Another image from my trip to Yellowstone National Park last autumn which really pleases me. Landscapes often present as a 'jumble' of stuff, but the surprising thing is theres often a subtle sense of order in there if you look carefully. I loved this stand of fire-blackened pines which were ghosting out of the early morning mist, and delighted by the very elegant sense of order apparent. Branches tipping across to others in gentle arcs and trunks leaning towards their neighbours. The sense of depth caused by the trunks receding into the mist was a real bonus.
1DsMk2, 70-200 f2.8, 4 secs @ f22, iso 100, solid tripod and a warm jacket. (full frame, and minor PS tweak to contrast)
A lovely shot,everytime I look I see a little more,the rust coloured grass,the detail in the pines in the top left hand corner,the moss growing on the left hand side of the prominent tree,its almost got a HDR feel to it without being HDR!! No offence John!!!!! Love it!! Would look great as a very big canvas!!!
Lovely feel to the image,when I look at this image I found my eyes going everywhere beautiful,and thank you for your kind,inspiring comments on my owl John
Really nice effect here, John; the mist really helps break the detail up, without it, the viewer would probably be overloaded with the amount of information. The mist also as the effect of giving the image a 3D quality because it stacks the levels of detail.
Great shot as it stands, no doubt, being of a curious nature though, I can't help wondering what it would look like printed hard (grade 5) and then selenium toned - I think the starkness would make for a very graphic and dramatic image considering the burnt trees.
Subtle and atmospheric - very nice. Can't help feeling, though, that it might look even better without the bits of blue sky creeping in at the top, particularly the blue blob top left which really draws my eye up to where I don't want it to be.
Thank you all very much for the (overwhelmingly) positive comments! This image made it to the finals of the BBC Wildife nature photo comp but has been gubbed by some other images we'll see soon!
Jeremy - hmm - I know what you mean. I wrestled with this myself, having tried various ways when I took it to lose the sky but could not do it without losing the crossed branches on the right top and the relationship of the other trees/branches to each other - so I kept it in. However when I saw it on screen I thought it was quite an interesting and useful aspect as it hinted at the 'distance' beyond the immediate scene which has the lovely depth effect caused by the mist. However I'm still swithering over it!
Chris - I've tried this in b&w and upped the contrast and it makes the sky less obvious but at the expense of the warmth of the autumn tints in the grass. Still looks ok though, just totally different mood.
FYI we'd stopped here because we could not find the bison we were looking for, so we tried again for the bison with no luck several days later and returned to this spot again instead, on a morning which was colder and even mistier than before. Several of the guests in my van refused to get out, as they said "we've done it before". No amount of coercion could get them out, and I was really vexed for them because I thought the lighting and atmosphere were even more evocative than on this morning illustrated. I even brought my camera back to the van to show them what I was doing to try to coax them out, but to no avail.
I'll post a shot from the second morning later, but it really underlined for me that 'working' a scene on consecutive days really ups your appreciation of the opportunities, and in truth no two days are ever the same - theres always subtle differences which can lead you down a new avenue of visual exploration.
Posted by jack chapman on August 1, 2009 at 3:21 PM
really like this, the colours and composition are excellent, the thin strip of shadows of tree trunks in background is interesting too
Discussion
16 replies1DsMk2, 70-200 f2.8, 4 secs @ f22, iso 100, solid tripod and a warm jacket. (full frame, and minor PS tweak to contrast)
A lovely shot,everytime I look I see a little more,the rust coloured grass,the detail in the pines in the top left hand corner,the moss growing on the left hand side of the prominent tree,its almost got a HDR feel to it without being HDR!! No offence John!!!!! Love it!! Would look great as a very big canvas!!!
Craig
www.craigchurchill.co.uk
Ian
Full of atmosphere - brings back fond memories as you have captured a typical autumn morning so well!
David
Works well no matter how many times I look at it.
John
Lovely shot.
JohnR
Great shot as it stands, no doubt, being of a curious nature though, I can't help wondering what it would look like printed hard (grade 5) and then selenium toned - I think the starkness would make for a very graphic and dramatic image considering the burnt trees.
Big fan of this, congrats!!
Cheers,
Chris
Bob.
You have a real eye when it comes to work like this. It ticks all the boxes for me, I would love to see it on my wall!
Best wishes
Phil
Jeremy - hmm - I know what you mean. I wrestled with this myself, having tried various ways when I took it to lose the sky but could not do it without losing the crossed branches on the right top and the relationship of the other trees/branches to each other - so I kept it in. However when I saw it on screen I thought it was quite an interesting and useful aspect as it hinted at the 'distance' beyond the immediate scene which has the lovely depth effect caused by the mist. However I'm still swithering over it!
Chris - I've tried this in b&w and upped the contrast and it makes the sky less obvious but at the expense of the warmth of the autumn tints in the grass. Still looks ok though, just totally different mood.
FYI we'd stopped here because we could not find the bison we were looking for, so we tried again for the bison with no luck several days later and returned to this spot again instead, on a morning which was colder and even mistier than before. Several of the guests in my van refused to get out, as they said "we've done it before". No amount of coercion could get them out, and I was really vexed for them because I thought the lighting and atmosphere were even more evocative than on this morning illustrated. I even brought my camera back to the van to show them what I was doing to try to coax them out, but to no avail.
I'll post a shot from the second morning later, but it really underlined for me that 'working' a scene on consecutive days really ups your appreciation of the opportunities, and in truth no two days are ever the same - theres always subtle differences which can lead you down a new avenue of visual exploration.