Posted by Rob Graham on January 5, 2007 at 12:34 AM
Hello. This is my first post to this forum, though I have posted a few pics in the general forums. I took this pic at Thanksgiving at Rock City, near Minneapolis, KS. It was cloudy, cold day, but I couldn't resist a stop since I was sort of in the area anyways. I'd welcome any tips on how best to shoot Rock City. The sheer number of rocks made it difficult to decide where to shoot to best capture the feeling of the site. Comments/critique of my included pic are welcome. Thanks in advance, Rob Graham, Great Bend, KS.
Posted by Rob Graham on January 5, 2007 at 12:36 AM
I forgot. The camera is a Kodak P880, taken in RAW.
Posted by Tim Buchanan on January 5, 2007 at 2:22 AM
Welcome to CSNP, Rob!
This looks like another very interesting part of Kansas. I don't think there's a best way to shoot this area, or any area for that matter. I kind of like areas like this because there's so many different ways to approach the material. Put 10 photographers in front of Mesa Arch and you're likely to get 10 very similar pictures to represent their "unique" view of the arch, but do so in this area and I'm pretty sure you'll get 10 very different pictures.
I like the picture you've presented. The rocks shapes are very dramatic. It might possibly do better as a black and white and I'd probably crop out the telephone pole on the left (and maybe a little off the top and a small bit on the right). If it is a black and white, a lot of contrast can be added into the sky to make it more interesting (and not be so overpowered by the strong foreground rocks).
Thanks for posting - hope to see more of your work!
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on January 5, 2007 at 10:23 AM
Welcome Rob! Great to have you posting to CSNP! I've pretty much lived in Kansas all my life and have yet to stop here so I really appreciate you "exposing" me to this area.
There is some very interesting subject matter here IMO, with the unique boulders and their unusual setting. You have some nice even light and therefore plenty of detail in the dark shadows to pull out.
My impression of how to shoot this scene (based on this shot) would be to have moved just a little to your right, that would have opened up a space between the leftmost foreground boulders and the three boulders on the right that are forming a very nice curve through the frame. Compose from the left to eliminate the pole and some of the barren tree and as Tim suggested, crop down from the top to eliminate some of the sky. One tiny last suggestion, include the entire rock base of the left f/g boulder and show just a little grass between it and the bottom of the frame.
This looks like a must see area. I think you've done a nice job with this shot and if you're out and about this area deserves some more time to work photographically. Thanks for posting and again, WECLOME to CSNP!
Posted by Rob Graham on January 5, 2007 at 6:41 PM
Thanks for the welcome and the suggestions. A couple details I left out last night: first, I was standing on top of one of the rocks, which limited where I could set up the tripod, and second, the gift shop is just out of the frame to the right :(. Here is a cropped pic, based on the above suggestions. I tried b/w but didn't like the first results. Thanks again, Rob.
As Wayne mentioned, I think you found a really good subject here that deserves a second look. I really like the form of these rocks, along with the interesting bedding patterns. With the right clouds, this could be an awesome b&w image.
Thanks for posting, I look forward to seeing more!
Discussion
5 repliesThis looks like another very interesting part of Kansas. I don't think there's a best way to shoot this area, or any area for that matter. I kind of like areas like this because there's so many different ways to approach the material. Put 10 photographers in front of Mesa Arch and you're likely to get 10 very similar pictures to represent their "unique" view of the arch, but do so in this area and I'm pretty sure you'll get 10 very different pictures.
I like the picture you've presented. The rocks shapes are very dramatic. It might possibly do better as a black and white and I'd probably crop out the telephone pole on the left (and maybe a little off the top and a small bit on the right). If it is a black and white, a lot of contrast can be added into the sky to make it more interesting (and not be so overpowered by the strong foreground rocks).
Thanks for posting - hope to see more of your work!
There is some very interesting subject matter here IMO, with the unique boulders and their unusual setting. You have some nice even light and therefore plenty of detail in the dark shadows to pull out.
My impression of how to shoot this scene (based on this shot) would be to have moved just a little to your right, that would have opened up a space between the leftmost foreground boulders and the three boulders on the right that are forming a very nice curve through the frame. Compose from the left to eliminate the pole and some of the barren tree and as Tim suggested, crop down from the top to eliminate some of the sky. One tiny last suggestion, include the entire rock base of the left f/g boulder and show just a little grass between it and the bottom of the frame.
This looks like a must see area. I think you've done a nice job with this shot and if you're out and about this area deserves some more time to work photographically. Thanks for posting and again, WECLOME to CSNP!
As Wayne mentioned, I think you found a really good subject here that deserves a second look. I really like the form of these rocks, along with the interesting bedding patterns. With the right clouds, this could be an awesome b&w image.
Thanks for posting, I look forward to seeing more!