Thursday's Task

[John Holbrook]

Thursday’s Task: The _______ in the scene is what drew me to shoot this landscape. My examples below:

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, AZ
The fog.

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
The dead trees forming a semicircle in the foreground.

 

[Ben Egbert]

The shape of this butte is what drove me to do this landscape

 

[AlanLichty]

I shot this because I am a sucker for winding trails in my scenes:
Wonderland Trail, Mt. Rainier NP.

I shot this because of the blooms and the neat green reflections in the water from this particular angle:
Portland Japanese Garden.

 

[dan swiger]

The angular canyon-path. Death Valley

 

[John Holbrook]

The shape of this butte is what drove me to do this landscape

View attachment 46344

Beautiful shot Ben—great point of view in this composition.

 

[John Holbrook]

I shot this because I am a sucker for winding trails in my scenes:
Wonderland Trail, Mt. Rainier NP.

View attachment 46345

I shot this because of the blooms and the neat green reflections in the water from this particular angle:
Portland Japanese Garden.

View attachment 46346

Alan, I always like paths into the scene as well—nice image. The green reflection is striking in the Garden image—good choice.

 

[John Holbrook]

The angular canyon-path. Death Valley
View attachment 46347

Dan, I like the dark path winding through the canyon walls—very nice.

 

[JimFox]

View attachment 46340

Thursday’s Task: The _______ in the scene is what drew me to shoot this landscape. My examples below:

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, AZ
The fog.

View attachment 46341

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
The dead trees forming a semicircle in the foreground.

View attachment 46342

Awesome task John!

 

[Rick Nantais]

The yellow color in the Sonora desert Yellow mountain

 

[John Holbrook]

The yellow color in the Sonora desert Yellow mountain
View attachment 46356

Rick, I love the yellow rock in your image—especially how the “row” of foreground rocks repeats in the background. Nice composition!

 

[Kyle Jones]

1) The rainbow in this scene drew me to capture this landscape (Glacier NP):

2) The colorful reflections in this scene drew me to capture this landscape (Havasu Creek):

 

[Ken Rennie]

With successful images it should be fairly obvious what attracted the photographer if the most is made of the opportunity. Ken

With this image it was the duck slowly swimming across the scene that has elevated the image above the obvious gentle colours and excellent reflection with the boathouse to attract your eyes. I did take the duck swimming into the scene but at 100 ISO the shutter speed was too slow and the duck wasn't crisp. By the time I had checked the image, upped the ISO and shutter speed the duck was in a good position but swimming out of the scene but I still like image with the slight dicsturbance in the previous almost perfect reflection.

In this image it is the late afternoon spring sunshine lighting up the foreground stones and the lone hawthorn tree. A very low viewpoint chosen to both show the tree against the sky and hide the nearby road.

A seascape from Northern Spain this time. We were on holiday and driving along the motorway when I saw the sea stack with waves breaking over it. Off at the next intersection and found a way down onto the beach then experimenting with shutter speeds to get the best shape and texture in the breaking waves. This is my favourite although not the most spectacular as many of the waves were breaking over the top of the stack. This image has many of the aspects that attract me, strong structure, simplicity, drama.

 

[John Holbrook]

1) The rainbow in this scene drew me to capture this landscape (Glacier NP):
View attachment 46359

2) The colorful reflections in this scene drew me to capture this landscape (Havasu Creek):
View attachment 46360

Kyle, two exceptional images for the task. Good placement of the rainbow in the composition in your first and I love the colorful reflection in the second.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I second Ken's observation that the image should speak to what attracted the photographer.

Redwoods, CA. A fortuitous fog clearing bringing shafts of sunlight into the forrest.

 

[John Holbrook]

With successful images it should be fairly obvious what attracted the photographer if the most is made of the opportunity. Ken

With this image it was the duck slowly swimming across the scene that has elevated the image above the obvious gentle colours and excellent reflection with the boathouse to attract your eyes. I did take the duck swimming into the scene but at 100 ISO the shutter speed was too slow and the duck wasn't crisp. By the time I had checked the image, upped the ISO and shutter speed the duck was in a good position but swimming out of the scene but I still like image with the slight dicsturbance in the previous almost perfect reflection.
View attachment 46361
In this image it is the late afternoon spring sunshine lighting up the foreground stones and the lone hawthorn tree. A very low viewpoint chosen to both show the tree against the sky and hide the nearby road.
View attachment 46362
A seascape from Northern Spain this time. We were on holiday and driving along the motorway when I saw the sea stack with waves breaking over it. Off at the next intersection and found a way down onto the beach then experimenting with shutter speeds to get the best shape and texture in the breaking waves. This is my favourite although not the most spectacular as many of the waves were breaking over the top of the stack. This image has many of the aspects that attract me, strong structure, simplicity, drama.
View attachment 46363

“With successful images it should be fairly obvious what attracted the photographer if the most is made of the opportunity.” I agree Ken, I hoped to elicit thoughts about the process of initial visualization and then capturing that image—successfully emphasizing that element within the frame. As you posted, the mallard and its wake was definitely a bonus to your scene’s composition. Very nice image, by the way! I love your second image with the lone tree and foreground stones.

 

[John Holbrook]

I second Ken's observation that the image should speak to what attracted the photographer.

Redwoods, CA. A fortuitous fog clearing bringing shafts of sunlight into the forrest.

View attachment 46364

Jameel, I hoped that a light rays image might be posted for this task—very nice shot!

 

[Ken Rennie]

“With successful images it should be fairly obvious what attracted the photographer if the most is made of the opportunity.” I agree Ken, I hoped to elicit thoughts about the process of initial visualization and then capturing that image—successfully emphasizing that element within the frame. As you posted, the mallard and its wake was definitely a bonus to your scene’s composition. Very nice image, by the way! I love your second image with the lone tree and foreground stones.

John by initial visualization do you mean pre-visualization if so then I only pre-visualize when shooting waterfalls and cascades with all other images I go somewhere when the light looks promising and look for things that attract me. Ken

 

[John Holbrook]

John by initial visualization do you mean pre-visualization if so then I only pre-visualize when shooting waterfalls and cascades with all other images I go somewhere when the light looks promising and look for things that attract me. Ken

I was referring to that moment when one first looks at the landscape, dissecting the visual essence of its elements—then discovering that which causes you to lift the viewfinder to your eye.

I’ve noticed the “pre-visualization” you referred to above yields great waterfall images!

 

[Kyle Jones]

I have a lot of images that I plan. I intentionally head to a site with an image in mind and then move around and look for the compositions that I like best. For this task, I picked images that I had no intention of shooting until I saw something that caught my eye. In both cases I had to stop, unpack my camera gear, and do my best to capture what caught my eye. I would agree with Ken that is should be pretty obvious why the photographer snapped the shutter on the scene, but for me that doesn't take away the fun of finding something unexpected.

 

[AlanLichty]

I have tons of shots that were planned well in advance of going to the destination but in all cases I knew what to expect and was looking at TPE, maps/satellite imagery, and often tide tables for timing my visit. I first imagined the view I used for the image of Meyers Creek I posted this morning about 5-6 years ago.

If I am standing at a viewpoint looking at a scene I had never observed before I try to think about what elements are in front of me that would make a pleasing frame for the mood of the scene. Single shot wide angle, multi panel panorama, Telephoto, etc.... there are a lot of ways to go and the more the merrier for me

Curvy lines like the trail and waterway I posted are always an attraction for me but I rarely spend a lot of time thinking about compositional rules and start shooting whenever The Voices and my Rice Crispies agree I am seeing something worth shooting