Over the last two years, I’ve spent a number of sunrises and sunsets shooting this unnamed peak in the High Sierra. While it is surrounded by much lofter peaks the symmetry, at least from this angle, is captivating. Appreciate any comments, suggestions. Thanks
Blend of two exposures for dynamic range.
5DSr, 16-35 f/4 @ 19mm. f/16, 1 sec, no filters.
I like this a lot Dave. The composition works well along with your balanced exposure, The tidal stream is a great lead in.
I like this a lot too, Dave. Wonderful colors, and great composition. As Eva said, that tidal stream is a great lead in as well. Beautiful sky and reflections.
Very nice. I’ll add to the above that I love the way you captured the water action in the stream - it has a nice level of motion/blur without being fuzzed to murky white. I can get a feel for the nature of the flow. The light of the sky reflecting on the foreground rocks also helps pull it all together.
Great shot Dave! What a High Sierra scene. This place looks super wild and remote!
I really like the stream in the foreground in both how you captured it and processed it. The water has just the right level of detail, and the cool colors in the water provide a nice contrast to the warm sky in the background. The lighting and detail on the rocks is also great. And overall the stream makes for a compelling leading line.
My main nit is that the overall composition feels left heavy to me with both the tallest part of the peak and the brightest part of the sky being in the left third of the image. It would have felt more balanced to me if the peak was closer to the center of the image, but I understand that you have to work with the pieces that nature gives you. My only other small nit is that I would try to dodge some of the left side of peak to give the mountain a bit more depth.
A lot of nice things about this image. I like the light and the color. The water highlights are great as well. My main issue with the photo is the composition though as Luiz notes, it feels very left heavy. I’m guessing you liked the water and wanted to get that in but it relegated the peaks to an afterthought of sorts.
Dave what a stunning image, it looks like a special place in very special conditions. Your processing of the scene is very well done. The sky, the water, the light on the rocks, they are all beautifully processed. The way you have handled the light and colors here brings out the richness of this special moment in nature.
I think it’s interesting that you have got a few comments about the composition being “left heavy”. That was my knee jerk reaction too, but after studying the image further, I think the stream and the clouds do help to balance the composition left/right. I think you could enhance that balance by slightly dodging the clouds in the URC to give them a little more visual weight, but don’t go so far as to pull too much attention from the mountain.
I remember this location from an earlier post of yours, and i think I gave you a comment that it was “left heavy”. I think it is more balanced in this image due the stream/clouds. In that prior post, I suggested to you to flip the image, and you replied that this is too well known a location to do that.
But just for fun, do people think the flipped image is too “left heavy”. i’m curious to hear others views on that, even if Dave can’t get away with doing it. To my eye, the flipped version looks more balanced, but I suspect others will not agree. Regardless, it’s not a viable alternative here.
Thanks, @Eva_McDermott, @Shirley_Freeman, @Jim_Oker, @Luiz_A_Arroyo, @Ed_McGuirk, @Richard_Wong for your comments.
@Luiz_A_Arroyo, @Richard_Wong, @Ed_McGuirk, I see what you mean about it being heavily weighted to the left. Somehow I didn’t perceive that… I dodged the clouds in the upper right, removed the slight vignette which I think was not helping and dodged the side the peak. I think the balance is slightly better. Ed, Thanks for trying the flip - somehow I just can’t get comfortable with seeing the scene reversed.
No problem Dave, we’ve had this discussion before, and I completely understand and agree with your reluctance to flip. I only posted a flipped rework to see if the others in this post who thought it was “left heavy” perceive the flip differently, or whether it’s just me that perceives it that way.
Either way, it makes no sense to flip something recognizable, I ask the question more for an academic discussion of composition.
Dave, the rework looks more balanced to me, the tweaks you did helped a lot IMO.
Dave, I can see why you have spent a lot of time at this place… It’s a beautiful scene! Wonderful light, color, and reflections. This composition works great for me.
Beautiful, Dave. This is such a great light and I think it’s very well composed, too. I don’t think it’s too left heavy although I think that the flipped version that Ed has looks more balanced. My nit is that the foreground feels a little soft but I don’t think it’s taking away from the image; more like my personal quirks.
Beautiful, Dave. I would be inclined to dodge the lower right dark area, both for a lead-in element and I think it nicely balances out the left-heavy inclination of the image. The balance thing is not a big deal to my eye and I would also not be comfortable with a flip. This one is quite enjoyable.
I really enjoy this image and the discussion is interesting too. I think a scene that is familiar to us is difficult to flip. The signifier referent relationship becomes discordant.
I do see and feel the the left heavy impact of this image. To me it is related to its height. If you crop a bit off the bottom (to eliminate the llc area of water) it feels more balanced immediately. Just a thought to consider…
ML
Dave,
Gorgeous, glorious High Sierra landscape. I’m loving the flow of the outlet and the colors are rich and beautiful.
Regarding the left-heavy comments, I agree to the extent that I wish the peak either had more room to the left or a little more centered; but I’m pretty sure the way the water and flow is, that really dictated the larger composition, and the overall scene/comp still works.
Although I agree that flipping a recognizable scene is something most of us wouldn’t do, but I like the point that @Ed_McGuirk was illustrating. To my eye, the flipped version does indeed “feel” more balanced; a great example of reading left-to-right; I like the more room on the left of the peak in the flipped version. Alas, not a solution…
My only other comment would be that I think the comp is a little 50/50 where the peak and glorious sky and competing a little with the rock and flow of the water. Clearly it’s not divided in half, but the “weight” of the top is just about the same impact as the lower portion. for me, a slight crop off the top would help with that. Of course that’s just a personal choice and opinion.
Lon
