Tortured

Peter Hill

Tortured

Tortured was shot early one morning in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia. The image is of the trunk of a rather large, old Moreton Bay Fig tree. A secret about the image is revealed in one of the comments.

Tortured belongs to the following groups:

Shades of Grey Available for sale as

Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints and Framed Prints
Tortured by Peter Hill
  • Jordan Miscamble

    Jordan Miscamble

    Nice one Peter…lovely!

  • Peter Hill replied

    Thanks NOOG !

  • Leah Highland

    Leah Highland

    Nature at it’s best. Beautiful Peter!

  • Peter Hill replied

    Thank you Leah – glad u like this one :)

  • toolesque

    toolesque

    Stunning. This light is natural and real and intense. I love the contrast, the shadows are perfect. You are a model photographer. You inspire me greatly. Thank-you.

  • Peter Hill replied

    Oooh Charleen, careful, my head’s about to explode :) Thank you kindly, I do appreciate your comments.

  • karen Bradshaw

    karen Bradshaw

    fantastic

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks saintslass

  • Linda Ridpath

    Linda Ridpath

    this is lovely, there is a feeling of human skin, all wrapped up and loving!!! beautifully put together shot!

  • Peter Hill replied

    thank you Linda!

  • Bob Fox

    Bob Fox

    The lighting IS good! Did you use supplemental lighting? Did you wait until the light is just right? Was this a planned shot? Or one of those lucky moments when you walk by, notice something spectacular, and decide you must get a shot of it?

  • Peter Hill replied

    You ask good questions Robert. None of the above.

    This photograph was one of many shot early one morning in the Royal Botanic Gardens. I used my 70-300mm DO IS lens, no filter. I saw the tree, stood in front of it, lowered my angle (I’m 6’ 1”), and shot. The lighting effect is caused from the shadows of surrounding trees and its own branches (it was a big tree with a huge canopy). Then I left the image alone for several weeks as I didn’t particularly like it. Then last night I saw it again and saw something else too. So I cropped it down to just focus on the trunk. Then I did something that people often don’t think about when creating natural abstracts, and yet it changes completely the look – I inverted the image 180 degrees. The top of the image is actually almost the base of the trunk. :)

  • mrscarlotta

    mrscarlotta

    This is really neat xx

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks carlotta

  • Bob Fox

    Bob Fox

    Ah ha! That does create an oppressive effect. Also makes the title poetic.

  • Mechellerene

    Mechellerene

    Stunning…I wish I had more words…

  • Peter Hill replied

    That’s ok Mechellerene, I’ll run with what you’ve given! Thanks :)

  • Globalphotos

    Globalphotos

    Wonderful shot Peter, what a great tree !!

  • Peter Hill replied

    Thanks Varinia – you can’t really go wrong with an old Moreton Bay Fig tree !! :)

  • PJ Ryan

    PJ Ryan

    this looks fantastic

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks Nicole – glad u like it.

  • Juilee Pryor

    Juilee Pryor

    this is stunning Peter…... great work

  • Peter Hill replied

    Hi Juilee – escaped from the clutches of your wonderful backyard? – thanks!!

  • Juilee Pryor

    Juilee Pryor

    nah I just escaped from the clutches of the darkroom which was filled with desperate students wishing to do a whole semesters work in one day in time for assesment next week…... no joke…... I’ve spent the day processing b/w super 8 film in triple tanks and then splicing it all back together again…...there has been film everywere like spagetti all over the darkroom…... yoiks….. I might have to bring redwine o’clock forward today….... :)

  • Peter Hill replied

    Ha! “redwine o’clock” !! Love it :) drink and be merry

  • Juilee Pryor

    Juilee Pryor

    why thank you kind sir…. it’s not my favorite sort of relaxant but its cold and wet out there and I might just do that…..:)

  • Kathryn Potempski

    Kathryn Potempski

    congrats on your features Peter this is a wonderful photo well done my friend

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks Kathryn!

  • Shelley Heath

    Shelley Heathcommunity host

    I love the majesty of the old fig trees… this is a glorious picture and inverting it gives it a whole new aura. Great work.

