The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The Eastern Sierra’s peaks can’t be beat for landscape opportunities, but I love the glacial moraines just as much. This one spills out of Laurel Creek Canyon near Mammoth, telling a story of vast ice sheets grinding down the granite then retreating to leave huge evidence of their passing. The moraine fronts the Sherwin Range, unusual in the Sierra for its east-west orientation, which gives photographers great light morning and evening. I got up before sunrise and set up to shoot this, knowing the moraine would be prominent at first light.
Specific Feedback
I want to feature the moraine, but not sure this does it. Truth may be that it will never be interesting enough on its own to be the subject of a landscape photo! Maybe need to shoot when sun is higher, so that the color difference between the moraine and mountains is more obvious. The very dark foreground, seems to me, needs to be preserved to show the time of day. But it is very dark. I’m grateful for the lit tree, but don’t know if it is a distraction. Could be I need someone to tell me, “Congratulations on making the commitment to get out there before sunrise. Nice idea; find another angle or a better moraine.”
Ok, I’ll bite… by saying, absolutely, kudos for getting up early! How else is one going to catch the worm? But I will stop there and not tell you to find a better angle or moraine! I think you’ve done a great job in capturing this and most certainly worth the effort! I know the Mammoth area pretty well and this just a great image - and nature story. I’m glad you brought out the subject of the moraine - because even though I’m very interested in geology - this is a feature of the Eastern Sierra that I’ve not really considered over the years.
The light is wonderful throughout and the patches of snow still remaining add great interest to the mountain peaks themselves.
I would agree the the bottom forest and sage is a bit dark. In fact, I’m not sure it’s needed, and IMHOH is not necessary to let the viewer know the time of day - or any context either. and to that, I thought I would see what a crop looks like. This may not be your vision, but at least to me I think the moraine’s presence is emphasized more with the crop. But the cropped created a little issue with the brightly lit tree and becomes even more of an eye magnet. This also might not be you, but I did some very loose cloning after I cropped to mitigate. I like the pano crop, and also added some canvas up top - easy enough with just the blue sky up there. But also, the clouds that are present are a positive element as well. The crop makes for 3 distinct “zones”
A little bump in contrast and vibrance after putting thru Topaz for some sky noise.
This should look pretty awesome hanging on the wall!
Lon
ps. forgot to mention that I love the presence of the “crag” atop the morain, center of frame. Although small in the frame, reminds me of some distrant fortress - perhaps in Mordor…
What a great response Lon, sound advice, and thanks for giving me permission to whack the dark area at the bottom.
I shot this on three different mornings, each time praying for a great sky, which was reasonable considering the wonderful summer weather, with intermittent showers and great clouds (but you were never sure when!). Never got the clouds I wanted. I’d say since the light on the scene is reliable, I’ll try again and get the sky I wanted. In another version, I lightened the moraine manually, so the image was altered but the subject enhanced. Not a serious crime, I hope.
My favorite moraine is the one in front of Convict lake.
FYI, just below the crag you noted on my image, you can see the green line of Laurel Creek, which is choked with Aspen. It makes a beautiful, golden curve down the moraine in fall. I spotted it years ago and tried to shoot it in the morning last fall, with some success (see attached unedited shot). I’ll be gunning for this opportunity again this October, I hope.
Best wishes to you for good shooting amigo.
I agree with @james7 . I especially like the pano crop. I wondered what it would be like if you broutht up the shawdos in the tree line and balanced the lighting with the immediate foreground. It was a totally different picture and took away from the beautiful warm tones so I left in some of the detail of the trees, but I think the crop by @james7 is better.
Thanks for this edit Barbara. The forest was too dark, however useful as a time-of-day indicator. The foreground has two kinds of forest – one Aspen and Cottonwood along Mammoth Creek, the other a pine forest – but I agree that the forest should be cropped out as a distraction for the most part. I’ll have to go back and shoot the trees as a subject in the fall. Maybe the whole scene, since I’d have a golden band colors there.
Thanks for your response. I will be in the Eastern Sierras the first of Oct. on a photoworkshop with Gary Hart. Maybe we will both be captureing that golden band of color.
Wonderful take on a great location. I’d be tempted to crop out the peak on the left exiting very near the top left corner as it creates an unbalancing effect for me. I agree with others that the foreground is too dark and that we don’t need any indicator of the time of day. There are terrific shadows and warm light glancing off the hills and peaks. I do like @Lon_Overacker rework on it though.
Thanks much David. Yes, I’ve wondered about cropping to better emphasize the moraine as subject. I’m heading up there again next week. Will be tempted to shoot this again, hoping this time for some awesome clouds. The angle of light will probably have changed a bit, hopefully in my favor!
by saying, absolutely, kudos for getting up early! How else is one going to catch the worm? But I will stop there and not tell you to find a better angle or moraine! I think you’ve done a great job in capturing this and most certainly worth the effort! I know the Mammoth area pretty well and this just a great image - and nature story. I’m glad you brought out the subject of the moraine - because even though I’m very interested in geology - this is a feature of the Eastern Sierra that I’ve not really considered over the years.
