Running on the Baby, a photo from Faafu, South

Photographer's Note

That image was took on a sand stripe, in the midlle of the Indian Ocean. It was a "Baby Atoll".
Long not more than 40 meters and wide around 5 meters.

*Scanned image*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi (Indo-Aryan language of the Maldive Islands) word atholhu (Dhivehi: އަތޮޅު). Its first recorded use in English was in 1625. However, the term was popularised by Charles Darwin who described atolls as a subset in a special class of islands, the unique property of which is the presence of an organic reef.
Atolls are the product of the growth of tropical marine organisms, so these islands are only found in warm tropical waters. Volcanic islands located beyond the warm water temperature requirements of reef building (hermatypic) organisms become seamounts as they subside and are eroded away at the surface. An island that is located where the ocean water temperatures are just sufficiently warm for upward reef growth to keep pace with the rate of subsidence is said to be at the Darwin Point. Islands more polar evolve towards seamounts or guyots; islands more equatorial evolve towards atolls (see Kure Atoll).

Reginald Aldworth Daly offered a somewhat different explanation for atoll formation: islands worn away by erosion (ocean waves and streams) during the last glacial stand of the sea of some 300 feet below present sea level, developed as coral islands (atolls) (or barrier reefs on a platform surrounding a volcanic island not completely worn away) as sea level gradually rose from melting of the glaciers. Discovery of the great depth of the volcanic remnant beneath many atolls (see Midway Atoll), favors the Darwin explanation, although there can be little doubt that fluctuating sea level has had considerable influence on atoll and other reefs.

In terms of total area (lagoon plus reef), the largest atolls are found in the Maldives: Huvadhoo Atoll, having an area of 2800 (or 3200?) km˛; the area of Thiladhunmathi and Miladhunmadulu Atolls (two names, but a single atoll structure) is even larger at 3680 km˛. Another large atoll is Lihou Reef in the Coral Sea, with a lagoon of 2,500 km˛. However, by far the largest atoll structure of the world is the Great Chagos Bank in the Indian Ocean, a mostly submerged atoll, part of the Chagos Islands, with an area of roughly 13,000 km˛. If Saya de Malha Bank were to be recognized as a wholly submerged atoll structure, it would be the world's largest, at 40,000 km˛. Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, which is sometimes listed as the largest atoll of the world (largest in the Pacific), measures only 846 km˛, by contrast. Large atolls are also found in the Tuamotu Archipelago, the largest being Rangiroa, with a lagoon area of 1018 km˛.

From Wikipedia

Galeota, ChrisJ, riclopes, fabio_ts, capthaddock, jrj, cjmm, alejandroguzman, huynt, thaprem, kclai, AiresSantos, PLD_images, sarju, annagrace, MLINES, Talia, anney, cirkus_jordan, mpsf oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

sheilaz413 (275) 2005-12-23 3:59

Cool photo! The colors seems to be manipulated a bit, but even with that, it's a beautiful shot. Such pretty water! Thanks for sharing.

Galeota (10352) 2005-12-23 4:08

I love the subdued colours here and, astonishingly, the centered position of the horizon as well as the woman running towards you. Very nice. Seems like an ancient coloured movie.

feather (51130) 2005-12-23 4:56

I love the composition using the perspective of the centrally placed patch of sand to give a symmetrical feel. Wonderful colours.
Kath

gaby (19819) 2005-12-23 5:03

Paolo bonjour et merci pour ce féérique paysage de ce minuscule atoll - ce sont vraiment des couleurs trčs indian ocean (j'ai vécu pendant 5 ans dans l'océan indien : réunion - maurice - rodrigues) -
Joyeuses fętes
Amitiés
Gaby

sergio1 (12152) 2005-12-23 5:13

Hola Paolo
Excelente toma y composición. Relamente el paisaje es impresionante.
saludos y Merry Christmas
Sergio

