Virupaksha temple; Hampi

[Manfred M]

This temple is the most impressive features of the whole Hampi site. It was started in the 7th century and further enlarged and improved right into the 14th century. It was badly defaced in the 16th century by Muslim invaders.

This shot was taken from the Hemakuta hill, above the temple, showing some of the interesting rock formations here. The temple is still an active Hindu temple.





The lighting was definitely sub-par with heavy haze. It took three tries in post before I got something that I liked. I had to make some changes to my usual workflow to get it to look right.

[Wavelength]

Wow, excellent; actually this would have been an unhappy point of view due to the heavy foreground stones. But the very temple being made of rocks and looks in comparable colors, the whole thing works in unison to make this a wonderful shot!!!

[Manfred M]

Thanks Nandakumar - the one thing that really struck me about the Hampi site was all of the magnificent rocks. The whole place looks like some giants were playing and stacking these giant rocks and then went off without cleaning up.

The shooting conditions were not great; the sky was uninteresting and hazy, so I was looking at framing shots that minimized the sky, but were still interesting. I thought using the rocks on three sides you produce an interesting framing of the temple.


I also took a more traditional view shot of the temple.

[Wavelength]

I think a blue sky would be visually more appealing, but this sky suits the subject more and better matches with the color scheme...the second image gives a good comparison between the sizes of the temple and human figures around.....

[John 2]

Two excellent shots Manfred. The sky doesn't bother me. As a back drop, it seems to work quite well. Of the two, I prefer the first image. It gives a direct feel for the environment the temple sits in. Might be tempted to crop slightly from the LHS though, to give the temple a tad more prominence compare to its surroundings. Not sure.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.