Posted by Tom Stermitz on February 26, 2011 at 8:39 PM
Hoping for some snow, I scooted over to Roxborough State Park. No snow, but every twig and branch was covered with a layer of frost. Saw only two people over five hours! Lots of nice pictures.
(So, how do I post multiple pictures per thread. Is there a once-per-24-hour limit, or something?)
Posted by Todd Caudle on February 26, 2011 at 8:42 PM
Wow, that's cool!
Posted by Tom Stermitz on February 26, 2011 at 8:49 PM
Oaks and Rock-face.
(Oh, I guess it works).
Posted by Russ Shugart on February 26, 2011 at 9:43 PM
Great shots! I love the color contrast on the first.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on February 26, 2011 at 10:22 PM
That first one is especially nice! Got some more?
Posted by Jim Bennett on February 26, 2011 at 10:30 PM
That first one is very nice! However, on my monitor, the red rocks look a little over-saturated. Was that shot this morning or Friday morning? At my house within sight of Roxborough this morning, it was already 43 when I got up with the wind howling and few clouds.
Posted by John Mumaw on February 26, 2011 at 10:39 PM
That first one is great! Those rocks really stand out well. They don't look oversaturated to me, but two large rocks near the left are brighter than the others and tend to draw my eye toward them.
I think the second works better without the trunks and bare ground on the bottom. One suggestion would be cropping the bottom up to where the frosted branches touch the lower left corner, making a triangle and a square format.
These are real nice Tom. I really like the first one the best.I was out there friday since I didn't have to work. It looks like there was more frost when you were there. I agree with CAZ, lets see some more.
Posted by Tom Stermitz on February 27, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Crack in the Wall
Posted by Tom Stermitz on February 27, 2011 at 2:00 PM
@Jim Bennet:
That first one is very nice! However, on my monitor, the red rocks look a little over-saturated. Was that shot this morning or Friday morning? At my house within sight of Roxborough this morning, it was already 43 when I got up with the wind howling and few clouds.
I agree that the rocks on the left are a bit over saturated. Flat grey light everywhere with a bit of fog, so bringing up the contrast on the farther rocks went too far on the near ones. All these shots were Friday afternoon, which is kind of unusual for hoar frost, as it burns off or blows off pretty quickly. My laziness was unusually rewarded.
@John Mumaw: I don't usually think of square crops. For verticals I don't like 6x4, so I almost always crop to 6x4.5. I'll play around with the trunks, as they are strong elements down at the edge of the image. I might even be able to get 6x4.5 out of the original image, or an adjacent shot.
These are with my new Pentax K5 (upgraded from Nikon D90), which I love, mainly for the handling. I used a 31mm f1.8 lens on crop frame, and a 50-135mm f2.8 zoom, but ended up with lots of lens changing to get near and far shots. A couple times I could have used a wider angle. The Pentax green button absolutely rocks. It makes it easy to get back to neutral or optimal after fiddling around with EV, ISO, Aperture and Shutter. In manual mode, hitting the green button gives me an instant meter reading. I don't usually shoot in manual although on a day of steady light, I probably should have tried that. That Friday I mostly played with aperture and ISO in order to get the DOF I needed. Mostly, I find I preferred sharp photos, i.e. largest DOF.
Posted by Dan Walters on February 27, 2011 at 3:38 PM
Very nice! Really like the close crop in the last image. The warm colors really stand out in these images.
Posted by Ken Wyatt on February 27, 2011 at 7:58 PM
Nice. I like the composition, but there seems to be a bluish cast. Try canceling that out and the rocks should appear more normal. They don't seem saturated on my monitor.
Posted by Dean Sauskojus on February 27, 2011 at 8:20 PM
Fabulous shot Tom. I really like it!
Posted by Tom Stermitz on February 28, 2011 at 10:25 PM
Need advice on cropping. First is the 6x4.5 shot.
Posted by Tom Stermitz on February 28, 2011 at 10:25 PM
The second is a wider view of the same scene. Crop 6x3
Posted by Jim Bennett on February 28, 2011 at 11:54 PM
Tom,
I can see more than one option, including a portrait orientation. My landscape crop suggestion would be to take the bottom version and crop in from each side to near where the rocks jut up from the ground on the left and the rock on the right side. What you would probably end up with is the 6x4.5 version, just shifted to the left to include that left rock sticking up.
I also see a dust spot above the right rock.
Posted by Tom Stermitz on March 1, 2011 at 12:28 AM
Dang if there isn't a dust spot. Thanks.
Posted by Tom Stermitz on March 1, 2011 at 10:28 AM
Discussion
18 replies(So, how do I post multiple pictures per thread. Is there a once-per-24-hour limit, or something?)
(Oh, I guess it works).
Russ
www.AlpineGalleria.com
I think the second works better without the trunks and bare ground on the bottom. One suggestion would be cropping the bottom up to where the frosted branches touch the lower left corner, making a triangle and a square format.
I agree that the rocks on the left are a bit over saturated. Flat grey light everywhere with a bit of fog, so bringing up the contrast on the farther rocks went too far on the near ones. All these shots were Friday afternoon, which is kind of unusual for hoar frost, as it burns off or blows off pretty quickly. My laziness was unusually rewarded.
@John Mumaw: I don't usually think of square crops. For verticals I don't like 6x4, so I almost always crop to 6x4.5. I'll play around with the trunks, as they are strong elements down at the edge of the image. I might even be able to get 6x4.5 out of the original image, or an adjacent shot.
These are with my new Pentax K5 (upgraded from Nikon D90), which I love, mainly for the handling. I used a 31mm f1.8 lens on crop frame, and a 50-135mm f2.8 zoom, but ended up with lots of lens changing to get near and far shots. A couple times I could have used a wider angle. The Pentax green button absolutely rocks. It makes it easy to get back to neutral or optimal after fiddling around with EV, ISO, Aperture and Shutter. In manual mode, hitting the green button gives me an instant meter reading. I don't usually shoot in manual although on a day of steady light, I probably should have tried that. That Friday I mostly played with aperture and ISO in order to get the DOF I needed. Mostly, I find I preferred sharp photos, i.e. largest DOF.
I can see more than one option, including a portrait orientation. My landscape crop suggestion would be to take the bottom version and crop in from each side to near where the rocks jut up from the ground on the left and the rock on the right side. What you would probably end up with is the 6x4.5 version, just shifted to the left to include that left rock sticking up.
I also see a dust spot above the right rock.