Down here in California’s Central Valley it was 102 degrees yesterday. Today it was 103. It’s not the place to go looking for seasonal transitions from summer into autumn. But an hour or so east of here, higher up in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, early signs that summer is all but over are beginning to show up. For example, fresh (seasonal) pine cones starting to blanket last year’s crop.
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It’s catagorized as a “texture” in my Lightroom catalog. I cropped it as a pano to encourage the viewer to visualize many more pine cones located beyond the edges of the image.
Am interested if you find the simple color palette and image contents more “laid back” than “epic”.
Pertinent Technical Details
0.8 sec at f/22, ISO 100
Modest amounts of texture and clarity applied.
Tripod legs fully extended, camera was about 6" or so above the ground.
4-image focus stack since f/22 still did not get the DOF reach I was looking for.
@franz , I really like this image. I grew up in the valley and cherish the days spent up in the mountains. We used to pick up pine cones like these, paint and arrange them for Christmas wreaths, etc. So this brings back good memories.
This feels more laid back and comforting. The low perspective with the focus stack do show the bed of pinecones nicely and it looks like it goes on and on. I like that although their are new and old ones mixed in together, there is nothing that is overly distracting or that breaks up the feel of this being a bed, although not one I would like to lay down in:) Picking out what group of elements to include in an image like this can be challenging and I think you did a nice job of selecting the right grouping. I also think the pano idea makes it a little more inviting.
Looking hard to find anything constructive to add, there are 3 bright leaves in the LUC, RLC, and LLC that I might try to tone down or remove, as they can become a bit distracting , but great job. Enjoyed your website and Ebook also.
Franz: Frame filling fantastic IMO. There is so much to explore and savor. Good choice on the stack and good execution. My only tiny suggestion would be to burn down slightly the bright center cone which tends to grab my eye and keep it there. I could see this as a large print that would captivate for hours. >=))>
I love this! The newly fallen cones really show up against the old cones. These look to be mostly Ponderosa Pine cones with perhaps a few older Sugar Pine cones in the mix. The color looks spot-on, and I like the pano crop.
Nicely done, Franz!
It’s been toasty here in the Foothills-98 yesterday. Woke up this morning with thunderstorm with lightning strikes and some rain. A couple of fires are burning near Copperopolis; is 1,500 ac. so far.
Your comments in my last paragraph about the three leaves having too much visual weight is right on. Until you pointed them out, I did not notice them at all.
On a related note, Bill Fach also noted the same distraction about the cone in the center in the image.
I throttled all of them down and the image now looks much better.
Franz, the details in this view are excellent. You’ve got a fine mix of new and old cones and needles. This does a fine job of telling about the pine’s annual cycle.
