Little Haystack Views and the undercast - 12/28/07

[bikehikeskifish]

This forum has been a bit quiet lately. Here are some images from 12/28 on Little Haystack. We hiked to Lincoln and back to LH before the clouds thinned enough to catch a nice undercast. I was wondering about winter photography with the starker, colder light. These are my favorites from the trip. Comments appreciated.

All are full frame, and somewhat purposely shot a bit large in order to have some flexibility in cropping.

Lincoln and Franconia Ridge Trail from Little Haystack: I like my shadow -- it makes the viewer feel like they are standing there, I think. I like this shot the best although the undercast is not not quite so evident.


Lincoln in a moment of clarity:


Liberty poking up: This is my wife's favorite image from this set.


Liberty float in a bowl of clouds:


Washington in the distance: Not my best shot, but it gives you an idea of the undercast which filled up the Pemi.


Feel free to browse the whole album too, if you haven't already done so from the TR.

Tim

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

Nice shots. Gotta love winter with it's more interesting moods. I find myself, even in summer, looking back at the winter pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[NewHampshire]

The first one has some real good potential. Your shadow detracts a bit and I would crop out some of the sky. Try a crop that resembles a Panorama format (which would also remove your shadow as a bonus) and I think you might have one killer wall hanger!!!

Also love the Liberty shots too!

Brian

 

[gram]

Liberty and the close edge of FR/LH. This is my wife's favorite image from this set.

I agree with your wife. Great shot!

 

[Grumpy]

Liberty and the close edge of FR/LH. This is my wife's favorite image from this set.

I also agree with your wife.

Happy New Year!

G.

 

[forestgnome]

Agree with your wife with the composition. On the TR thread, this is the one I commented on, though it is labelled differently here. BTW, that sort of thing is a sign of artistic talent

The one with the shadow might be made more interesting if your shadow was more distinctively your shadow. It would have put you there in an abstract sort of way. Maybe Grumpy or Mark Schaefer/ et al. could comment on that.

The one with Mt Washington in the distance might be improved with a much smaller aperature, yeilding focus in the background.

happy trails

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Try a crop that resembles a Panorama format

How does this crop strike you?

though it is labelled differently here. BTW, that sort of thing is a sign of artistic talent

It is also a sign of having two young kinds running around demanding food, batteries for Christmas gifts, etc. I'll edit the original post to make the labels consistent.

Are there general tips specific for winter? There is much less color, for example. Going gray scale/B&W on some of these hardly shows a difference.

Thanks for the comments,
Tim

 

[Grumpy]

How does this crop strike you?


...

Are there general tips specific for winter? There is much less color, for example. Going gray scale/B&W on some of these hardly shows a difference.

I like this crop. It really concentrates attention on the main elements of the scene. You might, though, consider lopping off some of the right end of the scene to tighten it up further.

Although I really like some winter photos in B&W, color also has its merits even when the scene is virtually monochromatic, like the one above. The blue tone adds to the sense of "cold." (To state what we probably know already, blue is a "cool" color; reds and yellows are "warmer.")

Now, as for the question forestgnome raised about the shadow. I can second forestgnome's point: if you are going to include your shadow, make it pretty obvious and graphic, to underscore the idea you are attempting to convey. Still, the grumpy old fahz in me keeps bringing up the thought -- from long-ago books and instruction -- that getting one's own shadow in the photo is an amateurish faux pas to be assiduously avoided. At the same time, the mellowing geezer in my makeup takes a sort of middle road: try it if you like, but proceed with some care and caution.

Call me "conflicted" on this one.

G.

 

[NewHampshire]

How does this crop strike you?

PERFECT. I think it is a definite wall hanger now. Grumpys suggestion of tightening it up a bit is valid, but I think as-is with what you did looks plenty good to me.

Brian

 

[bikehikeskifish]

OK, croppers, how much more would you lop off the right?

That cairn in the lower right foreground?

Where do you draw the line? And more importantly, WHY?

I have played with this one a lot, even before posting the full-frame shot, and I think the panorama works best. I could have asked one of my companions to stand in the foreground, instead of trying to use the shadow.

Tim

 

[Grumpy]

I think, had you positioned a companion low to the right in the frame as you cropped it the composition would have better balance. As it stands, it seems to me there is an excess of “blank” space to the right.

Without the human figure, I’d try cropping just to the right of the farthest wispy rising cloud to the right. That would preserve the sense of the top of the cirque, but tighten the way the natural curve of the land leads the eye into and around the scene, right up to the summit. That kind of crop keeps me from thinking about looking for something over to the right, thereby eliminating a distraction.

G.

 

[w7xman]

What a fantastic combination of great elements all coming together for photography around you.

When faced with a wealth of beauty, my compositional mind worked in stages. First I look at the big picture, and decide what I want to include. This may take place as a casual glance, or go as far as making rectangles with my hands...

The second stage is to look for a foreground that provides interest, perspective and depth.

The third, and the hardest, is to provide some leading lines and interesting middle ground to bridge the two. Often times here you'll hear people say that a shot is "two shots in one" and that often means a weaker middle ground.

With your shots, I think that the best overall scenes were the third shot, as most identified as their favorites, and the pano crop. It places strong foreground features around the obviously great undercast.

F8 and be there only gets half the job done, your compositional eye is growing with all this practice being there!

Nice shots!