucky with the timing.
I “sense” your blue filter more so than notice it - that too, adds to the effect. I prefer your version over what I did, especially the sky, and making the image a little darker.
I keep thinking of things I’d like to change, and then realize I can’t - as it isn’t a “real” view, it’s what was seen in the puddle.
And, to that end, I definitely wouldn’t remove the detritus (unless it were something like white plastic) as it adds to the “puddliness” of the shot.
I love that word!!!
The “detritus” survived through most of my editing, and after debating forever, it got removed - but that is part of what makes the shot, and tells viewers there is something strange going on (although I’m sure there are LOTS of clues about that!!). I don’t plan on editing many photos this way, but who knows. My eyes dragged me to the spot, and then I kept walking back and forth to find the best viewing point. Moving in any direction degraded what I liked about the shot. Now that I see it both ways, I like the darker color. My version now seems “too bright” for what it was. As I recall, my meter was happy, and my mind was originally mostly focused on the angle to shoot at - until I saw the shirtless man walking down the street and all my attention was focussed on him, to get the “dark on white” effect I’m now so familiar with.
Yeah, “white plastic” just looks so ugly!
Today’s weather is practically 100% fog. I took a few photos, but I doubt they’ll make it here - they are mostly thick gray fog…
I didn’t keep the “sky” because it was more truthful but because it made it more complete. I liked the shadows and textures caused by the debris. Unlike you I am less interested in reportage and more interested in the way light and shadow, line and texture plays on an image. I also tend to have a preference for higher contrast. Unlike @Joanna, I very often don’t get it right, but I keep trying.
Mark
Exactly!
Mark
Hi Mark. IMO this is a brilliant interpretation of this photo by @mikemyers (great eye Mike) and turns what is basically a mundane photo into a spooky “What is going on here?” type of photo! You inspired me, I think that I’ll take a shot at it too.
Hi Mark. I wasn’t going for spooky but rather dark and moody. I don’t think what I did was all that brilliant but thanks for the positive feedback anyway.
Mark
Yes, perhaps “spooky” was the wrong word. “Dark and Moody” is better but to some extent “Dark and Moody”=“Spooky” to me at least. 
I’m learning to be interested in both, gradually. I can’t delete the “reporter” in my mind, but I certainly can enhance the things you describe - I’m learning how to do so.
I never feel I “got it right”. I often feel I got it closer. No matter what I might do, @Joanna will show me how to have done it better… but we all think differently, and with one exception, I feel that I have been learning constantly from everyone here.
I rarely feel that:
I have my own thoughts and ideas and feelings, and that’s what I usually want to express - except when one of you, often @Joanna, shows a better way and I try what she suggested. Sometimes that’s a struggle, but there are times when I think my way is better.
The feedback in this forum is amazing - anything I get stuck on in PhotoLab is quickly explained in ways that I can understand, and I love the feedback, good and bad, on the things I do.
I was pleasantly surprised to read that. Sure, have at it! …I’m sometimes good at “not seeing” things. I was walking with the Nikon enjoying the reflections, and without really thinking about them, tried to show what my imagination told me while playing with them in my mind. I spent forever on each one. People watching me must have thought I was crazy, walking around and photographing a puddle. Inside my brain, I was “oblivious” to the puddle, and completely wrapped up in the reflection and how I could capture it in an interesting way. I could even visualize my image upside down, and I had to force myself to remember that I needed a focus point, and I needed an acceptable exposure… but those were just boring details. The (inverted) composition was everything.
I woke up around 7am this morning, to find my whole area blanketed in very thick “soup like” fog. My windows looked like someone had spray painted them off-white. Went out on the balcony to look towards the ocean, and then towards Miami, and I can’t remember it ever being this foggy before.
Probably a silly time to take a photograph, but I was wondering if I could really capture what I saw. I picked up the D780 as it was handy, and took a couple of photos pointing East, and then a couple pointing West. I got to download them an hour or so ago.
I’m going to post them here, and maybe I’ll get some useful feedback. If I leave them the way they are right now, that’s what I remember seeing with my eyes. Any tips, hints, suggestions, etc., are welcome. I think I remember some fog photos @Joanna posted, but the rest of the world wants to post bright sunny images, no foggy stuff…
The lack of brightness was real, but it was getting lighter and lighter as I watched. These two images are like what I saw when I just woke up, 7am or so. Sunrise was 6:15am.
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It is so different, my brain is spinning as I look at it. That the building is lit, and all around it being dark, makes the image look more “real”. The fence also looks real, but strange. The debris at the top isn’t so noticeable, so I notice that only after thinking I’m looking at a real photo. The fellow walking across in front of the building looks like a giant, next to the “toy” car he would never fit in. Dark and moody - yes! Also, it looks to me like an actual picture, surrounded by “stuff” that I don’t understand. It takes what I tried to do, and boosts the effects tremendously. To someone who had not seen the above discussion, it looks like an impossible, but real, photo. That was my goal, I guess, so I like this the most out of all the versions we’ve seen so far. When I pressed the shutter button, this is NOT what I imagined - it’s like my original imagination, but on steroids! It also looks impossible, but the photo seems to prove that it really is “real”, despite appearing so strange. There is no plausible excuse for the sky, but everything else seems to (almost) fit… Wow!
Reminds me a bit of “Inception”.
@mikemyers @JoJu Thanks guys, I’m glad you like my version. I have always been intrigued by photos which are well seen, well exposed and well focused(so that it is clearly not a mistake), but make no sense. When I see one, my first thought is: “What in the world is going on here?”. So I call them “What is going on here” type photos. I saw this, after @mwsilvers posted his “Dark and moody” version, as an opportunity to expand on his excellent version to produce my “What’s going on here?” version.
Exactly and well spotted! One of my favorite movies BTW.
When I edited my two “fog” photos, in a mostly dark room, late at night, they reminded me of what I had seen when I woke up. Looking at them now, they are both too dark. I felt like re-editing them to look more like what I probably saw, but maybe it’s better to just adjust them and re-post.
The sun was in front of me in the first photo, and behind me in the second, and everything outside was quickly getting lighter. Since I exposed using the D780 meter, it was probably attempting to make the photo a gray color, darker than what I saw with my eyes. My goof. In the second photo, I was unable to see the top of the tall building. It wasn’t as “bright” as in the first photo, but thee were hardly any details.
I live on the 9th floor, and as a test, I aimed the camera down - much less fog. The fog no longer reached the ground level, which explains why my first image looks the way it does:
