Dem Bones + repost

Lovely sky in this and I like the foreground with the elk ribs and flowers. Not sure if the square comp works for me, I might try a vertical comp since the sky steals the show and if you have a bit more foreground add it in as the ribs feel a bit close to the bottom. The foreground does look a little dark, but you could brighten them up and add a little more saturation to it. Looks like it was a wonderful evening with great conditions.

Great idea, very well executed- The sky is splendid on this one- Agree with Peter about the brightness of the foreground- I think the square composition works fine on this image, maybe I'd put the rib cage a bit more on the right side of the frame, buI'm not sure about it- Very well done, Fabio

Nancy, the bones add a ton to the scene. Very powerful! I really like your perspective here looking upwards. Nice work. Revisiting this subject many times gave you something really fine. I disagree about the brightness in the foreground personally, as the shot is ALL about the bones for me, and not much else. I might tone down the flower highlights just slightly below, making them stand alone even more. If you did that THEN you might be able to bring up the mid-tones just a hint, but just a hint is all I could see working as an alternative. It works very well as-is!

The clouds make such an excellent compliment to the bones! You aligned the comp perfectly. Such a great sky. Very well done.

I like the sky and the comp but the fg is too dark.

Great idea, Nancy Lea, and a killer sky. The bones show up nicely and really make the story. I think a gentle touch of brightening in foreground grasses would help. If you're familiar with Tony Kuyper's methods, I'd suggest dodging (lightening) through a Dark darks luminosity mask, which should lighten the grasses with minimal effect on the white flowers or the rib cage.

Nancy - For this shot I think a vertical comp might be stronger and place the emphsis mor e on the 2 great parts of the shot - the sky and bones. If you have the opportunity to shoot this subjest again - or baybe made some other comps - I might shoot over/above the bones more to give them even more emphasis in the shot. While you will loose some sky, I think you will gain overall. The clouds will be difficult to improve upon!

Fine image. The sky is great, but the bones add real interest. Well composed.

Very nice, Nancy! This is a great sky and you finally got the chance to put it together with your foreground subject, and you did it very nicely! A scene that I think it would be fun to continue working on when conditions are right.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Nancy Lea,

What a glorious sky! Of course the story though is the rib cage. Great job putting this together. What is interesting is how much space in the frame is occupied by the sky, yet the story isn't really the sky. I too thought about brightening the mid tones, but the more I think about it, the less, or the more you might limit that adjustment.

The noise in larger version is creeping in. But you've got a good one here.

Lon

I like the color of sky and the bone at foreground. I wish the bone is a little off center and foreground brightened up a little. I agree a vertical crop might work better.

thank you all for the excellent suggestions. I did happen to take a vertical comp which I will post now. It was taken after the first and light was fading fast. Also, the wind was blowing about 40 miles an hour, too fast to use a tripod and I am not that steady with hand held shots. I did brighten the fg in this re-post a bit and I do agree that the extra room around the bones is a plus. Really appreciate all the comments. Nancy Lea

Nancy Lea,

I very much like the composition in the repost. The added room adds and helps with the nature story and overall presentation. It would be beneath me though to replace sky #2 with sky #1. You may have better scrupples than I though. Thanks for posting this version.

Lon

The brightness and shapes of the sky make it the star here, I think. The repost does a nicer job of providing more equal weight on the subjects, I think.

I really like the repost Nancy. I thought the centered comp of the original was a bit static... great sky and the bones look good, but seemed to lack a bit of visual movement. The vertical comp, although the lighting isn't as nice, seems much better in this regard and lends itself the orientation of the cloud structure a bit better imho. Even so, I do like both versions for different reasons. Great job with this one.

Beautiful work Nancy! I definitely prefer the vertical version and very much agree with Lon's suggestion to swap the sky (I'm not a documentary photographer).

I like, although I would lighten the foreground praire a little.