I don't think I've posted an image on this forum before; I thought I'd take this opportunity to do so.
We've had an extraordinarily wet spring and summer thus far in northern Illinois and it's led to the best summer wildflower season I've ever seen in these parts. This shot was taken at the Danada Forest Preserve in northeast Illinois on Monday evening. I've been visiting this location off and on for at least six years and I've never seen a lush setting like this one before. I'm hoping to get back there for a couple of additional hours this evening.
Kerry, I love the foreground with the purple coneflowers, particularly the dominance of the ones up close. They make a great foreground. In the abstract, I think I'd like the image better without the sky, but I realize that the coneflowers are then not being shown in their natural habitat (i.e., it begins to look like an image from your neighbor's garden). Maybe you should consider cropping some of the sky, say about 1/2. Just my take.
While the inclusion of the sky gives this a greater sense of place IMO, I can see Scott's point as well. I think both ideas would work, depending on what you wanted to communicate. The blue of the sky also seems a touch dense...did you use a blend here? Terrific depth of field with the foreground flowers! Excellent scene all around Kerry, you've reminded me that I need to process some wide angle flower images I took this spring. They're fun to shoot, but finding an ideal composition is significantly more difficult than it looks. You did well here!
Posted by Chuck Beatty on July 25, 2008 at 9:14 AM
Beautiful, Kerry. Great DOF and saturation. Glad you're having such a great wildflower season up there. I'm in agreement on cropping a bit of the sky. I think half the sky still conveys your intent.
Posted by Toni Lankerd on July 25, 2008 at 11:14 AM
I'm with Joel...I think the image would work either with the sky cropped or as is. Either way, it's a beautiful scene with great use of depth of field.
I think you're right regarding what the rain has done for the wildflowers this year, Kerry. I've noticed a bumper crop here in SW Michigan of small thistles and Queen Anne's lace as well as numerous others!
Thanks for the comments everyone; they're much appreciated.
Interesting suggestion about the sky, Scott...I'll have to think on it a bit. I do have a number of shots from this location where I specifically excluded the sky entirely...it's a very different feel (not necessarily better or worse, just different). I'll have to experiment with cropping some of the sky in this image.
Joel, yes, this is a blend, but I wouldn't read too much into that in this instance. When I soft proofed this image for Web display (Monitor RGB) after converting to sRGB the color shift was substantial. This happens sometimes--I've found it particularly problematic with images dominated by greens and/or reds--not surprising given the different color space gamuts--but there is a universal color shift. I did my best to neutralize it, but this is no more than a reasonable facsimile. For instance, it's a bit hard to see at this size, but there's a stand of prairie coneflowers--not purple coneflowers--pervading the right side at the rear of this image. They're a pure yellow in the original image. The color shift (and my attempt to undo it) has left them with an identifiable orange tint and I just decided to let it go. Essentially, that's what I did with the entire image. It's closer to the original than when I started but it's definitely not spot on with the original, and that includes the sky, which isn't as deep in the unadjusted color space.
Fortunately, when I soft proofed the image for printing using a custom profile with no color space conversion, there was no identifiable color shift at all. Whew.
Posted by wally emmert on July 26, 2008 at 10:01 AM
I agree with everyone here, that is a great shot and a great find. Here in eastern iowa we too have had a great year for wildflowers, when the water finally went back in its banks.
The days are getting shorter and fall is coming but this year photography has given me a whole new perspective on the changing of the seasons.
Discussion
8 repliesWe've had an extraordinarily wet spring and summer thus far in northern Illinois and it's led to the best summer wildflower season I've ever seen in these parts. This shot was taken at the Danada Forest Preserve in northeast Illinois on Monday evening. I've been visiting this location off and on for at least six years and I've never seen a lush setting like this one before. I'm hoping to get back there for a couple of additional hours this evening.
D200, Nikkor 12-24.
I think you're right regarding what the rain has done for the wildflowers this year, Kerry. I've noticed a bumper crop here in SW Michigan of small thistles and Queen Anne's lace as well as numerous others!
Interesting suggestion about the sky, Scott...I'll have to think on it a bit. I do have a number of shots from this location where I specifically excluded the sky entirely...it's a very different feel (not necessarily better or worse, just different). I'll have to experiment with cropping some of the sky in this image.
Joel, yes, this is a blend, but I wouldn't read too much into that in this instance. When I soft proofed this image for Web display (Monitor RGB) after converting to sRGB the color shift was substantial. This happens sometimes--I've found it particularly problematic with images dominated by greens and/or reds--not surprising given the different color space gamuts--but there is a universal color shift. I did my best to neutralize it, but this is no more than a reasonable facsimile. For instance, it's a bit hard to see at this size, but there's a stand of prairie coneflowers--not purple coneflowers--pervading the right side at the rear of this image. They're a pure yellow in the original image. The color shift (and my attempt to undo it) has left them with an identifiable orange tint and I just decided to let it go. Essentially, that's what I did with the entire image. It's closer to the original than when I started but it's definitely not spot on with the original, and that includes the sky, which isn't as deep in the unadjusted color space.
Fortunately, when I soft proofed the image for printing using a custom profile with no color space conversion, there was no identifiable color shift at all. Whew.
The days are getting shorter and fall is coming but this year photography has given me a whole new perspective on the changing of the seasons.
JG