A recent picture-of-the-month featured an image which used a technique called “HDR” (High Dynamic Range) which combines multiple exposures to allow a photograph to show something closer to what the human eye sees in a scene with high contrast (one which has both extremely dark and extremely light areas).

This month’s image, turns that technical limitation into a benefit. Here, the limitations of the camera are exploited for artistic effect to create an image intentionally different to what you would have seen with the naked eye.

Entrance

Click here to see this image in the gallery.

By exposing only for the light streaming through the doors and windows, those features become isolated in a sea of darkness and all the distracting details disappear — turning an otherwise ordinary scene into an abstract composition.

The pattern on the floor becomes a lifeline for the eye which enables the viewer to link the islands of light and re-create the missing scene from the disjointed fragments. I particularly like how the details seen through the windows are transformed into little framed works of art.

If you had been standing next to me as I took this picture you would have had little idea of what I was doing … unless you glanced at my camera screen. Sometimes in photography, as in life, embracing  limitations allows you to go beyond what is expected, and create something extraordinary.