Thursday’s Task

[John Holbrook]

Thursday’s Task: The piece that “completes the picture.” My examples below:

Farm, Knoxville, TN
I composed the image with the hay bale “piece” in the foreground to give the landscape more depth using my wide-angle lens.

Beals Park, Knoxville, TN
I composed this image, including the bench by the water. I briefly thought about removing it in post—but liked the image with the included “piece.”

Moulton Barn, Grand Teton National Park, WY
The image’s composition benefited from the running stream “piece” in the foreground—lucky timing of our visit.

Devils Kitchen, CO
The image was definitely aided by the lone tree “piece” for the color, scale, and texture differences.

 

[AlanLichty]

Oh boy - another fun topic - nice choice and some very good examples to kick this off.

Neat title image for this one too.

 

[sweetgrass]

I love #4.

This image would not be complete without the perfect sunburst.

Rio Grande in Northern NM.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice topic John and another interesting title image.

The dunes in Death Valley. The bush and its long shadow makes the image for me.

Ruby Beach. It was a semi interesting sunset as I was walking around looking for compositions. I saw one guy with a nice look kayak and I asked him if he can leave on the beach for some shots.

Harris Beach, Brookings. Late afternoon I was just walking with a small handheld not really looking to do anything serious, just waiting for sunset (which was a dud, btw). I noticed this formation which anchored this shot for me.

 

[John Holbrook]

I love #4.

This image would not be complete without the perfect sunburst.

Rio Grande in Northern NM.
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I agree wholeheartedly, beautiful image with a beautiful sunburst! Thank you for sharing!

 

[AlanLichty]

I always like having some sort of visual hook in a scene that basically completes the puzzle.

This is a shot from ruins at Hovenweep where I was able to line up several different structures including one in front with a curved shape that pulls your eye up to the ones in the distance.

A shot from Woahink Lake near Florence Oregon. I liked all the little coves around the edges of the lake but the little sunlit island steals the show.

Horseshoe Falls along Siouxon Creek is a nice set of falls with a pretty good drops but a small scene at the base of the falls with diffuse light caught my eye. The various sprays that came off of the logs were a neat twist that stole the scene.

Paradise Creek in Mt. Rainier National Park has some steep drop-offs coming down the side of the volcano so lots of small water features along its path. The big log in this frame had a forked branch just down and to the left of center running parallel to the water that caught my eye while I was setting up the shot. I like how it pulls your eyes up to the split flows of the creek.

Lower Antelope Canyon has lots of interesting shapes in the sandstone but here a log wedged between the slot walls becomes the main attraction.

The gardeners at the Portland Japanese Garden often place cut flowers in interesting settings as a sort of easter egg for photographers like me

 

[John Holbrook]

Nice topic John and another interesting title image.

The dunes in Death Valley. The bush and its long shadow makes the image for me.
View attachment 80484

Ruby Beach. It was a semi interesting sunset as I was walking around looking for compositions. I saw one guy with a nice look kayak and I asked him if he can leave on the beach for some shots.
View attachment 80483

Harris Beach, Brookings. Late afternoon I was just walking with a small handheld not really looking to do anything serious, just waiting for sunset (which was a dud, btw). I noticed this formation which anchored this shot for me.
View attachment 80485

Jameel, very nice compositions in all three images. I like the layers in the Death Valley image—the bush with shadow definitely provides added visual interest. I especially love the Harris Beach image’s composition—my favorite! I also like the kayak at Harris Beach, a beautiful image. Perfect! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Trent Watts]

Another fun topic John. Nice intro slide. There are some inspiring additions to the topic so far. Here are two from me.

Although not a landscape shot this seed pod was 'in the landscape"!
Without the brown spot this would not have looked as much like a hairy fish.

This would have been a boring shot with out the moon 'piece'.

 

[ProCaliberTraveler]

On a recent road trip near Mt. Shasta in Northern California, I stopped on the shoulder to get this shot and wanted to include the fresh snow on the vegetation in the water to create more image depth and showcase how recent the snowfall was.

 

[John Holbrook]

I always like having some sort of visual hook in a scene that basically completes the puzzle.

This is a shot from ruins at Hovenweep where I was able to line up several different structures including one in front with a curved shape that pulls your eye up to the ones in the distance.

View attachment 80488

A shot from Woahink Lake near Florence Oregon. I liked all the little coves around the edges of the lake but the little sunlit island steals the show.

