Here is another from Carrizo earlier this week.
Two image blend for DofF in Helicon.
D810, 70-200mm
1 Like
Wonderful Harley! Carrizo is not the easiest place to shoot during the day, but you amply demo the value of getting there early!
Harley
This comes to me as a lost place. Are there such colors or did you strengthen them to give the place a more pleasant look? It stays desolate to me. So I think that your mission succeeded . A fine image !
Wonderful use of layering, Harley. The lighting is superb and I am thoroughly enjoying the color palette in the image. No suggestions from me.
Harley, the open plains with scrub brush leading back to the almost badlands looking foothills is really nice. I like the contrasting colors across the landmass as well as the soft lighting from the cloud filtering sky…
I suspect the prairie area’s ground-cover benefited big time from all the rains too, at least from this view. However, looking at those barren foothills it might have been subjected to same flash flooding in some areas too…
I like how those bushes are all so evenly scattered about. They form a nice pattern. The colors of the land and sky seem incongruous. Either add color to the sky or desaturate the land, particularly those hills.
I’ll let Harley speak for himself, but I have to react to that. The Carrizo is severely overgrazed. On my spring visits there was a low ground cover of some plant (don’t know it) that carpets the place with yellow blossoms. With the foreground not illuminated yet while the background is getting first light, I suspect he nailed the exposure and color. To me it’s a unique moment and neat lighting effect, so I’m just going to go along with the ride and enjoy it. If he manipulated the image in any way, the results are nonetheless realistic.
Thanks for all the comments and feedback. Any and all are always appreciated. Since I did not use a GND filter, I did brighten the foreground a bit, as I exposed for the background and sky. The colors are popped just a bit but are very close to actual conditions. Hank, I don’t know my plants, but the flowers throughout Carrizo canyons seem to be these primarily these yellow ones.
This is beautiful, Harley. I agree with what Hank and and Igor said, this is not an easy place to photograph and you did it really well. Also the pattern in the FG is extremely beautiful. The flowers are hillside daisies (Monolopia lanceolata).
Excellent, Harley. I would say a very accurate rendition of what this place looks like in bloom. I would suggest darkening the sky a bit and try to bring out some textures in those clouds. A darker sky will also help focus the attention on the main attraction.
I agree with Dave, here. The bright sky draws my eye, so tweaking the sky somewhat would work better for me.
I really like the scattered bushes, and slightly rolling terrain leading up to the mountains. The foreground looks natural, as does the light on the mountains. This has a nice mood to it.
-P
The framing and the dappled light brings out the undulating nature of this landscape, that single fg shrub providing a point of entry to the scene. The range of tones is pure delight. A lovely, serene image, Harley !
Like the others have said, the thing that drew me in was the nice scattering of bushes in the fore/midground here. It’s really pleasing the way they gradually get smaller into the distance.
This is really nice Harley, as @Brent_Clark said, the way those bushed are distributed across the scene is very interesting. This was a great scene to use focus stacking, and it looks like it worked out really well for you. I can see what others are saying about the sky, but I like this as presented.
Harley,
A bit late on this and have some catching up to do. Just wanted to comment and say how much I’ve enjoyed this one. I wouldn’t change anything. The light, colors and saturation all the way around are natural and pleasing - at least for me. As others have commented, the scattering of the dark bushes in the expanse of yellow are particularly inviting.
Lon