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Potholes
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Potholes

by Eva McDermott

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 4, 2012706 views16 comments
A succession of "potholes" in a snow covered stream fed by Crystal Cascades, Mt. Washington, NH

I was up at Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire yesterday trying to photograph around Crystal Cascades near the base of he Tuckerman's Ravine Trail. The weather in the morning was less then cooperative..... Snow, sleet, rain until a little after noon when the skies began to clear (at least in the White Mountain sense of the word) and the temperature rose above freezing. While the morning light was quite flat (during the snow, sleet, rain) providing no detail in the snow, the afternoon light was quite harsh. So using some of the new tools in LR4 beta followed by Silver Efex Pro 2 conversion (high structure) here is my attempt at a save (I think) from a horrific photo day in the White Mountains. Please let me know what ya think. Thanks for looking. BTW - This is the same location where I photographed Cauldron two years ago in the front pool. Not much ice this year, but a lot of wet snow.

Canon 5DM2
Canon TS-E 24mm
ISO100 1/40sec f/16
Single exposure

I also took some film images with my Pentax 67II and 90-180mm using Kodachrome E100G and Fuji Velvia 50 so it will be interesting to see how those turn out in a week or so but I am not too hopeful.

Comments

16 comments
Comment posted by Daniel Rappaport on March 4, 2012 at 7:27 PM
Nice composition. Great sense of depth (of the snow too!)
Registered on September 9, 2009, 294 Posts, 2006 Comments
Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on March 4, 2012 at 8:51 PM
Tone, texture, and comp all look perfect, Eva. It doesn't really "wow" me, but I can linger for the fine technique alone on this one.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments
Comment posted by Vance Gese on March 4, 2012 at 10:54 PM
Love the silky smooth texture of the snow and the as always excellent range of b/w tones. The forms of the snow, the great texture, and the downstream perspective to me create a nice sense of movement, even flowing, of the snow down amongst the trees. Hope the MF transparencies turn out okay.
Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments
Comment posted by Stan Rose on March 4, 2012 at 11:31 PM
That's real nice, Eva! Reminds me of a snowy hike i took up Mt Adams about a dozen years ago... :smile:
Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments
Comment posted by Stuart Williams on March 5, 2012 at 1:49 AM
simple but elegant, eva. the tones look good as well. I wonder slightly about the central pot and wonder whether placing it to the left would have strengthened the comp? Just thinking aloud.
Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments
Comment posted by Cristina Strudthof on March 5, 2012 at 8:45 AM
Well I think you were very successful in "saving" this image. I think it's great. Nice work on the processing.
Registered on January 14, 2011, 53 Posts, 363 Comments
Comment posted by Nick Bristol on March 5, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Very nice Eva. That is some great looking snow, and yes, I think you saved it very well. Nice b/w conversion. :toast:

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI
Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments
Comment posted by Adam Gibbs on March 5, 2012 at 1:54 PM
From my experience snow doesn't translate well in flat light, so I think you did very well Eva.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 168 Posts, 870 Comments
Comment posted by Jim Salge on March 5, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Glad to see you got back to this great location. This is stunning! Love it! :toast:
Registered on February 23, 2006, 269 Posts, 2210 Comments
Comment posted by Eva McDermott on March 5, 2012 at 9:10 PM
Thanks all.

Hi Jim -Many thanks. I drove my son up the night before since he had an interview for summer trail crew with the AMC and knew there was a storm coming (he does not have a car at college, UNH). I loved this place when I was his age and glad he loves it too. He has done two winter summits of Mt Washington and is a student at UNH in their outdoor education program as well as their forestry program now. Living life through your kids. Wow. Just hope he takes up photography too.
Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments
Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on March 6, 2012 at 8:22 AM
I think you did a great job Eva. This looks really good. Maybe I'd prefer a slight crop off the left side of the image, but overall I'd say this is definitely keeper.
Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments
Comment posted by Hamed Musharbak on March 6, 2012 at 11:44 AM
something different here, i like the elements which composed nicely

Hamed
Registered on June 1, 2009, 372 Posts, 2282 Comments
Comment posted by Peter Richter on March 6, 2012 at 12:03 PM
Eva, your composition with the pothole counteracting the subtle pattern of the trees works exceptionally well for me. I enjoy all the shapes and textures. Your b&w conversion and processing are spot on and consistent with the scene to me.

Peter
Registered on November 10, 2010, 218 Posts, 2723 Comments
Comment posted by Wayne Jones on March 6, 2012 at 9:46 PM
Eva,
Grreat job processing this. I assume you shot it during the "flat" light. That's often the only light I have, so I use curves adjustments to bring out the shadows and highlights in the snow. (Probably very similar results using different processing tools.) Wonderful view, looking down the cascades.
Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments
Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on March 7, 2012 at 2:30 PM
I find this image very appealing. for the conditions you described, there's excellent detail in the snow.
Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments
Comment posted by Zack Clothier on March 7, 2012 at 9:57 PM
Beautiful B&W conversion, Eva. I could see this also working as a 4x5 by cropping from the left to place the "pothole" off center.
Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments