Far away Land

I photographed this in early May, 2007. The title speaks to the mood this country evokes for me. I waited until the setting sun was descending behind an oak-covered ridge at my back, high in the Columbia Hills, using the lupines in the foreground as a color contrast to the warmth beyond.

Thanks for commenting.

5D, 17mm, 2 stop GND, polarizer, .6 seconds at f/13.

Marc, been away from NPN lately, but have tried to check in when I can. And of course I always manage to stop by PNW forum. This is truly awesome, I really like the whole lighting, comp, elements throughout this shot. Great warmth throughtout, that tree is just very cool, and topped off with great fg elements in the flowers, and wonderful sun setting behind you to make this come alive. Great capture.

Will email you sometime soon, son and soccer have me busy and would like to send you some stuff from the sierra trip. Hope things are well.

mike

It certainly has a very fantasy land kind of feel for it. I expect a hobbit or elf is going to pop out from behind that tree. I feel the color of the clouds doesn't go well with the colors of sunlit ground or the lupines, but that may be the monitor I'm on too. Other than that, it's a pretty cool photo.

Gorgeous lighting, the centered composition works well as does the warm/cool contrast. I can see what Ryan is saying about the color of the clouds not matching the color of the ground in terms of the time of day this was shot. I can't judge how late in the day this was taken as I am having trouble determining the length of the shadows but the clouds seem too pink for the time of day this appears to be. Or, I could be all wet....

I agree I processed it a bit too magenta/pink in the sky. It was about 30 minutes before sunset if I recall, so I'll make a shift towards a more yellow sky. I often get a bit too much magenta in the clouds for some reason. I probably took it that way here because the foreground and midground were both very warm, and I liked the contrasts. I definitely see what you're saying though.

That tree looks like it would be an interesting black & white subject, not necessarily with this comp, but it sure has a lot of character.

Pretty as a pecan pie my brother!

This may sound like a very strange critique, but...I was originally going to say that the centered comp didn't work for me but, after reading the comments, I found myself wondering if fixing the magenta tone of the clouds might change my opinion. It might be that what bothered me about the comp was actually caused by the sense that the top of the image didn't match the bottom, and that combined with the centrality of the tree to give the image sort of a 'T'-shaped comp, whereas an 'I'-shaped comp (from having the sky match the ground) might seem less unsettling.

Obviously this is a great photogrphy and everyones comments are all echoed here as well.
To me its the minute features that can make or break an image. Maybe I am crazy but all of the ovbious great light, color, foreground etc is totally apparent... but for me what makes this a REALLY image is the balance of the tree , (center), with the brush on each side. Leaving space on each side of the center tree was no accident. At the risk of sounding way overboard... this kind of compositional thinking and vision ( along with all of the obvious) is what makes Marcs work so good.
JG

Bigger, more natural, more sharpening = less dreamy/painterly look. Thanks for the input.

The middle ground and far ground look better (on my inexpensive monitor at work), and of course the sky is better also, but for some reason there's a certain look or quality of the foreground of the first one that feels better. Sorry, I'm not too advanced as you know, so I can't put it in words. I guess since the FG on the first is a little warmer and softer (with a bit darker shadows), that works for me, then the more natural/sharper look to the rest makes a nice blend. Whattya think? I like this image a LOT, that's why I've been studying it instead of working.

BTW, do you use a slim CPL, then just handhold the grads over that? All these holders/devices always seem to eat the edges of my images.

Amazing shot Marc! I thought the first one was great and then I saw the second one which is even better. I love how in this composition everything seems to radiate out from that tree in the center. I really like the yellow glow of the hills in the background. The only thing I'm seeing that could be improved upon is there seems to be a slight haloing in the blend of the hills and the sky on the very left side of the image. Its so slight though that I could be wrong and maybe its just my eyes or the poorly calibrated monitor I'm viewing it on at work. I'm still relatively new to Oregon and didn't realize this place existed, it reminds me of Northern California where I grew up. I'll have to check it out sometime soon while the flowers are still blooming.

This works well. It's funny that in my thoughts I'm thinking it works well despite the foreground being so sparse. It's really not, we've just been spoiled with the flowers this year. It does look like a tad of haloing, but I'm seeing it more around the central tree.

I prefer the second.

I much prefer your original because I like your style. The technique of capture in the field mixed with the processing is what makes your images unique and I don't think your creative vision should be subdued. Still the second is fantastic as well.
This is a nice photo, but not my favorite of yours. I do like the technique to set the tree and BG apart from the FG.

I think the second one is a major improvement.

Except for the lupines and balsamroot, this could almost be the African savannah, Marc! That clump of oak has a lot of character.
I think the centered comp works well here, mainly due to the way the clouds seem to radiate out from the trees.
BTW, I like the first version best!

It looked like Africa to me also Marc....great job on the second version!! Great improvement from the first...I think in the first one there is too much yellow on the foreground leading to the background. The second version balances it out...regards, Rajeev.