I sat on this image for a long time. I mean yeah, there’s some decent light over some nice mountains. But at the end of the day it’s a simple pano of a well documented skyline.
As a dude who doesn’t do a ton of long lens panos, I struggled a bit with how to not make this a shot of “just some mountains” and have it feel a bit more involved than that. Maybe i succeeded, but most likely I didn’t. Any feedback on this is very appreciated!
It may be boring to someone who sees it daily, but viewed differently by those of us who don’t. Pano works well, good details, the layers in the shades of brown give it depth and you have an interesting sky. The lighting is pleasing as well. I like it!
I like this image it encourages me to want to shoot there someday. Beautiful colors and dynamic dynamic range. If it we’re mine I would bring out the highlights of the mountain snow and also consider the same for the sky on the left of the image, using luminosity masking. All of that said it is really nit picking on my part. I would however critique my own that way as well.
I think the long lens panorama format is inherently boring because it doesn’t leave room for those dramatic leading lines and forced perspectives. With that said, boring isn’t a bad thing. The only point of this shot is to capture the skyline, and it does that. Regular people absolutely love this stuff. Panoramas are the prints that really sell. The only composition flaw I see is the black thing in the lower left corner. It sorta interrupts the light-dark transition.
I think the editing is great. Yellows are a bit too yellow for my taste given the time of day, but that all comes down to personal preference.
There’s a lot of positive stuff going on here, Ryan, but this image is all too common for me to provide feedback on what it already is. Rather, why not take it to a place you’ve never been before? Experiment with light values, colors, grain, whatever. The tools enable you to do so much there’s no reason to make it the same old thing. Why does it have to be just what you expect?
I agree with Patricia. Maybe this is boring to landscape people for which I’d guess this is an iconic shot, but for a bird photographer, like myself, I find the light very interesting and I think you achieved a good sense of depth for a long lens shot.
Lots of great thoughts above already. Though it’s perhaps a common sort of shot of the location, there’s some interesting light worth exploring. I’d like to see it significantly darker. I’m finding that the lower third of the image is kind of pulling my eye away from the truly interesting things nature is doing. Pulling the exposure down brings attention and dramatic shadows to the great light on the peaks as well as the cool formations in the middle left.
There is a lot to like in this image! The light is fantastic and I like the ruggedness of the landscape. The road up the mountain on the right side (is it a road?) distracts me slightly but only because it is so near the edge of the frame. I’m finding that my eyes are constantly jumping to the right side to look at the zig-zag and then I go back and continue exploring the rest of the image. Still, I would be very happy with this!
It must move you! If it doesn’t excite you, this thing that you see, why in the world would it excite me? -
Jay Maisel
This is so terrible Ryan!!! Did you take this with a camera phone?! :-p
All jokes aside, it looks like a painting to me. I get why you’re so hard on yourself about it though, and not because it’s bad (it’s amazing FYI), it’s because I always struggle with my own shots that don’t have a foreground because it’s incredible difficult in my eyes to create depth without one.
But you managed to do it here, which is something I’m still trying to figure out if I take a head one shot of a mountain. I think the conditions were good enough to pull it off. And your editing style is otherworldly good so you managed incredible depth and a painterly type look. I think you nailed it.
I think it’s the hint of strong foreground contrast that helps create the depth. Also the dark shadows on the base of the mountain.
I’m not good enough to give any feedback on how it could be better, because I’m not sure it could be. Nothing is perfect but I’m pretty sure you’re as close as it gets! haha.
I think @Patricia_Brundage is spot on - I end up hating nearly all my images, and it’s likely because I stare at them for ridiculous amounts of hours and find everything I hate about it because humans are drawn to negative emotions far more than positive ones.
I’m trying to teach myself to just move onto the next image and let my images be, good or bad (almost all but maybe 1-2 are bad). I think all we can do is move on and do our best on the next one.
Anyways, not sure this helped with anything… but I really think Patricia hit the nail on the head.
I absolutely love this image, and it would be #1 in my portfolio. Have you printed it? Perhaps you’ll like it more if you do. I know that does the trick for me.
Keep being awesome brother! You can do no wrong in my eyes, your style is my favorite.
Edit: One more thought - you caught awesome conditions, there’s no reason to not capture it and share imo. I’m not that familiar with this location so it’s awesome and new to me, and it has your touch on it which as a fan makes it great. And even if 1 person enjoys it, it was probably worth it, yeah? But I guarantee you tons of people will, and do, love this image.
I find this to be a very interesting image. Of course, I’m somewhat partial to this area. The light on the foothills on the left side is exceptional, and your processing is spot-on. I would consider cropping the right side, since the main peak is hidden in the clouds and the light is rather flat.
There’s enough detail in the foreground and mountains to be less than boring, I think. The pano also adds interest to some degree. The processing looks very good.
Ryan,
I don’t quite understand the notion of boring. I find this quite striking; very dynamic with the light, contrasts, etc. Not unlike the Tunnel View image posted before this - you could visit here a hundred times and maybe 90 of them would indeed be boring, repetitive views. But for that chance that you get conditions like this, sorry, just not boring. Pano or not.
I’m surprised this was mentioned yet, but my only wish/suggestion would be to bring up the luminosity a skosh in the foreground/right rocks. Personal preference at this point as the larger view opens up pretty nicely. You could experiment with dodging that foreground ridge. and agree with Colin on the dark patch LLC - crop or CA clone it away.
Otherwise, this one is a beauty. Thanks for posting.
Lon
Hi Ryan,
This is a gorgeous take on the Sierra range. The clouds look fantastic and you had some fine light that morning.
I am not sure why this image would be considered boring. It is actually quite the opposite.
Good to see you here. Looking forward to more of your work.
