I got up to Shrine Pass/Shrine Ridge area on Sat. and the flowers where really nice. Not epic fields as far as the eye can see, but some really nice, healthy patches of paintbrush and lupine and little little ones. Definitly enough to keep me busy all afternoon. but, the mosquitos and flies were unbelievable! I spent the entire time slapping my self silly and swearing up a storm! i must have looked like a mental patient from a distance! but, in the end it was worth it and i came away with a few shots i am happy with. with this heat though, i bet the blooms aren't going to last long.
Here is one of my favorites. Nikon D70, 18-70 @ 18mm, 3 stop hard grad & 2 stop soft grad, some healthy shadow tool in PS, and yes, i realize some of the highlights are blown, but i like the drama of the sun rays and with all that grad firepower, i am not sure what more i could have done to balance the photo.
Chris, looks good to me. When looking at a scene like this in person, you also have those blown area's too, there's just no way your eye can get detail in the edges of those clouds and also see into the deepest shadows. I think you applied the grads really well to, no noticable grad line from what I can tell (maybe the upper left tree, but that's being picky; I've seem WAY worse).
The only thing I don't like is the yellowish cast, the greens have a lot in them. I know it's at sunset, but it seems a little on the warm side. Warming filter too?
Super image, Chris. Nice to see that you got out for while, too. I had a lot of fun up there this year myself. Despite reports that the flowers are less dense than in previous years, I still found plenty of nice intimate shots, and a few where there were more dense clumps of paintbrush and lupine. Kept us busy for the better part of two days. I like the clouds here - we had overcast skies both days; it was reeeaalllyy nice having the rain up there, but the skies didn't make for good scenics like this.
Posted by Chris Ebright on July 18, 2006 at 10:08 AM
thanks guys! I have been setting my white balances lately to give me a warmer look, but from the feed back i have been getting, it might be a bit much.
i guess opinions on how good the wildflowers are is highly subjective. I realize I have only been seriously shooting them for 2 years, so my frame of referene is pretty small. but, you can still make interesting cominations with even just a few flowers if you get creative!
Posted by Tony Bouchard on July 18, 2006 at 12:10 PM
Chris, you might want to try making a version of this without the PS shadows tool. Sometimes that tool can when overused can make a color too prominant - i.e. if you let the foreground shadows go darker the warm cast might work better.
Posted by Scott Buckel on July 18, 2006 at 12:19 PM
Discussion
6 repliesHere is one of my favorites. Nikon D70, 18-70 @ 18mm, 3 stop hard grad & 2 stop soft grad, some healthy shadow tool in PS, and yes, i realize some of the highlights are blown, but i like the drama of the sun rays and with all that grad firepower, i am not sure what more i could have done to balance the photo.
The only thing I don't like is the yellowish cast, the greens have a lot in them. I know it's at sunset, but it seems a little on the warm side. Warming filter too?
Craig
Wow, 3-stop and 2-stop grads? Thats some serious filtering!
i guess opinions on how good the wildflowers are is highly subjective. I realize I have only been seriously shooting them for 2 years, so my frame of referene is pretty small. but, you can still make interesting cominations with even just a few flowers if you get creative!