Blueberry Meringue + edit

A final image from the Rainier trip last month; this one ended up being my personal favorite. As I mentioned in an earlier post they had hurricane force winds on the mountain the night before we arrive, and it textured the snow in ways I’ve never seen before this. This was in the big bend in Paradise Road East as we were hiking out on our final day.

I processed this from the raw image, but I’ll post the jpg version the camera recorded below uncropped. For a sense of scale, one of the two friends I was with is on the road in the top right corner.

I could have easily spent an hour or two playing in the bend in the road. There were so many shapes and compositions; it was a totally different view from the other side. (While my friends take a lot of great snapshots, they aren’t interested in the compulsive composition stalking that some of us are :grin: ; I took this image and a horizontal composition, then hurried to catch up.)

Specific Feedback Requested

That tree in the front bugged me at the time I took the photo, but it has grown on me. If I had had the time, I would have snowshoed farther into the scene to take images without it in the composition. What do you think of it?

I wanted to emphasize the texture, but to avoid an unnatural look. How does the contrast look?

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
FUJIFILM X-T30
FUJIFILM XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS at 55 mm (83 mm equivalent)
1/250 at f/11.0 and ISO 160

I removed a little bit of tree that was in the very upper right corner.


Thank you everyone for the feedback and kind words, and editors for the EP.

Here is an edit to remove the tree as @Harley_Goldman suggested. I decided if I was going to remove a tree from the edges, I’d go the Full Monty and adjust them all.

And here’s the flipped version as suggested by @Ola_Jovall

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I think it provides a whimsical element to the image.

Like whipped cream. That wayward tree is good for me.

This looks great, John. I really like the front tree and think it adds a lot to the image. I would consider cloning out the cutoff tree top edge center. I find it pulls me out of the image more than I like. Processing looks spot on and love the lines and pillows of snow. Beautiful.

I’m so jealous of all the snow! The first thing I noticed was the tree and loved how it led my eyes through the image and even to the other tilted trees in the background. I’m glad you didn’t get rid of it! Great work! I also think your image with the person in it adds another dimension of interest.

I think the tree really adds and in fact leads me up through the photograph. Love the snow lines.

A beautiful image, and the front tree adds a lot to the image. For me the image works even better flipped, see below. I also erased a little at the top trees, as proposed by @Harley_Goldman

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John, your visit to Ranier provided many outstanding images. This one fits right in there as one of the best. The mix of large and small lines in the snow are wonderful, with the trees leaning this way and that adding even more interest.

A great ending to this series John. I’m with @Ola_Jovall , I like it flipped horizontal to get the tree leaning to the right. These trees look like they were designed by Dr. Suess for illustration in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.

This is a wonderful image, John. The texture and contrast in the snow are outstanding, you did a great job of adding contrast without making it look unnatural. Like others have said, I think the leaning tree adds a nice bit of interest to the image and helps direct the eye through the scene.

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Love the light and texture in your original John. I also agree with Igor that the foreground tree adds a whimsical element to the scene. Like Ed, when I first saw your image, I thought of the Grinch.

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John. You actually have captured this scene beautifully. I know then bend you captured this from. Mother Nature create her work and you captured her masterpiece. Well done.

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John, The textures in the snow is so incredibly unique and provides textures you rarely ever see in snow. I can stare at this image all day long and I just love the bent-over tree in the foreground. I absolutely would not remove it. It’s what takes this image to another level. Dr. Suess would be proud.

It’s a lovely image. I like your idea of getting closer, but I actually think the image might work well if the tree was more of the subject and more prominent in the image with that fabulous snow texture as it’s background. Either way, I love this image!

I love all of that detail and contrast in the snow; the trees and the shadows.
For me that FG is not working (as the somewhat darker snow on the bottom of the frame).
It’s a beautiful scene either way.

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The flipped cleaned up final version is the winner for me.

Superb capture, John. I do like the uppermost tree being cloned out, but the flip really doesn’t make a difference one way or the other for me. The texture of the snow is so cool. Being from Florida, snow isn’t exactly something I see everyday but I never knew snow striations/grooves like that.

I feel Joao’s observation is keen. Dodging the bottom a bit relieves us of the slight anchor of shadowy snow.

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@joaoquintela: Huh. I never would have thought of that, but I think it does improve the focus on the better textures in the rest of the image. Nicely noted.