[Toad]

[Petographer]

Ha, cool! When I saw the title 2 things came to mind. Either the nightclub off Queen street west in Toronto called the Bamboo or Cheech and Chang. Mang.
Btw, great artistic rendition. I like the curves in the spirial staircase.

[Irma]

I like it very much, and I find it difficul to criticize.... I made some crops leaving only the things that caught my eye, but then when I come to the original I see the original complete and the cropped one missing something. The trunk of the bamboo looks gorgeous. The colors of the leaves are great, I think it is perfect

[slejhamer]

The one suggestion would have been to add some snooted fill-flash to the darker central portion of the plant at top right. You've got leading lines drawing the viewer's eye to that high-contrast area, but the main subject (the plant) is too dark up there so the eye gets pulled elsewhere (down, not up into the spiral.) It shouldn't be as bright as the back-lit trailing leaves which look great, but closer. Nit-picky? Yes. Otherwise I love the composition and the whirlwind feel of this image.

[Toad]

Thanks for comments. I see what you mean Mitch - I'll touch it up.

I took this shot about 18 months ago and never did anything with it - ignored it in fact. Saw it by accident while browsing and did literally a 2 minute edit on it.

Sometimes you need to go back and look at the discards, I guess.

[edit] this is actually 2 interleaved spiral staircases - which adds to the surreal - whirlwind effect - makes it tricky for the eye to trace the lines.
[end edit]

[shuttertalk]

Excellent work, Toad! I have the greatest respect for photographers who can turn their photos into digital works of art.

[Toad]

Took your advice, Mitch - works beautifully - no snoot flash - but select, feather and levels - I think it improves it.