Franconia Ridge Pic

[darren]

I've been tweaking some of my photos and I was wondering what people think about this one. It's looking South on the the Franconia Ridge from Lincoln. If you look close, you can see 3 hikers on Little Haystack. Just messing with black and white toning and wanted to know what people think.

Thanks.

- darren

 

[king tut]

Nice pic, comes across on my computer as a little "brownish". I think it would look good completely black and white.

 

[Chip]

Should we PM you so as not to sway subsequent opinions ?

 

[Peakbagr]

I think you're fishing for compliments.

 

[w7xman]

I love the color, the contrast and light are amazing. The composition of the foreground is great, but I think I'd crop out a bit of sky. I feel like the focus should be of the hikers on the ridge, or the ridge itself and the mass of clouds perhaps draws attention from that.

If you turned this perhaps into (the eq of) an 8x10, and remove the upper level of the cloud deck, it might enhance the shot and draw more attention to what I'd like as the focal point. Other than that, the shot follows the rule of thirds well, and the hikers are a great well placed touch.

Colors look great.

My 2cents.

~Jim

 

[MichaelJ]

It's very sepia, as opposed to black-and-white.

What gets me, at least on my monitor, is that those upper clouds are so much brighter than the rest of the shot that it actually makes it difficult for me to focus on the ridge. I would use the intensity curve and drop the highlights and bring up some of the shadows and midtones, or even cut out that upper band of clouds.

 

[darren]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

King - I toned it sort of brownish. Actually I did a sepia filter and then a very slight orange filter. I thought it came out more dramatic than the straight black and white one.

Chip - nah, go ahead and post

Peakbagr - I'll take that to mean that you like it

w7xman - thanks for the comments. The subject is up to interpretation I guess. To me, the subject is the whole image - the big image of what it is like standing on the ridge. For me, the sky adds a lot of interest, so I made it a large portion of the shot. I see what you mean though.

MJ - I guess I didn't get what I was going for. I was trying to get the Ansel Adams-ish type of effect where the white and dark contrast in the clouds is so dramatic. I guess I blew out the highlights. Back to the digital dark room...

Now for something interesting....attached is a small copy of the original image. Sometimes the picture is within the picture.

(It's nice to have 8MP to play with.)

Keep the comments coming.

- darren

 

[w7xman]

Seeing the origional and hearing your thoughts perhaps changes the perspective of what your trying to achieve with the shot, and your certainly right; the crop grows on me more when I stand back and admire the image as one piece. I would have used a bit less sky, and perhaps lost the overall dramatic effect. It would be tough to gain that otherwise in the shot.

The people, while distant and tiny, still anchor the shot, and its good that after admiring the shot as a whole, you are still drawn to the detail of their presence, in perfect position within the crop, and ultimately along the trail on the ridge!

While working on the highlights, I'm drawn to loon. What time of year was this (obviously summer but was there still snow on loon's slopes?) I think perhaps those highlights are blown out a bit.

I don't want my ever so minute points to take away from an amazing shot, and I do love the color balance that you've achieved!

 

[bubba]

I like the picture's dramatic impact, although I do agree with MJ about the over dominance of the clouds. I especially like the sepia coloring -- although you photo techs use off-the-wall crossword puzzle words... sepia, I had to look it up (a brown melanin-containing pigment from the ink of cuttlefishes) oh, yes... cuttlefishes...

I don't know that you want to loose the overall impact of the clouds. As you study the work, what comes across is that as big as the mountains are, they are only part of a much, much bigger expanse (sky/world) put in prospective by the enormity of the clouds. Then, being able to further identify hikers as very small in overall proportion... well that's our reality... small specks on the landscape of life… or, as hikers ourselves, how we fit/relate in our environment… there may be a Thoreauvian bend to this…

Peakbagr wrote: “I think you're fishing for compliments.” just in case...

Darren, I think it’s wonderful. You are certainly talented in everything you do. Please show us more of your fabulous work.

[Send green squares anytime…]

 

[MichaelJ]

Good point - it very much depends on what you're trying to achieve in the crop, where to crop it. And it's not that the clouds were blown out so much as the ground was so dark in proportion it was hard to see. But yeah, there's a lot of play you can do there with that original and I'm sure when you hit the right combination for you, it'll be obvious.

 

[Chip]

I'm no expert, not by a long shot, but it seems the first photo lacks depth, which is one thing I've always liked about B&W's.

 

[el-bagr]

Nice pic. It's fun to see how you cut that out of the "standard" original. One thing that I notice is that your crop is nearly square -- I'm more a fan of the golden ratio, though it is arguably overdone.

What about applying a gradient-based filter effect to increase contrast in the background?

 

[blueridge]

I just set the pic as my desktop background (is there a fee? ). I love how a 'normal' pic has been turned into an epic shot. It makes the mountains look dark, mysterious, and full of adventure.

 

[Rob S]

Now for something interesting....attached is a small copy of the original image. Sometimes the picture is within the picture.

Coincidentally, I have a nearly identical image that I took along the ridge this year as my desktop wallpaper.

Anyway, regarding the image, I like it. It just has a certain "mood" to it that is appealling. Keep in mind, Darren, that I am still going to bug you about that "My Favorite Shot of the Night" photo from September. My wife already has a spot on the wall for it.

 

[Mr. X]

I think you're fishing for compliments.

Yeah, I was about to "red square" you! Just Kidding! Nice, I bet the larger version does it even more justice.

 

[Jasonst]

I think in order to know what is a great picture, you need to know photography. I think the pic is cool because I think Franconia ridge is cool. I don't pretent to know anything about photography!

 

[Stan]

... wanted to know what people think.

I think it's time to get off the summit and below treeline.

As for the photography, a little brown, not unlike my view through my amber sunglasses.

 

[Halite]

Nice pic. It's cool to see you apply the 'Ansel Adams effect' to our eastern mountains.

For my money, the crop is a bit tight on the bottom. The perspective on the main ridge seems unnecessarily constrained. If you crop a bit lower, a couple of the bumps in the trail get included. I think these would nicely echo the forms of the darker distant peaks. But just my opinion.

 

[Mike P.]

I like the color & how the sky adds to the photo (clear blue skies are nice but some darks clouds really give something to a picture)

I'd probably want to see more of the ridge but if you had done that, you'd lose some of the sky that adds to the effect two.

Looks like horizon is done with 1/3 land, 2/3 sky (good) I'd like to compare it with 2/3 hand & 1/3 sky would it be as better or not as good?

 

[JohnL]

To my eye, the problem isn’t that there is too much sky. It is that there is too much bland gray area between the sky and the ridge lines. Try as I might, I could not get enough contrast into that area to compliment the drama of the clouds. No matter how much contrast and darkening you add to the clouds, there is still that horizontal region in the photo that adds nothing. There are some excellent sight lines in the photo; the trail creates a nice diagonal that takes you right to the climbers and the ridge from Mt Liberty comes over to intersect at the exact same point. The opposite diagonals both draw your eyes to the same point. Overall the lighting is flat which minimizes your ability to be creative with manipulating the photo. If, in the monochrome version, the distant valleys and ridges were more defined with better lighting, then you would have something.

JohnL