Serendipity

This was from last May in Yosemite. My buddy and I were waiting for darkness and the stars to come out to photograph over Yosemite falls. I was photographing this stand of trees, trying some ICM’s and just playing around. It was geting a little dark, and then a car pulls up in to the parking lot. Of course one’s initial reaction was, “Hey, turn off your lights!” But when the lights stayed on, I thought, hey, that’s pretty cool. Got two frames, then they finally shut off the lights.

Type of Critique Requested

  • Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
  • Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
  • Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

So you now know the light source is car head lights. I think that might be something someone might guess if they weren’t told, I’m not sure. Other than the pure chance circumstance of this (serendipitous…) I’m not sure this holds any value or tells a story. That’s what I’m unsure of and I would like to know if this strikes anyone in any way. Thanks!

Technical Details

Nikon D800E, 28-300mm @58mm, f/8 1/4s iso 560. simple short vertical pan

1 Like

Lon, the contrast between the strong vertical trees and the horizontal strip of light looks great. I think the bit of darker grass at the bottom is important also, as there’s a very different feeling when I scroll up and hide the bottom darkness. In spite of it being car headlights, it seems like you happened to catch a limited shaft of late sunlight. The subtle bits of landscape in the back add well in creating a sense of depth. While it might be worth burning in that one brighter bit of background grass (1/4 in from the center left), that very nit picky.

1 Like

I think that this is quite nice, Lon. The colours of the forest with the rich dark browns of the tree trunks as well as the cool greens are very beautiful. And I really like the highlights on the tree trunks – especially the tree on the right.

I would never have guessed that the light on the grass was from a car’s headlights and I like that only the middle area of the grass is lit up and that there is still a darker part at the very bottom. If the grass was lit up all the way to the very bottom of the frame the image would have a totally different feel to it and I can’t help but feel that it wouldn’t be as strong.

The feeling I get from this image is one of being on the woods on a cool spring or summer morning with the sun just coming over a hill and lighting up the grass and the excitement that is the beginning of a great day outdoors. It’s funny that the feeling I get from this is literary “night and day” from the reality of it.

Awesome image Lon. Really like the overall balance of this. I would never have guessed the light to come from headlights. Perfect timing. My only nit, and very minor: Have you tried making the shadows in the trees just a bit less dark? Lighter might be the wrong word here. Well done; great shot!

Thanks for the comments folks, @Mark_Seaver , @Tom_Nevesely and @J_Fritz_Rumpf .

Not reasonating with most folks, which is understanble for ICM’s. Thank you for the ideas suggestions tweaking the shadowd, burning here or there. Definitely could make some improvements with this… thank you!

1 Like

Really nice ICM, Lon! Cool to take advantage of the car lights! Are they coming from the left side of the frame? At first I was thinking from behind you, but if so I would say I wouldn’t know that’s the light source at all but the more I look at it I think I can see the two beam’s of light coming from one of the sides. Either way I really like the amount of grass ratio to the background forest. Really great scene. So when are you going to post your star photos?!

Thank you @Vanessa_Hill for your comments. The light is coming in from the right side.

Well, the star images over Yosemite falls - I’m not too experienced there and nothing worth posting… I did post the Crescent Moon with stars that I did like and posted last year. The linked image here was taken less than 15 after the ICM.

1 Like

Hi Lon, what a cool image with some nice contrast in the trees and the foreground grass. Good job taking advantage of the fleeting light in the foreground. Agree with Tom on the story that the image conveys to me.