Pretty much all of Marc's work could be described as "stunning". I personally prefer the color ones, it would be interesting to see this in color. My first reaction was 'Wow', but when my critical mind kicked in (i'm probably 100X more critical than most, so i doubt this would keep any potential print-buyers away!) i kinda thought this reminded me of a manufactured scene, like a Japanese bonsai experiment. I have trouble gauging the scale of the peak, since the trees look fairly large in comparison. I'd love to see the true color of the black at the top (purple? dark blue?) because as black, it reminds me of pure darkness which obviously wasn't the case here. So, i'm ambivalent about the conversion--it may add some drama but to me it makes it a bit surreal. Just a personal preference.
Posted by Derek Sedillo on April 18, 2007 at 3:46 PM
thanks for the link, Derek. interesting, there's no shadow in the color and the clouds are way different, so it appears to be a totally different time--i think if the color had the light/shadow contrast, i would much prefer it, because even with this less dramatic light i can at least judge the scale better. But yep, the impact is there regardless.
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on April 18, 2007 at 7:47 PM
Yeh, i love Marc's work, 99% of it. But something about this makes me think the top is a bit touched up a PS. It looks almost like an artificial vignetting. Not to say it doesn't look good, cause it looks amazing, it just doesn't look real. Then again, I have seen some things that I shoot myself and think it's not real when I get home, so who knows. None-the-less, its an amazing photograph.
Posted by Derek Sedillo on April 18, 2007 at 8:13 PM
I think part of what folks are noticing is his personal style which tends to emphasize high contrast and bright colors. I especially noticed this when I checked out his website. Take a look here if you haven't already seen it: http://wildphoto.smugmug.com/
Nothing subtle here. But I definately like it.
Posted by Todd Caudle on April 18, 2007 at 9:03 PM
Marc Adamus is to the landscape photography world what Melinda Doolittle is to this year's "American Idol" line-up. It's just not a fair fight.
Posted by Scott Fricke on April 18, 2007 at 10:06 PM
FYI in comments to the photo Marc responded to the black sky comments:
"Kent, thanks. The black sky here is actually almost black in the color version as well. I exposed for the background highlights here, rendering the blues very dark, especially with the grad used to bring out the soft light in the foreground. I didn't mind the dark sky was what I wanted for working with the B&W conversion."
Discussion
7 repliesAnyway have a look at this recent shot by Marc Adamus. I find it to be absolutely stunning
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=17141&b=um&st=0&la=140&ph=0&sid=30836&u=30836
And here is the vertical referred to in the thread:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=69638&b=vg2&st=50&la=804&ph=52&sid=2952&u=3092
Maybe I need to start looking at doing some B&W conversions.
Here is the color version just to compare:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=69826&b=vg2&st=0&la=804&ph=1&sid=2952&u=5654
For me the B&W has more impact. But the color is very nice as well.
http://wildphoto.smugmug.com/
Nothing subtle here. But I definately like it.
"Kent, thanks. The black sky here is actually almost black in the color version as well. I exposed for the background highlights here, rendering the blues very dark, especially with the grad used to bring out the soft light in the foreground. I didn't mind the dark sky was what I wanted for working with the B&W conversion."