Half Dome from the valley after a hard day's climbing

No red rocks in the Sierras? Heck, I've gotten red rocks in a hardwood forest sitting above the upper Mississippi at sunset. They're not normally red, but they sure were during one specific sunset and, yes, with Velvia. The film was able to capture it. God bless Velvia. ;-)

Dave, I've spent a lot of time in Yosemite, and have seen Half Dome turn red every evening unless there is cloud cover.

 

Would those suggesting a split ND filter please tell us where to buy one shaped like a ski jump?

 

Nice photo Richard. It made me smile, which is a lot more than I can say for most of the comments pointed at this photo.

Cut that ski-jump ND out of a gray gel yourself. Equipment manufacturers can't do all the work for us. I still think an ND grad (commercially prepared and distributed) would work better. Leave a black hole on the side of half-dome, might add interest.

 

 

Cut that ski-jump ND out of a gray gel yourself.

Yeah, right. The light and the cloud would disappear long before finishing the custom ND grad for a one-off shot. But you knew that already, right?

Why have the POW discussions degenerated into photo bashing sessions? No one seems to appreciate a photo for its own qualities any more. If the POW isn't a ground-breaking, breathtaking masterpiece it gets unmercifully shredded as a mere "snapshot" or worse.

At least Bruce has some photos on the web to show his competence. This refrain of "use a split ND grad" is tiresome, though. Split ND grads work well in very limited circumstances, and this is not one of them.

This photo does, however, stand on its own as a humorous conterpoint to all the fine art Half Dome photos we've seen over the years. With a more mundane cloud formation it would be just another Half Dome photo, but then Richard would not have taken it, would he?

Well done Richard. You captured a whimsical moment in nature.

Scotty I think we are in trouble. Real or not real that´s the question. I don´t care i simply like the idea.

take us out of orbit, warpfactor 2 and hurry said

Joe!

http://members.chello.at/joachim.gerstl

 

Beautiful photo, Colors are superb, such beautiful country.

I really CAN't believe that this picture is photo of the week. Even from the photographer's own portfolio, it's one of the poorest! (Admittedly - he's got some other stunning pictures in the portfolio). This shot is badly composed and scanned, and apart from a mildly interesting cloud formation has NOTHING to offer. Sorry!

good very good

It's definitely a "pretty picture," but not very interesting. Just another mountain to me...

wow...you got enough responds on this image....what the hell do they see is created in photo shop?..

anyways a grad filter to even out the exposure from top to bottom is all that is needed to make this a very dramatic shot....this way...its nice!

First of all, to everyone who is accusing him of using photoshop is jealous regardless if he did or not; which i don't believe he did and i don't care anyway. Why else would someone suggest such a stupid comment in a derrogatory manner?

 

as for the black space, this type of image can be marketed for book covers or ads. what is wrong w/ that? ive received comments like that too regarding a few of my pics, but that is just their opinion. The pictures served their purpose and one happened to be used as my promotional piece w/ the black space used for text. I take pictures w/ a space left for text and logos sometimes.

 

btw, like your star trek half dome image. nobody should be criticizing the film for the color saturation, if you have seen a good sunset or sunrise at yosemite you would know that those colors are very intense.

It reminds me of the top of a bald head with steam coming out of it in anger. :D

 

I like it a lot!

Richard did you shoot this or Tony Blaire? Why'd you kill off that alias I thought you were having fun with the anonymity?

When I saw the thumbnail I thought, ah, a digitally created pic, but opening it up I can see Half Dome with a weird cloud formation on top. Having read your history of the pic I'd say it was a lucky find and one to grab definitely.Whether or not the colours are unnatural or over the top I don't know, I've never used Velvia and i wasn't there at the time! I wonder what others reactions would have been if you didnt mention that it was on Velvia!

One criticism is too much black I think, but thats going by the rules and I think it works in this pic.

I'm just amazed by the harsh commentary and accusations of manipulation. Two things. One - this kind of coloration is completely normal on the face of half dome or anywhere else in the mountains for that matter. I found the "alpenglow" effect or whatever you want to call it, if anything, more intense and common in Yosemite valley than other mountain regions. I brought a shot nearly identical to this back from my trip except that these clouds are far better. Two - cloud formations hanging over the face like this are entirely normal. If you haven't been there you may not realize this, but the dome is large enough to essentially create its own weather. In this case he captured a highly unusual formation.

 

Anyway, I like this shot. This is probably one of the most photographed mountains in the world and he has come up with an entertaining new twist here. The dark foreground works for me to isolate the face.

I can't be bothered to read all of this, but why does this have such terrible ratings? I would like to see some more of your photos, so I can rate one 6/6 and keep in my space. Somehow I don't quite like the composition on this one enough.

The thought just occured to me... Could it be possible some people think a 1 represents the highest rating, not the lowest? I'm a bit perplexed that a photo could have such a high quantity of responses and still end up in the 4 plus range. Oh well, maybe not the greatest shot I've ever seen, but enjoyable, nonetheless.

great work..good idea..very emotional