Ganesh, this is a concept , this is perhaps why the saying has evolved that a photograph can say a 1000 words by being so silent , this image needs to seen again and again, this image gives the mind the courage to break the barriers. One image again that I would not forget for the rest of my life. Hats off brother !!!!

This is just awesome,so simple yet so amazing.
I feel a little reduction in the highlights in the top part of the image would help.

this is what seeing is all about, ganesh. love the way you have composed and balanced. i feel such an image is always flawless ... neither light nor dof matters, and not even sharpness hampers as long as its so conceptual.

regards.

this is master artist imagery.....true zen feel...well done sir....as nilanjan sir said this will remain in memory for long time.....but i not understand the symbolism of rain here....please elaborate the concept sir.....coz i see the shell in some other context.....some concepts that i can think from a shell is ...its a creature which caries its home along with it...the spiral pattern of the shell has golden proportion....humble and silent....association of a shell with rain ...is it like they appear during rainy season only?

Praveen, this is an empty snail shell without a snail. My understanding is some of these land snails will be seen and active after first few weeks of successful monsoon rains. I thought dark monsoon clouds and and empty shell kind of portrays "waiting for monsoon" for next breed of them to show up. I thought the glow on shell amidst darkness kind of portrays "hope" (of monsoon rains).

Ok, that is mostly my philosophic interpretation of the image. Coming to natural history, I am not an expert in snail ecology. We have Dr Aravind here who is an expert on snails. Aravind, if you see this thread if you can add a few words about snail ecology.

Ganesh, This is fantastic composition..... studying snails for last one decade in the Western Ghats, it never flashed me to compose one such image... i salute for this amazing compo....

Coming to ecology of snails, This particular snail is Crypotozona sp., belonging to the family Ariophantidae, which is one the largest family of Indian land snails. Land snails are generally active during monsoon and during off season either lay eggs and die or they hybernate in the soil or in the crevices or cavities in trees or on rocks. They become active next monsoon. Thus live snail can be a surrogate for monsoon or rainy season. The main purpose of the shell is protection from the predator and from the heat.

There is something metaphysical about this image. Concepts of nature is another element we should focus on. This one sets my mind thinking. Great seeing and amazing execution.

This is a philosophical image for me than a natural history composition. A sheer brilliance in itself. The form of the shell is looking like a Buddhist Stupa to me and the tonal range around has a very calm mood in it making it feel the silence. For me this image takes me beyond the reality instantly and puts me into the thought. An amazing image here Ganesh and thanks a ton for sharing...

Now, coming to the technical aspect, for my taste the light in the sky is a wee bit high and I would burn few bright portion of it. I would dodge a bit on few faces of the shell to make it a wee bit standout. I will try to do these changes on my machine and will upload the image in the Illustration forum.

-- This line is added by Ganesh H Shankar - related thread in the illustration forum here.

Brilliantly seen Ganesh.
I can relate to the image sure but, for me( and my untrained non philosophical mind) had you not mentioned the monsoon, it could have been anything else as well. I tend to relate more to Praveen's comment on this one.

A great shot as it is, Ganesh! The explanation plus the discussion regarding the meaning of the shot makes it even better for me. Thank you!

All I wish to say is that I love this image. Very beautiful !
On a side note (a tech thing), I see some minor posterization in places where there's transitions from dark to bright in the BG.

Edit: corrected a word.

Kaushik, you are right about the posterization and I found it hard to get that removed (even in 16 bit processing). I think I need find a better raw converter than ViewNX which I use.

This is what I call "Making an Image". I love the ZEN feel to this image. Outstanding!!