Crystal Mill Color

Mary (and others), here's a better deal...

350 USD at most for 10,000 postcards, here... and that includes transport to any place in the world - you take care of the taxes upon arrival...

A lot lower than that per thousand if we can get a collective order that amounts to 200,000 pieces in total (10,000 pieces x 20 titles). So, who's keen...? Shall we do a photonetters postcard edition ? 10% or 20% of the proceeds go to photo.net...? Makes sense to anyone...? Should we have a thread about this idea ? Feel free to e-mail if you have any interest.

Bobby, you asked how to make money with your beautiful

pictures and got the advice to try stock agencies. I am a graphic

designer and have been working for German publishing

companies spezialized on travel books for years. I had tons of

stock photography catalogues full of the most superb pictures -

but 95% of them were useless. Not because they had any

aesthetic flaw, oh no. They were useless because they were

perfectly composed! To be able to use a photo e.g. for book

covers I need either a lot of free space at the top or at the bottom

so that the letters of the book title remain readable without

elaborate (and costly) manipulation of the photo. Furthermore I

need space at both sides of the picture. You can imagine how

awful this looks on the original film :-)

In case you do not want your photos to vanish in the archives of a

stock agency and collect dust over the centuries you might

consider this.

 

Some of the publishing companies I know don't work with stock

agencies at all because of the high costs. They have enough

offers by photographers, who negotiate directly with them.

Perhaps that might be an option for you, too? I don't know the

north-american market, but there must be zillions of publishers

out there!

 

Oh I nearly forgot: your shot is excellent (may be too little sky at

the top, *lol*)

Magnificent by any measure!! I'd love to buy a print.

Great photo, personally I would be tempted to shave a fraction more off the bottom so the cascading water framed the lower edge. Either way -fantastic.

Great shot. Great drive. This trip is acknowledged as the most dangerous road in Colorado - read America. I attempted it in my full sized Chevy Tahoe BEFORE I read about the dangers. Yes, I did it. But I have rarely had such white knuckles. Coming in from the west side through Marble is a little easier. It's the way I came back. Five of the deaths came when a full sized Suburban didn't make it. Would I do it again in my Tahoe? NO! In a Jeep Wrangled with the top off, YES!

 

Back to the picture. I think the composition is excellent. Finding your vantage point took a lot of effort. The kind of effort that seperates the amateurs from the truly dedicated fine art photographer. The fact that you did it with a 4x5 speaks volumes. This is a VERY saleable image. The fall color really adds a special touch. And I love the sky/clouds. This is better than most published pictures I have seen of this place. Yeah, and better than mine. Sigh. I think I was too shaken up to take a decent picture. As for some of the suggestions I have read, I woundn't change a thing. This is as good as it gets. Congradulations! Wonderful fine art picture.

I picked up a copy of the Smithsonian in a waiting room last night and saw a very similar shot. (Sorry, I'm not sure what month.) I studied the image for a while and I think I like this one better. You didn't by any chance shoot the Smithsonian cover did you? Great image!

Birgit is absolutely right about what graphic designers look for. Designers are responsible for my shooting in a different way once I understood why a perfect shot sometimes would be rejected by designers and one not as "perfect" would be chosen for the cover of a brochure or catalog or magazine. I learned to purposely leave space - preferably at the top and did end up having work used for front covers of brochures, catalogs, ads and magazines in Vermont. Even my wedding images have space above the subject but that is not only because I try and get them published (I've gotten four covers of wedding publications) but also for cropping for albums and enlargements. Funny because on Photo.net I often will get comments about cropping images due to that very space I leave above the main subject. Having said that - many publications will do a few pages of images with no type save a photo credit or use the image as an embelishment to an editorial. This pix would work in that venue.

As to your suggestion Marc....I am fussy about color and have personally pulled together postcard runs from various clients in VT. Two problems with it. One - is that the job gets held up because not everyone is quick to provide the materials and approve the proof and Two - a color proof (which is essential as far as I'm concerened) has to be approved by all involved. I'd rather pay extra to a company that does batch runs all the time and therefore nothing gets held up. As they get the approvals.. They run your job with whatever is running at the time. Plus I've had experience with their work and the color is right on!

Fabulous shot. Every time I glance at it (and I have done a lot of that!) I try to think it's a bit too busy, but that thought is simply negated every time. It's a great shot with complicated composition which works amazingly well.

There is something interesting visible in this scene (from the chosen pov). It is the inverted "v"-shaped rock formation in the very middle, between the stream (on the left) and the wooden structure (right).

 

A lack of selectivity places this composition squarely in the genre of calendar art; it is precisely the kind of view that a tourist would hope to capture, done with professional equipment and technique. Perhaps they can purchase a postcard in the gift shop.

Yea the inverted v's on the roof of the old cabin do kinda mimic the

shape of all rocks in the seine. does this help the composition of the

photograph or just make it look more cluttered when you look at it

now

Deja, Deja, Deja:

 

I remember a large water color that my wife painted many

decades ago when we lived in Colorado. It is in storage now but

hung on the walls for years. It is identical to this photograph [as

near as a water color can be identical to a photo]. As I recall, it

was a place just across the pass from Crested Butte; not far

from Marble. Is this the place or is it somewhere else in

Colorado?

 

Art Karr

This got my attention when it was first uploaded. I still would love

to shoot this some time, so I have a couple questions: 1) Steve

mentioned that there is more than one way in. Can you confirm and

does it require a 4X4? 2) I'm guessing this is an afternoon shot and

that if the sun sets any lower, it will disappear behind a mountain.

