Posted by John De Bord on September 30, 2006 at 9:03 AM
Yesterday I headed up to Golden Gate Canyon, taking highway 93 north of Golden to get there. The ride up is pretty incredible, with MANY Aspen's in prime and peak. Saw many a photographer set up on the side of the road with tripods shooting stands of Aspens and Cottonwoods. Quite a few of the old barns on the way up there make for some incredible backdrops against the full color hillsides.
Conditions in Golden Gate are really all over the place it seems. Towards the entrance of the park, by the visitors center, there are some that are in peak, however it seems you have to travel in a lil deeper to get the real color. And well worth it I might add. All along the roadside, it is just row upon row of Aspens, all in peak.
I highly suggest that if you guys want to stay close to home this weekend, get up there. It was quite windy yesterday and I would say after this weekend, they will start to turn pretty quick to past prime. Take highway 93 from Golden. It is just incredible. I was curious if any of the dozen upon dozen photogs I saw were on here at all. Quite a few outta state cars though.
Shot below taken at Golden Gate yesterday
Posted by John McMillin on October 2, 2006 at 1:36 AM
Thanks for your report. I was there last week, and there was little to see, so your timing was perfect.
About your picture-- there once was a day when I went out with some Velvia, or Agfa Ultra, or some such "hyper-saturated" film. I underexposed it a tad, for the richest colors. I added an enhancing filter, like that gold-blue polarizer I have. All were good, sound techniques, but they added up to make a gaudy mess of primary crayola colors. And I seldom used those options in combination again. You can do the same, easier and cheaper, these days by moving too many sliders all the way to the right. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but IMHO, these colors belong in a place like Lakeside Amusement Park, not in nature.
Posted by John De Bord on October 2, 2006 at 5:56 AM
"Not that there's anything wrong with that, but IMHO, these colors belong in a place like Lakeside Amusement Park, not in nature"
Wow.....that is kinda rough John considering the image is actually outta cam and all I did was add a border for aesthetics. Heck still has dust in the sky even. Oh well, sorry if ya don't care for it...can't plz em all I guess :shrugs:
Posted by John McMillin on October 3, 2006 at 12:33 AM
Sorry, I didn't mean to flame you so. But I do see a really supersaturated style here. I wonder if it's characteristic of the site itself, for some techy reason, or its member's' favored style. Or maybe it's just today's prevailing style? Anyhow, I risked a contrarian viewpoint for the sake of discussion. Painters probably faced the same questions when bold, bright acrylic paints clashed with the aesthetic traditiions of muted oil paints. Old timers, like me, said "that's not natural." And to me, your sky looks unnatural, too. It's bluer than blue, a color I might expect at 30,000 ft altitude, but not 10,000. That distracts me from your composition, or any statement about standing trees vs. cut logs, etc. If you wanted to do a picture all about abstract color, you suceeded.
Here's the question to consider. Personally, I might favor using color-enhancing technique to compensate for drab light, especially if it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But when the light and foliage are at their peak, as this seems to be, I would try to reproduce that more faithfully and authentically.
Posted by John De Bord on October 4, 2006 at 10:36 AM
Also you have to remember to keep in mind that we are 99.9% more than likely, not seeing the image the same way. Monitors tend to do that. Wish there was a way we could ALL see the image the same way when viewing work online....someone should get really rich quick if that is ever an option. For all I know you could be on a MAC with a CRT where as I am PC on a LCD. Had a few folks that said the image even looked washed out. Chalk it up for calibration and color profiles I suppose.
The colors don't look that off to me. The sky looks a little dark or polarized, but I've certainly seen close to this naturally. Just depends on the shooting conditions.
There's probably a more constructive way to articulate color issues than a glib amusement park comment.
Discussion
5 repliesConditions in Golden Gate are really all over the place it seems. Towards the entrance of the park, by the visitors center, there are some that are in peak, however it seems you have to travel in a lil deeper to get the real color. And well worth it I might add. All along the roadside, it is just row upon row of Aspens, all in peak.
I highly suggest that if you guys want to stay close to home this weekend, get up there. It was quite windy yesterday and I would say after this weekend, they will start to turn pretty quick to past prime. Take highway 93 from Golden. It is just incredible. I was curious if any of the dozen upon dozen photogs I saw were on here at all. Quite a few outta state cars though.
Shot below taken at Golden Gate yesterday
About your picture-- there once was a day when I went out with some Velvia, or Agfa Ultra, or some such "hyper-saturated" film. I underexposed it a tad, for the richest colors. I added an enhancing filter, like that gold-blue polarizer I have. All were good, sound techniques, but they added up to make a gaudy mess of primary crayola colors. And I seldom used those options in combination again. You can do the same, easier and cheaper, these days by moving too many sliders all the way to the right. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but IMHO, these colors belong in a place like Lakeside Amusement Park, not in nature.
Wow.....that is kinda rough John considering the image is actually outta cam and all I did was add a border for aesthetics. Heck still has dust in the sky even. Oh well, sorry if ya don't care for it...can't plz em all I guess :shrugs:
Here's the question to consider. Personally, I might favor using color-enhancing technique to compensate for drab light, especially if it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But when the light and foliage are at their peak, as this seems to be, I would try to reproduce that more faithfully and authentically.
There's probably a more constructive way to articulate color issues than a glib amusement park comment.