i think it would look better upside-down

This is SWEEEET.

This is a very clever shot. Perfect timing regarding the cyclist but also the sun angle for a nice shadow and texturre on the sand. Nice work Chris. Brad

I think that the picture would be better upsidedown

neat perspective. Did you try framing this horizontally also?

Just wondering how it would look if we zoom in a bit closer, retaining the original composition.

Great image.

i understand why people think this should be the other way around--the light's coming from the top not the bottom. unusual, but it makes it stand out and makes you take a good look at it. the size of the cyclist is great

Hello all, Thanks for the comments on framing and orientation for the desert bike image. I kept a print around my workshop for a month or so and kept hanging it in different orientations. It was an interesting process because the image seemed to work in every orientation but also lacked something in each orientation.

The image above is flipped 180 degrees. The shadow becomes very legible but is not quite as strong as when it plays a secondary role (area of shadow near the person's head has a weaker penumbral fuzziness). The actual person on the bicycle is 'leaning' toward the bottom of the image and I find this makes the person very hard to read. Take a look at the larger image and you can see these effects more easily -- hard to read in the thumbnail.

Image no. 2 (above) is the cropped version and I think it works just fine. Since I am composing my images away from the camera I have a somewhat quirky (pride driven) habit of presenting the images as full frame rather than cropped. I should get over it. I could note that I am very proud of capturing this image with such a clean composition. In any event the cropped image works dandy but I am not sure it is an improvement over the original (there is a remarkable amount of surface detail in the actual print.)

Lastly, the sideways rotation (above) works just fine too. Here the 'leaning' of the person is not really a factor. One hobbyist has even produced a version with two bicycles in it

http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/nelson/479/opener1_011202_hunt_benton.jpg

I settled on shadow on the downward side for the originally posted image - quite possibly because that was my relationship with the subject when I took the photograph. Cris

Oh my....!

Now, this is unique. Try sending this to a bike magazine.

Good photographers see things others miss Very good!!!

Minimalism!! Excellent.

Very Sweet