Carlsgood Flower Fields

Last night in Carlsbad. This is dedicated to the woman who laughed at me and said, "Those types of shots won't work with all those clouds."

Too bad for all that crap in the mid-ground.

Is the horizon straight? When I used the ruler it looked straight but looking at it w/o it looks crooked to me.

17-35mm @ 30mm, f16, 1/10 sec, ISO 100, 2+3 GND filters.

Hi Richard,

Horizon is straight. Muted purples and pinks and golds in the flowerbeds and sky are fantastic.

Too bad the middle third of the photo is not a forest of pines ....

Ciao :^)

Carol
http://hy-tec-training.com

Thanks Carol.

"Too bad the middle third of the photo is not a forest of pines .... " That's the difference between the Bay Area and Southern California unfortunately.

The horiz. looks straight. The impressions I'm getting from this is disjointed and contrasts. I like the color of the flowers but their orientation to the picture plane and the houses all add up to be a bit disjointed. On the other side of the coin, having the field of flowers and the development adjacent to each other as shown really screams contrast. At least that's how I'm interpreting it.

Thanks Cory. I'm not sold on the composition myself, but of all my frames it does have the most impressive sky. I'm probably going to email my links over to the chamber of commerce and see if they bite on my shots.

Of course she was wrong - you handled the light perfectly and I don't see why any photographer with a little experience wouldn't do the same.

That said, the middleground absolutely, totally and completely kills any aesthetic interest the shot would have otherwise. However, it does also tell a story of man's interference.

Hi Richard,

I love what you have done with both the foregrond and the sky. I agree that the middle-ground doesn't quite work here - at least as presented in this composition.

Here are some questions for you. Did you realize at the time of making the photograph that the middle ground would become a problem? If so, why did you still go with this composition? Since your title suggests that this photo is about the flower fields, could you have done something else to showcase those fields without including the middle ground? I'd love to hear your thoughts behind the making of this photo.

Thanks.

Thanks Anil. Good questions.

Yes, I knew the middle ground wasn't very appealing from the beginning. The reason why I was at that vantage point is because the flower fields closes at 6p.m. (7:15 sunset) so that was my only other alternative other than hopping the wall and taking my chances.

Composition: Might not be all that desirable from a scenic photography standpoint but it definetely could be used for stock and travel material. Marc's last comment also sheds some light on how this could be perceived. I have a lot of regular flower field shots as well but shooting a sunset there is something I hadn't done before.

And I also wanted to get all your opinions on this so thanks.

Hi Richard,

Your reasons for making this photograph makes perfect sense to me and I am glad that you did so, given your intentions behind it.

As always, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

Regards.

This photo is an example of eye trick shot with lines where your brain is fooled.
Yup thisa photo is nothing great.
Maybe you can use the sky to make a composite photo someday.