The Hancocks

[bikehikeskifish]

On a monochromatic day on the Hancocks, I am pleased by the way these came out. I did perform a bit of adjustment ala Kevin Morgan by bringing in the ends of the curves for better contrast. They are both full frame.



Exposure Time = 1/320 second
F-Stop = F8
ISO = 100

This one is of South Hancock, also from the col in between. This one conveys the nearly impenetrable spruce thickets, ordinarily above our heads, instead down to knee (or waist at best) level.



Exposure Time = 1/800 second
F-Stop = F5.6
ISO = 100

Comments welcome.

Tim

 

[Mark Schaefer]

I think they are both attractive winter scenes. I tend to prefer the composition of first because the mountain subject stands out better. The diagonal slides also provide interest.

The second does capture the thick scrub very well which is typical of the hiking environment of the mountains. So is effective in that very worthwhile objective.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

The second one is a view you won't get most years, and probably never in the summer as you would be 6' or more lower in the trees. I did walk around that area a lot to find the point which framed the summit best, but wandering off the packed trail of course reduced your vantage point rather suddenly There are several places on the loop where the Arrow Slide is "the feature" that you see most clearly. I liked the diagonal view of the arrow slide (shown) best of all the views.

Tim

 

[NewHampshire]

Overall I like the first, though I wish it had better cloud feature. The second has nice cloud feature....but a little too straight forward framing wise. So my vote goes to nuber one. Nice shot of Arrow slide, the right amount of scrub to add scale, and good framing.

Brian

 

[forestgnome]

Tim, I do believe you've been bitten by the bug. There is an evident increase in your passion for capturing the beauty you see. Keep it up. The first composition reveals advancement and study. The balance is excellent. My eye moves around the whole scene very well. Bravo!

happy trails

 

[nartreb]

I think the second one would benefit by cropping out part of the sky. (Look at the right edge, there's just a hint of the tip of a spruce branch - right about that height is where I'd slice - you keep the blue spot for contrast and you lose the slightly overexposed white at the top). With the crop, the peak comes close to 2/3 of the way up. The peak is still centered right-to-left, but the peak (and the photo in general) is nearly symmetric, which is one of the exceptions to the "rule of thirds".

It's nifty to see a sharp peak with fir on it, it makes a good subject. Most viewers won't ever suspect there's a trail in the foreground, but cognoscenti will still notice the thick branches -- and understand the tough going implied by seeing those trees marching back all the way to the peak.

I'd crop a tiny bit off the top of the first one too, but overall the composition is very good - lots of contrast and good diagonal lines, and just enough foreground to add depth without distracting.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

You know, in the original that stray spruce tip is barely visible. Resampling it on webshots makes it far more noticeable. I lopped of the sky at that level as suggested by Nartreb and this is the result. At the advice of my brother the photographer I have been spending the effort to frame in the camera and not after-the-fact. This often means taking several shots rather than one pulled back one which is later cropped. In the cropping here, the tip of the peak is now about as far above the 1/3 line as it was below it in the original. I'm not sure, relative to that 1/3 line, where to position the peak exactly. I went for the middle of the visible part (that above the trees.)


I like that the peak is sharp, the sides are symmetrical, and that the trees almost follow the same pattern. It's almost like a flower.

Now if only I could figure out the exposure or white balance so the clouds at the top left had some detail...

The most interesting thing to me in the first picture, w.r.t. the clouds, is that the darker gray at the top of the frame is almost a mirror shape of the mountain, which is why I left in as much as I did.

Tim