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks Shelley

  • Elizabeth Austin-Craig

    Elizabeth Aust...

    Brilliant image! Love your work.

  • Peter Hill replied

    thank you Rosh!

  • Rosina Lamberti

    Rosina Lamberti

    Lovely image :)

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks again Rosina :)

  • Natalie Broome

    Natalie Broome

    fantastic!

  • Peter Hill replied

    thankyou Natalie!

  • Nikki Trexel

    Nikki Trexel

    wow, awesome picture. i agree, that rotation does add a lot. sometimes i fiddle around like that and end up with something better just with simple changes. great tones and light.

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks again Nikki

  • Elana Bailey

    Elana Bailey

    I’ve always loved these trees and I’ve just read how you took this shot (or what you did to it afterwards) and it all makes sense. A corker of a shot.

  • Peter Hill replied

    thank you Elana!

  • jomash

    jomash

    Organic Giger, so alien yet so gaia. Brill !

  • Peter Hill replied

    hi Joanne, glad u like it. Haven’t heard “brill” for a while :) Had to google organic giger though. Post-production filters applied were few, main being noise reduction, but no giger. cheers

  • jomash

    jomash

    Giger
    xxx

  • Peter Hill replied

    Ohh, thaaat Giger! cool.

  • jomash

    jomash

    Sorry, silly observation. lol

  • Peter Hill replied

    no, not silly. I can see it in the photo. Alien and Aliens my 2 fav SF movies (the other sequels were crap) :)

  • jomash

    jomash

    Yes the artist who did Alien movies. XXX

  • jomash

    jomash

    Yes I agree.

  • Peter Hill replied

    :))

  • June Ferrol

    June Ferrol

    Peter, thanks for asking me to look at this one too -
    very impressed with the lighting here, love your choice of black & white as well as compostion and crop, you know looking at it some parts remind me of human limbs, truly amazing piece of nature…great work Peter!

  • Peter Hill replied

    thank you for those comments June – the Moreton Bay tree can provide some amazing canvases, that’s for sure.

  • Lukas Carruthers

    Lukas Carruthers

    stuning

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks Lukas – glad u like it

  • Andrew Ness

    Andrew Ness

    Wonderful unique shot this.

  • Peter Hill replied

    Thank you very much Andrew

  • shanmclean

    shanmclean

    wow, great lighting and shadows

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks shannon!

  • Carole Felmy

    Carole Felmy

    I love this pic for the abstract organic… and tortured feel about it… Brilliant shot

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks Carole!

  • Stzar

    Stzar

    what a gorgeous image !! i love it ~ and i enjoyed reading your commentary on how you created this beautiful photo.

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks kindly Karon – and congrats on your new Dimension Group!

  • Sharon Mau

    Sharon Mau

    ‘Ae, I also enjoy reading your commentary. It is fascinating that you inverted it, what a brilliant idea! It is a beautiful work of photographic art !

  • Peter Hill replied

    and thanks also to you Sharon for your kind feedback!

  • failingjune

    failingjune

    Fantastic capture! So gorgeous and love the tops of the B&W

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks again mathew!

  • Isa Rodriguez

    Isa Rodriguez

    the fig tree is one of my favorite subjects.. this is so marvelous.. thank you fo ryour lovely work i see.. divine to my eyes..

  • Peter Hill replied

    i am humbled by your comments, Isa, thank you.

  • lareejc

    lareejc

    Fantastic capture – very interesting :)

  • Peter Hill replied

    thanks again lareejc

  • Erwin G. Kotzab

    Erwin G. Kotzab

    I am very impressed. So many powerful shots!

  • Peter Hill replied

    And I appreciate the feedback! thanks Erwin!

  • Emily Bandru

    Emily Bandru

    Fantastic! Your work is brilliant, thanks for looking at mine.

  • Peter Hill replied

    thank you kindly Emily!

  • Ben Herman

    Ben Herman

    A great shot, I like it the original way too (uncricks neck)

  • Bojoura Stolz

    Bojoura Stolz

    Beautiful light, strange and surreal, like bodies been captured by the tree and trying to break free….the light…so smooth…wonderful.

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