Western Lands beneath the Sun

I am getting ready for another trip to the mountain so I need to at least try to let the ink dry on this one from a trip last May. All feedbacks are much appreciated!

@adhikalie

You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
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Adhika, you had some marvelous wildflower conditions, what a glorious scene. The processing of exposure, contrast and color all look good to me. The WB looks perfect for a twilight time of day shot. Love that alpenglow. The sense of depth created here also works very well.

The right 20% of the image is not as strong as the rest of the scene. The light on the mountains is less interesting, and the bare patch of ground breaks up the sense of unending flowers. I might consider a crop to eliminate much of that bare patch of ground.

I also think a vertical crop of the left 40% to 50% of the image would make for a second interesting composition.

This image has a lot of potential to be played with from a cropping standpoint. The light, flowers, and color here are so nice, its worth trying to take this up another notch.

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Thanks, @Ed_McGuirk! I share a lot of your sentiments. I was a little torn about the patch, too. But at the same time, I feel that it brings the foreground bush out more. I like the idea of playing with a different crop. I will do that and report back :slight_smile:

I like @Ed_McGuirk’s thought process here, Adhika. I usually make my post before reading the others, but this time I didn’t and I was going to make the exact same suggestions. This scene is well worth playing around with and making a few tweaks and see what you come up with. Good luck on your next excursion; looking forward to see what you come back with.

Thanks @Ed_Lowe! The Murphy’s law of photography seems to always work on me whenever I am out into the backcountry. It’s gonna be clear sky again this time, but oh well, I’ll see what I can do. :grin:

Beautiful scene adhika ,

When the image loaded on my phone it pre loaded with a panoramic ratio at the top of the image before the whole image loaded. The pano worked well also

I love this view Adhika. I would try to make the yellow flowers pop a little more. Maybe selectively lighten the foreground or increase the foreground contrast.

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Hi Adhika,

Gorgeous light on the mountain! I think the conditions were fantastic here for a beautifully lit scene and the wildflower bloom looks like it was something to behold.

Just might be some of my preferences here, but I think it would have been super cool to target one particular bush of flowers as the foreground subject, and have it line up directly with the main peak (on the left side of your frame) for a vertical image. Just something you could possibly play around with if you return to the same spot.

Great work!

Looks like right outside of Independence if I’m not mistaken. Beautiful light and tonality. Those flowers make for a beautiful foreground against the Sierra. I agree with @Ed_McGuirk on the right side of the image being less compelling. Specifically, I would be inclined to crop out that bare patch.

Beautiful conditions and scene. I agree with the others about cropping the bare patch and I like Eva’s idea about lighting and popping the yellows. Nice prose too.

I’m late to the party, so I’ll add that I agree with others about a crop from the right. The alpenglow is just beautiful and nice display of wildflowers. Good like on your trip.
:vulcan_salute:

Thanks, @Nathan_Klein, @Eva_McDermott, @matt_fischer, @Dave_Dillemuth, @Harley_Goldman, and @Michael_Lowe.

@Dave_Dillemuth: Indeed! I got to Independence really late on Friday after work and I was in no condition to continue on to Mammoth to ski. Not a bad place to sleep for sure. Now, correct me here, that prominent peak is Kearsarge Peak, am I right?

@Eva_McDermott: Very good thought, I think I can do some kind of selective color selection and brighten up the yellow a bit.

These are all very good inputs. I had a quick play with a different crop excluding the right 20% of the image this morning and I think I might have something there. The first thing that comes to mind is how the front shrub is not going to be “centered” anymore but I think I can live with that.

Adhika,

A most beautiful image of the Eastern Sierra - The 395 Corridor… You’ve captured it’s essence nicely.

I can’t argue with the others about a crop - However, your point about that patch works as you describe to help define and separate the foreground flowers. I wasn’t there and don’t know you’re options, but I guess the other alternative would be to have positioned things a little differently to incorporate some open ground, but balanced a little bit better with the rest of the scene and the alpen glow peak. I might be inclined just to leave this uncropped.

The only other suggestion I have would be to up the saturation and luminosity in the yellow flowers to bring out their presence even more.

An excellent near/far comp and beautiful capture.

Lon

ps. - be safe out there! Still a ton of snow in the high country. Sitting on top of Sonora Pass this past weekend says so.