ChrisJ (172436) 2005-12-23 5:15

Bonjourno Paolo

A wonderful tropical beach with an attactive woman. The sandbar adds perspective. But the color does not look quite right, on my monitor. I may try a ws later. Good work overall. Bellisimo!

cessy (13647) 2005-12-23 5:44

some day I must go to this maldives, what a place to be dream for :)
very nice capture, Paolo
the beach is awesome, I like also the composition, the moment of the girl running to you

riclopes (35577) 2005-12-23 6:32

Ciao Paolo,
I love the way you share these shots of wonderful paradises (yours and the ones from Chris...). This scene with that woman running is very original and well captured. Although some lack of quality due to the scanning, the result is very pleasant and with a great atmosphere. The smoothness of the sand in foreground and that water are very attractive.
It could be a scene of a movie set. Very well done!
TFS,
Ciao,
Ricardo

fabio_ts (13696) 2005-12-23 7:28

Forse in controtendenza con le tipiche atmosfere Natalizie di questi giorni.. ma quanto vorrei essere lě sotto quel splendido sole, ... :o)

Auguro a te ed alla tua famiglia uno splendido Natale,
Fabio.

capthaddock (28790) 2005-12-23 9:29

Hi Paolo - great note and heavenly scenery, but the green cast is overwhelming, especially in the sky. I tried a workshop to remove some green, but that didn't look right either, the sand became too magenta, so I'll just take it for the way it looks here.

jrj (34843) 2005-12-23 9:54

The compo and setting is very good P. Still the colours and some other details looks a bit strange - probably the scanner..

RGatward (20108) 2005-12-23 11:50

Amaxing looking place, a really extreme desert island, without even a single tree. What happens to the tides here, I was surprised by my first trip to the Carribean that there isn't much on oceanic islands.

Fis2 (171991) 2005-12-23 12:12

Witaj Paolo!
Exotic place. I like the colours and composition. Super sky. Welldone.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Krzysztof

cjmm (4479) 2005-12-23 12:35

Ciao Paolo,

If TE is great in terms of learning and getting new and different places in the world... well, then you have just added a new location to my 'must-visit- list!

I like the composition and the rich saturated colors from the film days (fuji and a polarizer?).

Best wishes for the season!
Carlos

alejandroguzman (4684) 2005-12-23 20:02

Hola Paolo

EXTRAORDINARIA composicion.

feliz navidad !!!

abrazos
alejandro

huynt (5081) 2005-12-23 22:17

Ciao Paolo
Wow Very nice very impressive. Wonderful composition in the season greetings. Best wishes to you and your family. huy

oochappan (4880) 2005-12-23 23:01

Always wanted to go once to the Maladives to visit a friend, teacher over there, he had to move as the island he was teaching was totally submerged by the Tsunami, I like your coloring here, it gives the right mood for the sun and the sand here on this islands, fine too see Paolo.
Greetings
Henk

xavshot (69835) 2005-12-24 3:51

Magnifique photo Paolo
la compo, les couleurs, la lumičre c'est que du top
et la présence de cette femme qui court vers l'objectif est superbe
Bravo
Xavier

Cricri (176) 2005-12-24 5:41

Bonjour Paolo,
Quel merveilleux endroit, c'est le ręve, superbe couleurs douces, agréables avec une jolie composition.
Merry christmas
cricri

bantonbuju (51815) 2005-12-24 10:02

ciao paolo, amazing colours; lovely composiytion with the centrally placed runner;
wish i were in that place right now;
all the best for christmas to you and laura,
j.

napdsp (744) 2005-12-24 18:22

Wonderful POV. The lady right in the middle makes it so visually insteresting. Beautiful colors. TFS.

thaprem (2566) 2005-12-26 8:31

Maldives, The place of Endless Golden sand & Blue skies...
That is the place you tempt me with your shots!!!
Thanks,
Prem.

