Night Picket Fence

@JoeB: Yes, I think this is subject to multiple, and possibly contradictory, meanings and interpretations --and I am being deliberately vague.

@sherri: Sort of fitting, though no doubt not the symbolism intended.

@Ronnie 2¢: I'm being intentionally vague, but I think it can be read with multiple and contradictory interpretations --a technique of representation we all might need to better develop.

@Sandy: Thank you.

@dj.tigersprout: In retrospect I think I should have supplemented the light with flash --or spent more time and used a tripod. However, it didn't want to arouse suspicions and have to deal with the police.

@danthro: Can't be helped. The color on the fence is due to the lighting --sodium vapor I think. Note that the eves are nearly white, as are the stripes on the flag. Correcting for pure white on the stripes had no effect on the fence. Trying to correct the for the fence imbalanced the whole image without getting close to white. In retrospect I should have used supplemental flash, but I didn't want to arouse suspicions and have to deal with the police.

@MadScientist: Drawing contrasts between flag-waving in the US and the kind of flag-waving that has taken place historically in Germany is entirely verboten, however appropriate, or not. However, it does seem to me that the attitude that generally accompanies "flag-waving" is very similar, no matter where it takes place, or when, and I think that kind of attitude is aptly demonstrated at sporting events among certain types of "fans." Your comment is interesting because though I haven't left the US in the past few years, in my prior travels I don't recall seeing the same romance with flags in other parts of the world.

@Persian King: A regular HDR wouldn't work --way too much noise. However, I did try using the tone compressor instead of the detail enhancer and found that for dark and noisy images you can get a little bit of improvement. I shot this intending it to be HDR --in other words, I shot a three exposure bracket-- but I wasn't using a tripod and about 66% of the images were too soft to use. I did do some selective dodging and burning.