Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: rgs on January 29, 2012, 09:16:01 pm
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Three from Chugach State Park on Alaska'a Kenai Peninsula. Hope you like them. Comments welcome.
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Gorgeous area, rgs. I envy you. Very good pictures technically. One opportunity in general might be to focus in on a strong central subject, using contrasts, lines, shape or colours to awaken the viewers' curiosity. I found Freeman Patterson's work to be helpful.
Scott
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Alaska-287 -- at the bottom of the picture, the contrast along the bottom edge of the sandbank seems to grab the eye back from progressing further into the scene - cropping to a simpler triangle seems to help make a zigzag path through the picture.
Alaska-304-1 -- at the bottom of the picture, the deep shadow (creek?) doesn't seem to add anything, so maybe the picture would be better without it
Alaska-304-2 -- maybe a tighter crop would make more out of the colors of the rock face
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You have shown us that you were in a beautiful place. But, I do not see these as "wow" photos. First, this is not meant as an insult, but rather it is more of an issue I have been struggling with in my own attempts at landscapes. How can we make similar images (i have plenty like these taken on hikes) that are more than just a documentary of where we have been?
When faced with a large beautiful landscape, how do we find that picture within the picture? In your middle photo, 302, I think you have come the closest. You have isolated a scene. We know your main subject was the falls. The large tree helps with depth. The colors are sharp. The focus is clear throughout. you have framed the falls with the trees nicely.
Now how about #304? From my comments you might think I prefer the cropped version, but I am not bothered by the original. The trees in the foreground are important elements because I think they add depth, but would even like them better if they had been closer. Notice how the top of one of them ( I wish I could look at the image at the same time I am writing) is touching the background. I think it would help if there was a gap between the top of the tree and the land in the background. This is a small point. In fact, I am not really certain why I do not find this a "wow' composition!
in 304, I think you have tried to include too much. What is that you really want us to look at? Sky? Mountain cliff? Waterfall, riverbank? See what I mean? I would really like to se that waterfall! What emotion do you want us to experience when we look at that image. I just see some more mountain scenery, but Iwant to see more of up close and personal.
I think the images in the thread entitled "Still down by the river" is what I am looking for, or better examples of what I would like to see in my own photos.
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I think the images in the thread entitled "Still down by the river" is what I am looking for, or better examples of what I would like to see in my own photos.
That might not be what rgs is looking for in these photos of his.
When faced with a large beautiful landscape, how do we find that picture within the picture? In your middle photo, 302, I think you have come the closest. You have isolated a scene. We know your main subject was the falls. The large tree helps with depth. The colors are sharp. The focus is clear throughout. you have framed the falls with the trees nicely.
Let's look again at Alaska-302:
- the broken water is in the centre of the frame, it's the bright area, it's the high contrast area and for those reasons it's the immediate focus of attention, but for those reasons that's where attention stays - there isn't enough brightness on the downstream bank to pull attention away
- the tree trunk is a strong vector that quickly exits the picture in a different direction
- the tree trunk doesn't really help with depth - the foreground leaves compared to creekside leaves do suggest this is more a creek than a river
- the focus doesn't seem clear on the foreground leaves in the right third of the picture, or the twigs in the left-bottom corner
- the creek is only visible through the middle of the picture, the entrance of the creek in the bottom left is hidden and the exit of the creek in the top-right is hidden - a more interesting S shape is reduced to a short straight line
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Thanks to all for the interesting discussion and helpful suggestions. Isaac, I like your cropping suggestions. On the first one I am surprised at how that little change makes things work together better. On the 304, I think I like your square crop better because it keeps some of the really nice color and shape of the mountains on the other side of the water but the other crop loses the road and the more skraggly tree.
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#3 with the crop looks great!