gebala (0) 2005-12-26 15:08

hello, this photo is great, I just love colors here:) exellent beauty and wonderful colors:) great point of view, well done
rgs

kclai (2267) 2005-12-27 1:38

Hi Paolo
That's a cool palce, man. The sand dune that strecth across the sea with such beautiful color.
But what happened to the color of the sky, man. Look wierd.
Cheers.
Eric Lai

dolin (7369) 2005-12-27 3:58

Hi Paolo.
Superbe celle-ci. Cette femme plein centre qui court vers toi, cette ligne d'horizon au centre, ce sable qui s'en va en perspective, cette eau verte, ce cadrage du bateau sur la droite, ce ciel nuageux, et ces couleurs...waouh !!!
Une photo trčs réussie.
Bien joué
Bonnes fętes !
Fred

(I come back for the smile)

AiresSantos (56155) 2005-12-27 8:17

Hi Paolo, wonderful landscape, magnificent shot !
Very good colors and tones. I like the frame and the perspective.
Thanks for sharing, Regards. Aires

rhizomes (15343) 2005-12-27 11:35

Hi Paolo,
Impressive colors and a great composition with these girl coming to you !
Superbe !
Christophe

Stepan (27210) 2005-12-27 16:21

An impressive postcard... The colors are incredible and I imagine the place must be magic.
I like the running womn, quite original for such a... postcard.
Well composed.
Stéphane

PLD_images (7149) 2005-12-28 14:17

Hola Paolo,

This is just a superb shot. Really well captured indeed. What a great place to go play. I did not lnow that they were called atolls, thank you for this information.

All the best for 2006, and Seasons Greetings!

Paul

sarju (5324) 2005-12-29 21:19

Hi Paolo
Sorry about missing this photo for so long.
wow ...excellent realisation ... I like the way the girl seem to running straight towards me ... as if in a dream .. the colours are splendid and I also like the kind of blur in this photo ... it adds mysticism ... Only thing I could wish for more would probaby be a little more clarity on the runner.
thanks for this marvelous share man ... cheers ... sarju

tinamunk3 (6408) 2006-01-05 6:55

Hi Paolo,

This is exactly where I would like to be right now - Copenhagen is so cold and co gray at the moment.

A happy New Year to you and I wish you all the best in 2006. Look forward to see a lot of nice images from you.

:) Tina

jkos (981) 2006-01-16 6:40

Very nice shot.
Great colors.
TFS,
Joel

annagrace (2469) 2006-01-19 17:15

Fabulous image, the colors are stunning and it is a good scan. TFS!

Alli

Framboisilla (5277) 2006-01-25 13:21

Hello Paolo,

Very nice picture with a good POV. I like very much the composition with beautiful colors and a nice perspective !

Regards,
Stéphanie.

MLINES (12516) 2006-05-12 12:09

Pablo. I can't get enough of these photos showing Maldives as a place to visit. Good colours, POV and very useful note. Murray.

fkokol (1636) 2006-06-30 17:18

It looks like part of paradise. Wonderful place and wonderful shot. wish to go there as soon as possible

Figen

Agniusha (30) 2006-07-08 8:15

Come to Buthead , come a little closer :)
Good transformed view Paolo
wrm rgds

Talia (242) 2007-02-22 20:52

Beautiful, rich colors!
Thanks for the descriptive note as well!
Talia

terminus (563) 2007-06-10 12:59

Beautiful photo, nice colors! It's looks like a dream... or is it just that it's a dream to be there too?...

kwazireal (181) 2007-11-10 12:55

Although the imagery is nice, the image is really bad. Worse than the image being such a badly scanned file are the approximately 40 prior "critiques" which raved about this really bad image. Please see and read the workshop I posted about this unfortunate picture.

Finally, while I truly do appreciate the effort made to post the detailed and informative Photographer's Note, it should be pointed out that what is pictured in NOT an atol at all, but just a sandbar.

[workshop] [compare] +

pawelx (11) 2008-04-17 10:02

Maldives just like I imagine them - colofrul paradise. lovely.