The Ice Man Cometh +BIGFOOT!

Forget sand, my real favorite subject to photo is ice, and my favorite place to shoot ice is Green Mountain Falls. I make a pilgrimage there at least a couple times each Winter--the ice is always changing and there's always something new to shoot.

This time, I went there with a specific shot in mind--i knew there would be icicles hanging from small caves created by boulders on the north side of Pikes Peak, and I figured if i went close to sunset, I could use a flash to illuminate the ice and dripping water while keeping the bg dark. It's a bit of an experiment, so let me know what you think--i took about a dozen exposures of this one icicle and this one turned out the best i think. I bumped up the sat a bit more than usual but all the colors here are present in the original; one of the great things about Green Mountain is that it is totally shaded in Winter, but on a clear day you not only get reflected light from the sky, you get reflected light from the opposing hillsides (east side of the valley). The others are below--could use some help picking the best

2) strange ice formation on twig (i used a very slight artistic filter to accentuate the edges)

3) Ice city!

4) Great shapes and textures...

5) Every year this one section of the flow has a similar look to it

6) Weird, glass like formations in one of the small caves

7) Another one of these mini castle like thingies

8) Cant beat the combo of running water and ice!

9) Great icicles!

10) might as well make it an even 10--even though this one is OOF Cool irridescence...
thanks for any feedback!

Ice is nice
Excellent group of images

You put the Icing on the cake with these Stan..nice series!

Nice series Stan - I like your experiment
Like #4 a lot as well ..

Sweet Icing! Like them all, but really like the looks of #6 Nice work Stan.

Harold

I like 2 and 4 the best - great form and texture and I love that color. Am glad to hear #6 wasn't shot in a mirror! I like the concept of #1 but the relative size of the backdrop makes the image feel a little dark for me; it may be that the same image that focuses more on the icicle would change that balance but that might be hard to do while maintaining your water drops Very creative work, Stan.

Stan, ten shots? You have way too good of an eye for beauty to rely on us for ten shots. OK, #1 I like the idea but too much negative space. I can't imagine shooting these tight scenes. #2 I like this one but seems too noisy even at NPN size standards. Blown up that twig might be too blury/not in focus. #3 Best one so far; great comp. I know you're into "like I saw it" but this one may benefit from a cooler WB. There's a lot of ice here and when I think "ice" I think cooler mid-tones. #4 is OK but to me would look a lot better showing ALOT more contrast. #5, I'm digging the color here. I want a little more pan to the right, certainly not a deal breaker the way it is. #6 pretty bad-ass but lacking micro focus. #7 interesting scene but just doesn't feel right. #8 and especially #10 are not working for me for different reasons. #10 looks like a throw-in.

#9 is my favorite. Excellent micro focus. But again I would cool it down and add contrast.

Overall #3 and #9 are my favs.

You win some and you lose some... Take my crtique with a grain of salt.

My personal favorite is #5. From a graphics perspective, I like the repetition of forms as well as the mix of warm and cool tones. And you did notice, I'm sure, the gorilla growling at you from behind the flowing water in #2.

Great eye Stan, you certainly explored all the angles! I liked the first one, it looked to me like the icicle had just exploded and broken free. My favorite is #3 I just like al the different elements in the composition. I also like the lines in #9.

Nice series Stan, but really like 2,3,4,5 and 9 best of all. I am not really getting #10 with the OOF, but hey, 9 out of ten isn't bad right? Number 2 has some strange darker spot behind the ice and I swear it almost looks like a Neanderthal frozen behind the ice. I especially love the comp on 3 and 9.

OMG i just noticed the ape man--the funny thing is, right before i took this shot i was just walking by the spot where Bigfoot was supposedly spotted many years back--theres even a sign in Green Mtn Falls that talks about it (Pikes Peak is a Bigfoot haven!)
BIGFOOT LIVES!!

Some of these work well for me Stan (#s 3, 4 and 9!) The ones I like are probably because they seem sharper and have well defined centers of interest. A couple are on the bubble. I like the crystal pictured in #7 but the rock edge fights with it too much for my attention. I like most of #8 but find the upper left corner to be weak. With a crop of the drips and ice crystal on the left side as well as a small bit of cropping on the top and bottom, I really like this image. The others just seem to be too OOF or busy even as abstracts for my taste.

Great collection! Like the shapes of the ice in #4. Like the back background in #1 as well.

Cool images, Stan! If I had to pick a favorite, it would be #5.