Creative photography that’s far from common

The image above was runner-up in this year’s Wikimedia Commons Picture of the year competition. Taken by Paulo Barcellos Jr, a professional Brazilian photographer working in Toronto. Barcellos used High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging to take the shot, in a kind of digital sleight-of-hand that allows you to take a range of exposures, lending the picture a hyper-real quality. What’s nice about the prize is that, although Barcellos is a pro-photographer, the image belongs to us all through its “creative commons” licence. And it offers evidence that such licences are providing work that is every bit of good as that locked under copyright.

Tags: art, copyleft, copyright, creative commons, culture, HDR, hyperreal, new york, photography