Why? (+revised)

Image Critiques
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1

Revised Version

Revision 2 (latest)

Revised version
Revised version2298Ă—1609 880 KB

What changed: ok, ok, Those merging branches have caught more eyes than mine did (at least at the time of capture! It was a little more challenging than I thought, especially with the light and color gradient right in that area. I basically had to flatten the file, then use a combo of Content Aware fill, some cloning (I actually copied one end of a bow, pasted back in, flipped it horizontally for a different look) then painted, blended, dodged/burned back as the top layer on my original file. Whew!

Revision 1

Revised version
Revised version2000Ă—915 1.18 MB

What changed: check the yellow and orange lines which represent the sunrise window and angle of the sun to my location on the north side of El Cap Meadow. Everything was aligned.

Added after receiving feedback from the community.

Original Version

Original Version

WHY?
WHY?2250Ă—1578 847 KB

Cell phone snap
Cell phone snap2000Ă—964 1.18 MB

Cell phone snap

Critique Style: Standard

The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.

Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical
## Revised Version

Revision 1 (latest)

Revised version
Revised version2000Ă—915 1.18 MB

What changed: check the yellow and orange lines which represent the sunrise window and angle of the sun to my location on the north side of El Cap Meadow. Everything was aligned.

Added after receiving feedback from the community.

About This Image

Why? You may ask? Well, in case you missed the earlier explanation, it became a running joke during our visit with all the comments we received from passerby’s, or “tourons” as I like to call them. I included the cell phone capture as it gets the bigger picture a bit better - pretty much the view from the side of the road. I had just finished photographing the scene once the fog began to lift… someone walked by while I stood at my car and asked me what I was photographing. I don’t remember exactly, but basically I just explained how I had not seen light like this and it was a beautiful scene. He then asked, “Why?”

Now I’m asking myself, WHY the heck didn’t I capture the cell phone scene with my big boy camera??? grrrr. Instead I moved in closer to get an unobstructed view of the pine trees. Mistake, or worth it?

Feedback Requested

As always, your comments, feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Colors, hue/saturation are so subjective and I struggle here. How does the processing look? The comp is a slight crop from the original.

Is the light enough to carry the image? I’m not sure if the arrangement of the trees is enough. Can this be cropped further? Or do you wish for a broader view? (this was about a 75% crop)

Thanks for taking a look!

Technical Details

Camera: NIKON Z 8
Lens: NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S
Focal length: 66mm
Shutter speed: 1/15s
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 125

Processing software: ACR/PS
Major adjustments: TK’s Linear profile starting point
Blending/stacking:
Other notes: mild opacity Orton layer with basic adjustments in ACR

2 Likes
2

I love this.
I really like the scene, the light and the composition.
It has a special feel to it.
One small nitpick: the leaves of the trees in the centre overlap those of the tree behind them.
Or was that intentional?

3

Lon, I think that’s a good question. Why would beautiful light and a beautiful scene be worth photographing? I think you’ve shown a pretty damn good reason through this photo. You’ve captured this beautiful scene very well. This is a beautiful image with beautiful light and a great composition. No art lover would ask why after seeing this. Well done!

1 Like
4

Lon,

Beautiful light along with that fine fog still hovering around the trees making soft silhouettes. Composition is great, even down to the faint tree on the LHS. If I was to nit pick at anything it would be that branch from the central tree touching the crown of the fourth tree from the left. I would be tempted to clone out the offending end of the branch just to see it it would make a difference.

As far as the “Why?” I think I have mentioned it the last time you comiserated about “tourons”; its not the eyes that go blind but the hearts. I think we live in an age where people just go places to show other people they went places and that the ones shown to did not, without really being there or experiencing the place they went to. They are numb to the artistry of nature itself.

As far as taking the wider photo with the “big-boy-camera”, I think had you done that, we would all have asked about what was going on in the BG. It is clearly much more intersting than the FG trees.

I think you all came away with some very unique photos of Yosemite Valley. :clap:

5

I agree and I think they do it to make them envious. It’s a negative way of looking at it but there is a lot of truth to that.

1 Like
6

Yes, exactly.

1 Like
7

Totally exactly! I wonder what percentage of the “photographs” made these days are selfies. And what percentage exist only as immediate online posts with not even any selection process at work.

But to the image – a very interesting comparison between the two. The first one is wonderful – I love the simplification and the layers – it could be anywhere. There might have been an equally wonderful scene from a vantage point close to that of the cell phone image, but if you took the time to shoot it you probably would have lost the light for the closer scene. I think going for the one you did was the right call.

8

Was it @Igor_Doncov ??

I chuckle, because in his innocence (ignorance?) your passerby was asking a pretty profound question. Unfortunately, he was asking Why? instead of WHY? It’s like when Kyle was photographing this tree on the busy path to Yosemite Falls:

20260503 k Lon thread
20260503 k Lon thread768Ă—960 539 KB

People walking by kept stopping and asking what we were seeing that they weren’t. Kyle and I both laughed out loud when one chap replied to us pointing out the tree, “Ohhh, you’re just practicing.”

Anyway, your “camera” photo is wonderful with the fog and light as you caught it. Sadly, I too often think of forest fires with an image like this, but knowing this was just the sun puts me in a happy place.

I’m wincing with you looking at that cell phone photo though… That has a magic all its own.

Profound.

