Livin on the Edge, a photo from Utah, West

Photographer's Note

About Location: This is the Green River Overlook in the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. The Island in the Sky mesa rises over 1,000 ft above the surrounding terrain. From this vantage point you can just make out the Green River down below as it flows towards the Colorado River.

About the photo: My attempt to keep the foreground and background both in focus with a small aperture left me with a longer shutter speed, and the persistent breeze made it impossible for me to capture the flowers with out some blur. This was the least blurry of many attempts. I'm afraid the background didn't turn out as sharp as I had hoped either.

Film scanned with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED.
Levels adjusted in Photoshop.

Miks, Mistral oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

Miks (1717) 2006-04-24 20:18

Marvelous texture in the earthian colours of this one. This is of course due to the natural colours of the place, but its the light that really makes it stand out. In particular the texture of the rock in the forground benefits from the great low-angle light.

The off-balance compo works very well for me. And the strong forground-background contrast works very well to provide a perspective which gives us a sense of the scale of this grand landscape.

I agree that the blur of the flowers is a real shame. A good illustration of how painful certain mandatory photographic choices can be. But I like the details of the background so much that I agree with your choice of small-aparture/long-exposure. And slight blur or not, this is still an outstanding nature photo!

Best,
Miks

[2] +

clickrick (385) 2006-04-24 21:08

Ryan,

Actually, the image has more "soul" with a slight blurr of the background. The blurr is such that the eye is more attracted to the flower (the main subject) and the beautifull texture of the foreground rock. The fact that there is no sky in this shot also makes for a "tighter" composition, again keeping our eyes and mind focused on the flower. I like it a lot. Mikkel's comments are bang on.
Richard

dkeus31 (27739) 2006-04-25 6:59

Hello Ryan,
Very nice composition, a good foreground givind much depth on the picture.
Nice light and details on the rocky part of the foreground.
Very well framed

zeca (19762) 2006-04-26 3:52

Wow, Ryan! I just knew your TE page now! What a nice collection you have posted here!
Well, after add you, I found this photo first because of its fantastic lights and POV! It´s a wonderful view, very well captured in great depth and sharpness! Super!
Regards!
Zeca
(the photo goes to my favorites also.)

bigtim (3518) 2006-04-26 6:30

Bonjour Ryan,
Cette photo me plais particuličrement pour ca simplicité apparente mais quand on y regarde de plus prés elle fourmille de texture et de détail incroyable!!!
Bravo
tiM../.

fallan (1860) 2006-05-06 5:57 [Comment]

Show Comment +

bboss (3578) 2006-05-07 5:28

Hi Ryan
This is a real stunner, fantastic colour and light, spectacular composition, dramatic landscape and wonderful texture. I think you got the sharpness balance b etween foreground and background about right given the physical limitations you mention.
The strong diagonal and the way the colours contrast make it stand out
cheers, David

Mistral (15416) 2006-05-17 16:24

Ryan it's a great image!
great light and fantastic composition.
The flowers are really in the right place and general sharpness is very good.
Wow! Well done!
A smile (again)
Luca

Rodrigues (1035) 2006-05-18 20:15

Stunning image! he composition is brilliant, the flowers on the foreground give life to the shot, the rock looks incredible with that low light, and the background well chosen.

The reddish tone (or sepia) works so fine.

Come on, I can live with a bit out of focus of the flowers, but the foregrounf looks perfect for me...it's so far away.

Definetly...my first favorite.