View attachment 80489

Horseshoe Falls along Siouxon Creek is a nice set of falls with a pretty good drops but a small scene at the base of the falls with diffuse light caught my eye. The various sprays that came off of the logs were a neat twist that stole the scene.

View attachment 80490

Paradise Creek in Mt. Rainier National Park has some steep drop-offs coming down the side of the volcano so lots of small water features along its path. The bog log in this frame had a forked branch just down and to the left of center that ran parallel to the water that caught my eye while I was setting up the shot. I like how it pulls your eyes up to the split flows of the creek.

View attachment 80491

Lower Antelope Canyon has lots of interesting shapes in the sandstone but here a log wedged between the slot walls becomes the main attraction.

View attachment 80492

The gardeners at the Portland Japanese Garden often place cut flowers in interesting settings as a sort of easter egg for photographers like me

View attachment 80493

Alan, beautiful and well composed images—with a great visual “hooks” as well. I especially love the Woahink Lake, Paradise Creek, and the Lower Antelope Canyon images! The Paradise Creek is perhaps my most favorite—great composition! It’s nice and effective that the gardeners at PJG often place cut flowers as accents in the scenes—nice image as well! The Hovenweep landscape is thoughtfully composed too—nice. Thank you for sharing all of these compositions.

 

[John Holbrook]

Another fun topic John. Nice intro slide. There are some inspiring additions to the topic so far. Here are two from me.

Although not a landscape shot this seed pod was 'in the landscape"!
Without the brown spot this would not have looked as much like a hairy fish.
View attachment 80494

This would have been a boring shot with out the moon 'piece'.
View attachment 80495

I agree with you Trent, the seed pod with the “eye” definitely makes one look twice—good seeing! I love the panorama with the moon too—very nice! Thank you for sharing!

 

[John Holbrook]

On a recent road trip near Mt. Shasta in Northern California, I stopped on the shoulder to get this shot and wanted to include the fresh snow on the vegetation in the water to create more image depth and showcase how recent the snowfall was.
View attachment 80496

Michael, wonderful composition and perfect reflection—love the centered composition as well. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Ken Rennie]

I have a few of these. Ken

The tiny figure makes it for me

I had photographed the bluebells before but waiting for someone just to walk through didn't work. So I returned with my wife and used her as an unpaid model

As often happens the tiny element becomes the subject

The important element here is the distant tree on the right. I worked very hard in photoshop to bring it out . I could have cloned one in but felt better using reality

Another image where the tiny image is the subject

The canoe makes it for me, it has added a lot to the scene but has not taken over.

 

[John Holbrook]

I have a few of these. Ken

The tiny figure makes it for me
View attachment 80497

I had photographed the bluebells before but waiting for someone just to walk through didn't work. So I returned with my wife and used her as an unpaid model
View attachment 80498


As often happens the tiny element becomes the subject
View attachment 80499

The important element here is the distant tree on the right. I worked very hard in photoshop to bring it out . I could have cloned one in but felt better using reality
View attachment 80500

Another image where the tiny image is the subject
View attachment 80501

The canoe makes it for me, it has added a lot to the scene but has not taken over.
View attachment 80502

Ken, lovely images you’ve shared—thank you! I like your compositional thoughts in each of these—minor elements playing an integral part in each composition. Your first image might be my most favorite—it’s difficult to choose among such beautiful examples! I like the B&W fourth image with the fourth tree (that number keeps coming up!) that adds so much to this beautiful image. Your last image is another I favor—perfect!

 

[dan swiger]

Cloud catcher

Cloud influencer

Fence of reeds

Embracing the Mountain

 

[Kyle Jones]

With clear skies, finding some leaves to frame the reflection was the missing piece in this one.

 

[dan swiger]

With clear skies, finding some leaves to frame the reflection was the missing piece in this one.

View attachment 80514

Sweet!

 

[John Holbrook]

Cloud catcher
View attachment 80508

Cloud influencer
View attachment 80509

Fence of reeds
View attachment 80510

Embracing the Mountain
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Dan, very, very nice images! I especially love the “cloud influencer”—nice composition. I love the composition of ”embracing the mountain” as well—good title too. I like the simplicity of the “fence of reeds” image too. Thank you for sharing.

 

[John Holbrook]

With clear skies, finding some leaves to frame the reflection was the missing piece in this one.

View attachment 80514

Kyle, the leaves certainly provide a great compositional element in added interest for the foreground—a beautiful image. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Jeffrey]

A tough theme to properly interpret, but I offer these.