Hi...New here+photo

Hello everyone,

My name is Khristian Snyder and after going through all 63 pages of this forum I decided to sign up. Hopefully I will be able to learn from all the great photographers that post here! I dont actually live in the Northwest but my mom lives in Bend so whenever I have a vacation from High School I head up there, usually a few months out of the year. I was just up a few weeks ago for a while and had an amazing time photographing the Bend area, especially in the Three Sisters area...its an amazing place. I plan to come up in the winter and go on a snowshoing trip through the area as I love winter!
I'm considering moving to Oregon after high school to pursue photography.

Anyways...here is a photograph of the iconic view of Sparks Lake. It was one amazing sunset which filled the whole landscape with color.


I call this shot "The Transition"
30D 17-40L a cheap tripod

Wow, incredible first post.....

This is the right place to learn from all the great photographers here....(that's what I am doing)

your processing is great, the clouds are an incredible addition to this photograph....

my only nit here is that your image is way over sharpened for the web.....

Look in the Tips section of the forum for Marc Adamus' web sharpening technique, I think we all use it and it really is the best way to sharpen your images for the web!

Welcome,

Darren

Thanks,

I agree about the sharpening. I noticed that right after I posted it and I dont know how to replace it now. The mountains look kinda weird but ohh well.

Thanks for the sharpening pointer. I usually use Marc's technique but I really messed up this time.

Dang, that is some beautiful color Khristian. I can go there for months and not get that kind of sunset. You really hit it right. Nice handling of what must have been a hotspot on the left most horizon. Looks like a great photo but, it looks a bit oversharpened for web.

OK, so I saw this photo and I said - Wow! That dosen't happen too often. I've seen a lot of landcapes. I was impressed enough to follow the link to your website, which wasn't displaying the gallery images for some reason - perhaps under construction. So I found some of your work on Flickr, and I must say I'm impressed. You have one of the best landscape galleries I have seen for anyone your age, no doubt about it. You're obviously making the most of those Summer vacations! Let me know when you're in Bend next and I might consider personally taking you out shooting. You definitely have an eye for exposure, color and processing, which is something very difficult to teach. I echo others thoughts on the sharpening here, but most of your web images look better. It's very nice and refreshing to see a photographer producing this kind of imagery at such a young age. I wish you the best.

Thank you Marc! That means a lot coming from you. Your work has been a huge inspiration for me since I first saw your photographs.

Im still building my website right now so there are no photos up there yet. Ill let you know when im done.

Thank you for the offer to take me shooting! That would be an awesome experience and I will definitely let you know the next time im up there (hopefully winter vacation).

Thanks again,

Khristian Snyder

I echo Marc's comments, I just found your flickr page too and the images there are dead on for sharpness....your work is amazing and you have an eye that will likely set the standard in the future!!!

keep up the good work!!!

You're setting the bar awfully high for yourself with this being your first post. Looking forward to seeing alot more. You may be looking to learn from us; perhaps we should be looking to learn from you.

First of all welcome to the forum. Now for your image. I don't think I have ever seen a sky compliment a scene like this one. You hit it at the right time. I know some photographers that live in the area and have never captured this scene the way you have. Absolutly a beautiful and dramatic shot.

If this sky you caught were a trout, you'd probably have the state record! Beautiful and dynamic shot. It's one thing to be there, but you gotta have the technical skills to capture it as well and you definitely have those! I could stare at this all day long...

Can't wait to see more from you. And welcome to the forum! I'm sure you will enjoy it up here in Oregon if you decide to make the move after you graduate.

Welcome, Khristian - beautiful image to start off with! By any chance did you take this during that mid-July heat wave when we had the tropical jet stream pouring over Oregon? I ask because there were some exceptionally weird clouds over the Cascades that week - and I think you caught one of them! Very cool!

-Tom

Welcome Khristian! This is a very captivating image you have posted. Definitely one to blow up and deserves to hang somewhere, I guess I would start with your place to enjoy it. I look forward to seeing more of you images. Keep up this great work!

Wow, great work and Welcome

Tom:

I took this on July 21st, so around mid July. The clouds were amazing all day and I started to think that it would be too cloudy and they would all fall into a shadow during sunset and not light up. Im gald I stuck around though! There was one other photographer there too who was pretty excited to have such an amazing sunset.

Thanks again everyone,
Khristian

Oh, Jeez, I think I'm going to take up knitting!

Well, watching Marc get better and better has been a real treat and watching you, Khristian, I expect will be equally as inspiring.

Really nice! Welcome!

That's kinda what I was thinking, Khristian - did you see this thread already? That was taken the same day as your shot, albeit with a much less colorful sky!

You happened to be there during some very rare weather conditions for the PNW - we had a November "pineapple express" pouring over us in mid-Summer, which is pretty much unheard of. The result was an almost continuous lenticular formation along the entire crest of the Cascades. So you've got a real keep that few are likely to duplicate anytime soon - good work!

Tom

OK folks, we all need to pitch in and get him an uncheap tripod! If he can do this with a cheap wobbly tripod, think what he can do with a decent Bogen or Gitzo.

This is just plain gorgeous Khristian, nice work!

Welcome to the forum Khristian, incredible first image! I'll echo all the positive comments so far, I had a look at your work on flickr and marked you as a contact

I think we can expect great things from you. Definitely take Marc up on the shooting opportunity, I can't ever track that guy down to go shoot with me

Anyway, looking forward to seeing more of your work.

I'll add my late welcome to the group! And boy, you've set the bar high with an awesome first post like this. You should be able to sell the pants off this one. Are you sure you are that young? VERY RARE skills coming from such a yound person. Way ta go!

Ello!
Welcome to the forum. Great first post with some beautiful sky, well captured.

Good grief! ...ahh, now that I've recomposed myself after being blown off my chair by your magnificent photo, I can say Hello, and welcome. Take Marc up on his invitation. Enter something (like this one) in EPI (Environmental Photography Invitational put on by Art Wolfe. Check it out at artwolfe.com) this coming year. These guys don't kid around, so if you're getting comments like this with your first post here--- Well, you GO! boy! And do stay a real person on the way up to great success. Best wishes. I'll be watching along with all the rest of us here.

Wow. Thanks for all the responses everyone and im gald you like the photograph.

And thanks Catherine for the tips!

Fantastic work. It's great to see someone younger than myself ( 6 years younger) taking landscape photography seriously, it seems rather rare these days. Judging by your bio, you seem to have quite a bit of experience having got an early start. You should really thank your folks for doing such a good deed as getting you a camera so early on.