Dusk at Soldier's Delight

[Bob_B]

Location: Soldier's Delight Natural Environmental Area, Baltimore County, Maryland USA (http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/central/soldiersdelight.asp)
Date and time: December 27, 2013, 4:50pm

Thank you for viewing this image of one of my favorite places in the Baltimore area: Soldier's Delight. This is one of the few remaining serpendine barren areas that once spread from south of Washington DC north to mid-Pennsylvania. Lots of scraggly pines and plants unique to this area. I had hoped for a more dynamic sunset, but this is what nature provided that evening. This image is an HDR of three raw files (-2,0,+2) taken with a Canon 7D and Tokina 11-16mm lens. I am trying to get beyond snapshots, and would appreciate comments and any suggestions for improvement. (I'm working on removing the power lines and towers, but am having difficulties in getting a good result.)

 Best regards,

            Bob

[robertvine]

Hi Bob, I guess my comment to help move beyond 'snapshots' is that I really can't put my finger on what is the subject of this image. Is it the trees? The clouds? The grass? I think that if you decided what you wanted to be the subject of the image you could choose a location and composition for that and make use of the other elements in this place.

[Bob_B]

Thanks for the advice. The trees were what first caught my eye.

[sdwilsonsct]

Lots of good elements here. Some thoughts --

The radiating clouds are nice. I might have stepped a little to the left so that their centre was not caught in the tree.

Is there any more structure in the brightest part? Use a shorter exposure to avoid over-exposure of the brightest part?

The grass is a bit bright considering that we are facing the sun.

I wouldn't worry too much about power lines, and would focus more on continuing to seek good compositions.

[JohnBrew]

I like it. Now if you could just get rid of the power line towers and that airplane! Our modern age can play hell with landscapes.

[Bob_B]

Thanks for the suggestions. Regarding the foreground: that's my fault in increasing its exposure and saturation. I agree that it's a bit much and plan to lower both. I've been experimenting with context fill and other removal methods for the powerlines, but so far the results have been rather disappointing. I think I can clone out the airplane's contrail without major issues. I am also thinking of cropping out everything but the two righthand trees, but haven't spent enough time to know if this will improve the overall image.

Bob

[Bob_B]

Another try. Better?

[SWest]

Lovely warm colors, and the soft details of the grasses are wonderful. The trees have charactor. This is a very pleasing photograph.

[Bob_B]

Thank you for your kind words.

Bob