9

Lon, I’ll take the tight view. It’s nicely mysterious and a bit dreamy with the trees silhouetted against that glowing sky. Having the glow cut off from above does get me wondering if there might have been a distant fire…adding a nice touch of drama. The right 60% of the cell phone view has an interesting group of trees and that nice sky glow in the distance. The why question is always personal, it’s trying to capture a vision of something that grabs you in a way that will allow others to enjoy it as well. Yes, lots of NP visitors are used to the “watch in on video” approach without understanding that there’s so much more…

10

I laughed at this because someone said the exact same thing while looking at me shooting. I think it’s because they all expect grand landscapes like the ones at tunnel view. I was once shooting a bark shot at Hoh when I noticed someone watching me dismayed. So I asked him what I should be doing. He told me I should point the camera upward and shoot the crown of the tree from below. I thanked and he kept walking.

I actually like both the Why and the cellphone image for different reasons and find it difficult to compare them. I think the Why image is the more artistic of the two with its more developed visual design. It’s more abstract in a way. The cellphone is a more haunting look which you’ve already captured in a previous image.

11

I’ve had folks ask me the same question back when I was using 4x5. They wondered why I would lug all that gear and go through the lengthy shooting process for one image. My reply was always, because it is fun!

I’ve also had similar questions after a day of climbing. Our hands were beat up, covered in chalk, we were thirsty and thrashed. Our answer was: "Because it is fun!

I really like the first image, Lon. The light is spectacular and the composition is spot-on. I do agree about the merger of that one branch with crown of the adjacent tree. The phone shot is nice, but detail shot is wonderful!
-P

12

So worth it! I think your image is really fantastic. The mist, the complementary colours and that one broken tree that really adds interest to the scene.

Quite a few times when I’ve been out photographing landscapes people will stop and ask what animal I’m photographing and where it is. When I explain that I’m taking a picture of the landscape and not an animal you can see the disappointment in their faces.

13

I would imagine that B&W would not carry the same sense of emotion and feel that this does in color. When I first saw this I thought it was a forest fire. It looked smokey with that same orange/yellow glow that you get with a raging forest fire. But of course it’s not a forest fire because I read your description! :)))
I don’t think the light has to carry the image. It’s the whole of the image that makes it all work. The low ground cover trees, the much taller trees reaching through the dense forest below, the spacing of those trees, the branch structures in those trees which is so different, and that one tree that’s broken gathering all of the light. Don’t get me wrong, the light is sensational and the fog that’s lighting up in an orange glow is incredible but it’s not just about the light. It’s much deeper than that. I also really love that tree on the left side of the frame that’s almost completely fogged out which shows the depth and the mood of this image. But I have to ask you, "Why on earth did you take this picture??? There’s not even a bear in the scene. Anywhere! What were you thinking? And so it goes, Tourons at their best or is it their worst? Just think of everything most of the people that visit these National Parks are missing. They can’t see what’s right in front of them. Yeah, their jaws drop when they first see Tunnel View and most are speechless but after that…

As for the second image, I wish you had taken this one with your big boy camera too. It doesn’t have the overall mood of the first image but it’s really close.

14

I want to thank everyone for their comments and keen observations! @joaoquintela , @Steve_Kennedy , @Youssef_Ismail , @Igor_Doncov , @Diane_Miller , @John_Williams , @Mark_Seaver , @Preston_Birdwell , @Tom_Nevesely and @David_Haynes .

Thank you Preston and Youssef for this observation. Totally honest? I was so enthralled with the light and moment, there was no intent, nor did I notice - or care about the merge. It was fleeting and I just framed and clicked. After the fact, it’s pretty clearly a tension in the image that I would clear up should this ever see print. I appreciate hearing that this drew the eye.

It’s pretty safe to say, here, that we as nature photographers attending this forum, may have many different views, values, etc., but one thing is certain, I believe we all value these moments and time in our natural world. I may post yet another image from our trip and I will call it, “I could sit here forever…”

I think we could start a thread, write a blog or a book on comments we’ve heard from passerby’s. I may have already mentioned this comment, on our very trip… standing over the Merced near El Portal… two elderly women (ok, what am I saying… I’m elderly!) asked me if I was photographing a bear… “you know, the ones catching the salmon?” OMG… oh, I think that’s in Alaska…

I’ll finish by emphasizing what was so special for me personally at this moment. I’ve been photographing Yosemite Valley since the 80’s… and as I had commented to the “touron”, I had never seen light like this, at that particular moment, and that particular location. I was actually puzzled and actually blown away. I was not expecting what I was seeing. Given it was 6-ish in the morning with thick fog, I wasn’t expecting sunlight for at least an hour or more. I speculated at the time that this must be one of those convergences of time and location that only occurs once/twice per year. My curiousity led me to mapping this day out using the TPE - The Photographer’s Ephemeris. And sure enough, the sunrise on this day made a direct bee-line from Cloud’s Rest, 9+miles away directly down the valley without being blocked by any 2-3000ft granite walls, striking the fog and base of El Capitan. I’m gonna attach the map illustrating the line.

Anyway, perhaps TMI for this image… but it remains perhaps the most special moment of the trip for me.

15

The original poster added a revised version of their image.

16

Hi Lon,
I have to say that the image is stunning! The fog and that fleeting bit of light have created something magical and I am glad that you were there to capture and share with the rest of us. The light is definitely enough to carry this image IMO and the processing is perfect for my tastes. I also quite like the crop. As far as the why? I think @Youssef_Ismail explained it perfectly. It still amazes me that people can’t slow down and immerse themselves in the beauty of the natural world that surrounds us in these wonderful locations. I only have one tiny suggestion and that would be the one already mentioned by Youssef about those couple of merging branches. Actually I have a second suggestion; make a big print! :grinning_face:This is wonderful.

2 Likes
17

The original poster added a revised version of their image.

18

Thank you again everyone for your responses. I’ve “unmerged” the pine bows in the new revision. Very small space, but it does make a difference!

19

The revision is perfect Lon. This thread has been such a good read. I have nothing to add except, well done!

1 Like
20

Very well done!!!