On a visit to Death Valley about a month ago I couldn't help but notice the wildflower party that was going on just off highway 58 near Keene. So on my return I decided to spare some time and get a few images. As luck would have it a storm was passing through. It was broken up to a point where I had good light in behind me and menacing skies in front of me. This image was an after thought as I was walking back to the car. Now that I've looked at it for a month now I kinda like it. So I'm wondering what you might think. Comments are appreciated.
Nikon D300 / Nikkor 18-200 / F18 / 1/400 / Tripod
Unfortunately this shot is heavily compressed...
Posted by Robert Dayton on April 5, 2009 at 12:26 PM
I like this very much, Mike! The positioning of the trees is good. Regarding
colors, the orange Fiddlenecks work well with your greens and bluish-gray sky.
I get a real feeling of depth in the image with the layering of the hills/mounds
in the background, plus I like the diagonal lines that they offer.
Posted by Dan Baumbach on April 5, 2009 at 1:19 PM
I like it a lot. I like the contrast between the foreground and the sky.
I very much like the trees, hills and clouds. The fiddlenecks are a bit bright and contrasty - I'm guessing they were getting direct light? Can't always get the perfect light, and I bet the full version looks better. I'm not sold on the 50/50 comp, and think a 4x5 vertical crop of the top might work better.
That's a cool triptic. You could easilyl crop a ton of flowers to fit into a 4x3 format if you so desired w/o changing the intent of the composition.
For me the flowers exposure is a little too dark and a tiny bit off in hue. Probably due to the storm lighting, but a sunnier feel for it would be good IMHO.
I love it when the sky is like that - dark and gloomy in the distance and creating very nice lighting. I think the fiddlenecks show very well and the composition is growning on me. Initially, I wasn't too excited about the near 50/50 comp, but with the darker sky above I think this works pretty well.
Oh, just a reminder... I was wondering why I almost had to scroll my screen to see all of this. The max posting size is 720, this one is 800. just fyi.
Discussion
5 repliesNikon D300 / Nikkor 18-200 / F18 / 1/400 / Tripod
Unfortunately this shot is heavily compressed...
colors, the orange Fiddlenecks work well with your greens and bluish-gray sky.
I get a real feeling of depth in the image with the layering of the hills/mounds
in the background, plus I like the diagonal lines that they offer.
- Dan.
For me the flowers exposure is a little too dark and a tiny bit off in hue. Probably due to the storm lighting, but a sunnier feel for it would be good IMHO.
Original capture & composition.
I love it when the sky is like that - dark and gloomy in the distance and creating very nice lighting. I think the fiddlenecks show very well and the composition is growning on me. Initially, I wasn't too excited about the near 50/50 comp, but with the darker sky above I think this works pretty well.
Oh, just a reminder... I was wondering why I almost had to scroll my screen to see all of this. The max posting size is 720, this one is 800. just fyi.
Lon