Here is my third in what I think will be 5 installments on Painted Hills. Thanks for tolerating my persistence ;-).
This one is 100mm (24-105mmL)
f/19, 1/60s ISO 100
I have another that is 105mm but has more space beneath the round foreground mound (and no yellow above the red at the top), and if I'm begged, I could post that one too.
Posted by David Bostock on April 20, 2011 at 8:48 PM
I really like this Marylynne. It has a lot of depth and wonderful lines. I'd like to see the 105mm version for comparison, because I think the foreground mound is a little close to the edge of the frame on this one...not bad, but it might be interesting to compaer the two.
You've got the colors and exposure down perfectly here...little hint...you could have gone to f/8 and still had all the depth of field you needed, plus your overall images would have been a bit sharper, not suffering from diffraction. When I was last out there, I shot my 500 at f/11 and never had a problem with DOF. At 100mm, f/8 would have been fine and that happens to be the sweet spot for your lens in terms of overall sharpness...just fyi...
Thanks, David. I sometimes forget about the diffraction thing. I had been shooting wider angles and trying to get foreground sharpness with shots of the hills and, silly me, I changed lenses and didn't change aperture. Even when I'm sitting on the ground with a tripod, I still get rushed and don't think things through.
Here is the one at 105mm but with a tish more space in front of the round mound. I don't like the layers of color as well (and the skitch in the upper left seems distracting). Same exposure settings.
Posted by David Bostock on April 21, 2011 at 9:34 AM
Too funny, Marylynne, I forget to change my settings all the time too Just get caught up in the scene sometimes.
I like the room on the bottom, but agree that the top could use more room...time to get out your image merging tools and merge these images into a nice square shot...best of both.
Posted by Scott Smorra on April 23, 2011 at 12:30 AM
This is a very nice series of images Marylynne. I like the top version, but agree that it needs a bit more space at the bottom. The golds and reds look great.
Posted by John Williams on April 23, 2011 at 12:46 AM
My thoughts were exactly in line with David and Scott, especially the merge if you really wanted this as a keeper. The cut off bottom is a nit, but the first photo is better IMHO, for the reasons you noted. Depending on the lighting, my memory was that the hills were a little more colorful when I was there (although it has been awhile), you might play with increasing the saturation a small amount.
I think I have some better ones anyway, so I'll save the merge for rainy day. I was hesitant to increase saturation much at all since the colors can see surrealistic (but then again the place really is surrealistic, eh?) It was dry the day before I was there and the day I visited, so colors likely are a bit subdued. I had planned to make the loop around to Ashwood (the back way) so dry roads were important, but the dried out ruts were too deep for the Prius anyway...going back with the truck next time. I did get 50mpg on the drive though
Discussion
6 repliesThis one is 100mm (24-105mmL)
f/19, 1/60s ISO 100
I have another that is 105mm but has more space beneath the round foreground mound (and no yellow above the red at the top), and if I'm begged, I could post that one too.
You've got the colors and exposure down perfectly here...little hint...you could have gone to f/8 and still had all the depth of field you needed, plus your overall images would have been a bit sharper, not suffering from diffraction. When I was last out there, I shot my 500 at f/11 and never had a problem with DOF. At 100mm, f/8 would have been fine and that happens to be the sweet spot for your lens in terms of overall sharpness...just fyi...
Cheers,
Here is the one at 105mm but with a tish more space in front of the round mound. I don't like the layers of color as well (and the skitch in the upper left seems distracting). Same exposure settings.
I like the room on the bottom, but agree that the top could use more room...time to get out your image merging tools and merge these images into a nice square shot...best of both.