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Image Description
Under cloud-filled skies, providing advance notice of pending change, a lone yucca (Dasylirion wheeleri) thrives. This species is different from other yucca species in that the blooms are not white and loose but rather tight and somewhat caramel colored.
Late afternoon light floods the foothills and valleys within the confines of the City of Rocks SP in New Mexico. The “city” is a geologic formation made up of large, sculptured rock columns, or pinnacles, rising as high as 40 feet and separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets.
Technical Details
Canon EOS 5D II; EF 70-200mm @ 73mm, f/16 @ 1/320 sec, ISO 800; Gitzo tripod, RRS BH 55, remote trigger
Nice placement of the yucca in the frame , Bob. The sky is awesome and I love the stormy light. My eye does get pulled by the bright foreground rock near the bottom right.
Never having visited that particular area, I can’t tell if it’s representative, but it’s an attractive image.
Great storm light drama! I personally would probably have sat down on the ground (watching for other spiny plants of course!) to see if putting at least part of the yucca above the clouds, and its base a little closer to the bottom of the distant rocks would work, too. The bright gold foreground rock is a bit of a distraction. I do love where you placed the yucca left-to-right in the frame.
Thank you @Dennis_Plank , @Denise_Dethlefsen for you kind remarks and observations. I reformatted the image to 8x10 ratio to eliminate some of the sky and used content-aware healing brush to eliminate the obnoxious rocks in the lower right.
good shot. only think I could recommend is more variation in the color of the grass… certainly is a lot of yellow there in the grass , the yucca, the rocks. to me, they blend together a bit too much. and there are ways to do this
Thank you @bill_theis for your critical evaluation. I know it is easy to reduce the yellows. I specifically made sure there was no overlap of the yucca and the rocks in the background and the stalk is white except where there are the rolled up bits. The afternoon sunlight flooded the area so there is some effect on everything. I’m not making excuses, only wondering about specific advice for the modifications you allude to.
I had something in mind like the enclosed where the yellow colors are blown apart and the background is distinguished from the forground. the clouds are slightly more dramatic. I have the recipe if you are interested. Now I want you to know that I intentionally went too far to illustrate what I’m talking about and would back off if I were to seriously show the image
