Sunlight Basin - but not much sun

[churly]

This was shot under mostly cloud skies with just some fingers of sun breaking through.  I have gone for a somewhat subdued version.

Thanks for having a look.  Always interested in CC.   Chuck

[sdwilsonsct]

Hi Chuck,
I like all the textures and shades in the mountains. But otherwise the picture doesn't really grab me. Two possible reasons.

First, the entire landscape is more or less equally lit and sharp. No element comes out as a centre of interest.

Second, Mahesh Venkitachalam's interesting recent post on the LuLa home page has a link to National Geographic's "50 best photographs". One thing that strikes me about these is that nearly all of these have a strong, unambiguous structure. There is a Subject and there is a Context. This can be hard to do with complex, interesting landscapes.

On the other hand, if a photographer enjoys more complex, ambiguous compositions, he should carry on!

[churly]

Scott -Thanks for the comments.  You have put your finger on the issue - the lack of a focal point.  I fight a running battle with the focal point issue.  The focal point is a compositional basic for a good reason but, to me, also places limits on the image.  Personally I (and I expect many others) enjoy large landscapes (real landscapes not images) more holistically.  I tend to want to visually explore the nooks and crannies rather than find a focal point.  It is clear that there is a major division between what we see and what makes a 'good' image (thus the compositional 'rules') and I acknowledge that but, I keep wanting to get at that more general view in my images because that is what thrills me about the natural vista. I looked at the National Geographic images as well and agree with your assessment.  I am intellectually convinced by the strength of the images but still am not entirely emotionally satisfied.

To tell the truth though, the reason I posted the Sunlight Basin image is because it reminds me of the old pen and ink illustrations that you see in older natural history publications.

Cheers,
Chuck

[Isaac]

... because it reminds me of the old pen and ink illustrations that you see in older natural history publications.

I was going to remark that it seemed more like an etching than a photograph.

[churly]

You are right Isaac - more like etching than pen and ink. 

[Isaac]

I fight a running battle with the focal point issue.

"But Rousseau was innovative in other respects, too. He developed a radically different approach to landscape composition ... Here there are neither framing devices nor a central point of focus for the eye to settle on. Instead, the emphatic horizontality of the canvas -- a typical Rousseauesque device -- coupled with the broad, half-and-half division between earth and sky and the introduction of a secondary, false horizon between flat and rocky terrain, generates a strong feeling of a world that is endlessly scanned rather than simply looked at. This feeling is further reinforced by a parade of small pictorial incidents, moving left to right and right to left across the middle ground of the picture, where most of the sunlight is falling."

Theodore Rousseau, "The Gorges d'Apremont at Midday" in How to Read a Modern Painting

[churly]

Isaac - Thanks much for the information.  I am eager to follow up on it.
Chuck