No Topography II

This is a slightly less random grab from this past two weeks, from an astonishingly flat locale. Comments please.

Eric,
I'm finding it difficult to find a purpose of this image. I know you mentioned that the place was flat, and perhaps that is what you are trying to portray...but I just see a horizon, without much interest in the sky or foreground.

Eric,
There seems to be quite abit of vingetting with this one. It also looks fuzzy and there isn't alot of subject matter to interest me. The black specs I presume are birds but they are so small they look like dust on the film. Crop at least halv of the sky. It's not very interesting and doesn't add much. The color of the sky is probably the best asset of this image.I would also get rid of the uneven black frame. I think it takes alot away from the image. Don't get discouraged. Some folks would rather just not comment than give some constructive critisizm. IMHO!

Rick and Erik, thanks. I actually found the place(s) fascinating but very challenging to portray. Roger on the vignetting. Erik, how's your calibration? I say this because, on my crappy uncalibrated monitor at work, your description is accurate. What I saw, and tried to bring home, is a lot of varying fields of color, as tiny differences in conditions affected the grassland communities, anchored with some bright yellow coneflowers (?) lf. BTW I note that the only way my slides approximate what I saw was when I cranked up the saturation---I wonder what that means. Roger on the birds and black frame---my wife's been after me to get rid of it, I'll change default settings. Though of course I hate to get rid of even a tiny little speck of white egret, they're so beautiful.

Thanks guys. I was considering posting this at the Texas forum, to try & jumpstart them.....maybe some folks from that area (James Hersey, for one) could chime in.

Eric,
My monitor is calabrated with monaco. Eric,
what kind of camera and lens do yopu shoot with? Do you use a tri-pod? I'm just wondering because most of your posts lo0k soft. Do you sharpen them before you post?

Thanks, I'm using the unsharp mask of my scanner before downsizing the files in Photoshop. Affirmative on tripod, cameras are ancient Nikon bodies, Tamron zooms. This particular post comes from a windy day but I think, given the clarity of foreground grass stalks, that I mostly dodged the gusts.

I could have a really good time spending several thousand dollars on upgrading glass, but who couldn't?

Thanks for taking the time, I wish I could convey the vision a bit better here but maybe subtle shades of grassland just don't appeal to everyone.....or are a taste that many choose not to acquire.

Flat indeed!!!! Hmmm this one is challenging for me. I'm thinking tone down the saturation and the spots/birds in the sky and maybe up the exposure at least 1/2 a stop. The vignetting would be better if it was on both sides I think.

This has an "old" feeling to it which I do somehow find appealing. And having lived in Texas I know exactly how FLAT it can be!!

I say balance the vignetting and brighten it up a bit and maybe then I'll be swooning on this one.

Keep at it Eric!! Ya can't please all the people all the time that's for sure!!

I'm a lurker on PNWNP, but avidly so. Thought I would pipe up to join with the others, but to point you towards the work of Sam Abell.

Sam learned to shoot in the flat Midwest and in my book is the master of "shooting flat." Most of the time he takes advantage of some kind of leading line or feature in the foreground to carry you up to the horizon, then very strategically "breaks" the horizon in just the right place with just the right thing. I took a three-day workshop with him a few years ago at Coupeville and became friends. He tells me the trick is to look for the lines and patterns, then move around to "put" them where you want them in the photo in relation to the horizon. Often you accomplish the break in the horizon not by seeing something right away, but by lowering your POV so that some closer feature of the landscape is allowed to cross the horizon.

Long-winded way of saying you are onto something and to recommend tools to help you accomplish it.

Thanks Hank, I'm on the search for Sam. Look in on us whenever you hit the Lower 48.....there's been some lovely hardcover publication too, featuring the flat places....but this Sam Abell tip, especially if he's associating with Coupeville, is most valued.

Send images!

Good to hear that Sam has jiggled your interest. Here is one notable example. Lots of others come to mind, but I simply can't find any links to them on the web.