 

I've seen this composition before, but not with this lighting and not

with the fall colors. First time at this location? Either way, you

nailed it. . .

Carl:

 

If it is the place that I am thinking of, you don't want to go in the

way I did. I came from Crested Butte; I remember water flowing

in one door of the Jeep and out the other; definitely 4x4. As I

recall, it is easier the other way. I pulled out some of my ol' 7.5

min maps. It was rt 133 from Carbondale in Pitkin County; just

into Gunnison County you turn onto the road to Marble [use of the

word road at that time was questionable]. The mill is beyond

that. Of course I haven't lived in Colorado for over 30 years so

everything I say could be outdated.

 

Art Karr

"1) Steve mentioned that there is more than one way in. Can you confirm and does it require a 4X4?"

 

As Art said, there are 2 ways. The easiest is from the Marble side which is off of Hwy 133 at the base of McClure Pass south of Carbondale. There is a well marked sign to Marble. It is 7 miles east to Marble and an additional 6 to the mill which is right below Crystal. You can drive to Marble via a car and a little past Beaver Lake as well. After this, a 4x4 is recommended.

 

The other way is from Crested Butte over Schofield Pass. The pass itself is passable in a car and a little ways below it. You will need 4WD if you plan to continue. It's stories are much worse than it actually is though, trust me. I'll give anyone a ride if I'm in the area when you are!

 

"2) I'm guessing this is an afternoon shot and that if the sun sets any lower, it will disappear behind a mountain."

 

This was definitely an afternoon shot and has already gone behind a mountain as you can make out the shadow below the mill and in the trees to the left. I am very surprised that the shadow area is as soft as it is with little contrast. In the summer, the pool below starts to get shaded at 4:15. Not sure how much earlier it would have been taken on this September or October image.

Darren:

 

Good to hear. The last time I came over that pass [circa 67] I had

to use the winch to remove boulders. Things change. ;<)) The

wife had two hours to sketch the mill because we broke the

transfer case linkage on a rock. While usually helpful, she had

learned enough 4 letter words in such situations and left to

sketch while I jerry-rigged the thing so we could get home. :<)))

 

Art Karr

That's funny, Art!

 

By the way, as I mentioned furhther up, you can view my pics of the tough portion of the trail and my write-up as well. Here's the direct link:

 

http://mycolorado.org/trails2.html#Schofield

 

(I still need to figure out how to make hyperlinks here)

Very cool web site Darren look's like you guy's really like your Toyota's too.

Although I must admit that this is a great shot of the mill, I must also coment that the mill is the most photographed building in colorado. (Maybee more) And even though I'm not sure if that still holds true, it is enough for me to say that this is not a fresh perspective in any way. I think that if you want a really good shot of the mill, you must first try a different angle. This was taken from the same spot as the THOUSANDS of other pictures out there of the mill. The colors are great, the moving water is nice, but it's the same image, and as for the conditions of the road... I go up there in a 95 subaru Loyal... P.S. Its a fun river to Kayak as well!

If thousand of images of this site exist and this is the composition

that we see most often, we may determine that this is the 'best' one.

We've all gone to well known sites, found the tripod holes, and then

done our best to find another approach that was more creative. Some

people will like your new approach better, maybe just because it's

original. But if you put the classic version side by side with your

creative one, the consensus selection will be predictable. You can

still make your own choices, but depending on who your target audience

is, it helps to at least be able to recognize which the 'best'

composition is . . . . . and why. .

I can't really add to what everyone else has said in favour of the shot -- it's beautiful. One tiny little thing that bothers me is the digitisation though -- were you pretty liberal with the unsharp masking? It has hint of that sort of sandpaper feel you get with unsharp masking sometimes.

Wow.

 

A great argument for the "something" of LF.

Simply amazing. I thought it was a painting when I first looked. The composition, content, and color evoked an involuntary "Wow!" when I saw this one. ~M.Green

I had a great chuckle about the complaint about being "too liberal with the unsharp masking." A 4X5 transparency that is drum scanned certainly doesn't need ANY unsharp masking an I'm sure this one doesn't have (or need) any. In fact, the biggest problem drum scanning large format is the sheer amount of data to handle. Perhaps the commentator is thinking of one of those grainy little 24mmX36mm images?

 

Very nice job on this image. I'm not of the persuasion that every image needs to be a monumental work of art to be valuable. So many places simply need to be competently recorded because they can speak to us without extra manipulation by the recordist.

 

One wonderful exercise is to go to the same place over and over again and capture the same basic scene in different ways. The appearance of a scene can change drastically from day to day and hour to hour. A local pond is a favorite place fo mine to relax and make images, and I've photographed it many hundreds of times, in every season, and with everything from a 4X5 to a Canon Elph. The variety of images is quite remarkable and together they help capture the essence of the place.

 

Very good work, and I'd love to see more images under different conditions. (If you can afford a ready supply of transfer cases.)

Technically perfect shot. I love the scenery too.

Excellent, excellent shot bobby!

Looking at this, I can really get the feeling I am right there. You did a great job capturing the rugged landscape and the old mill while keeping a crisp, clean feeling overall.

I would have preffered a little front rise to sqare up the mill, but you were probably at max with a 65mm and vertical composition.

The entire pic is razor sharp from corner to corner. Keep up the good work!