The Anne Range From Schnell's Ridge

John, you don't say what you want analysing so I hope it's not the print that this scrint resembles. I can't print my name in black ink let alone a photograph.

 

Well first off, the foreground presents an atractive, interesting and light way in to the picture and the slope of the immediate valley around the nearby lake (tarn where I come from) contains the eye. Crawling out is not an option. And it's only after the eye has travelled around the perimeter that the journey (or rather my journey) heads north and the pleasant discovery of yet further bodies of water and the skyline ridge of the distant mountain group. The picture therefore has a highly satisfactory beginning, middle and end. A sort of fairground ride where the moment you get off you dash back for the start again. I could skip around the picture and this neck of the woods for hours. I think cropping it to a square helps this sense of containment. Of being tunnelled along the valley to the distant mountain group. So print it 12x12.

 

The sky looks pleasant enough too. A warm day, sun rather high yet excellent haze free clarity in the air. I should be very pleased with this picture.

 

F=Red, right?

Nice picture indeed, but not perfect. I don't really know how to explain this feeling I have looking at the picture, but first I see the stones in the foreground, then I go down to the lake, then to the bright cloud in the background (haven't really noticed the other lake(s) at first look), then back to the stones, back to the cloud... I end up seeing some kind of symmetry in this print, the lake being the central point and the cloud and the stones responding to each other. While in other pictures I might find this kind of dialogue very interesting, for some reason it doesn't work as well here for me.

 

I don't know if it helps you in analyzing, but that's how I approached this picture.

 

what developer are you using? It's a luscious result.

Thank you all for such thoughtful comments. I took this in colour as well, posted the colour one to mixed reactions a few weeks ago. Now that I've printed the TMX version, I think it is better than the colour one, but I have been wrestling with the tones a bit, particularly to get more definition through the centre. I was able to achieve that to some extent on the print, by burning at a higher grade of contrast. The print also has more of the hills on either side, but I cropped those flanks out for the scrint. The foreground rocks have already had a significant burn, (they are actually stark white quartzite), but perhaps could be burned down even more.

 

Ann, the developer was ID11 1:1.

Phil, red filter used.

 

Thanks again,

B&W is B&W. The compossing of the picture is good, is show the contrast between the lake and the mountains. The light is nice. Do you have used filter to strenghen the contrast in the sky? Orange or red?

John, this is just fantastic... When I saw this in color, I saw a very nice picture, but this is really a step above. It really unbelievable how beautiful the tones are in this image, and the same goes for the light and the volume of the hills... I may have missed one or two great shot of yours in the past, but this is so far my favorite among all your images that I have seen.

John, I always respond to photographs with a sense of depth and this one just drags me though the frame over the lake to the distant ranges. Very 3D. Great tones too.

Wow. I love this one John. Thanks for posting it.

I love the compostion -- you're a great composer, John but ... all the tones below the foreground rocks seem mushed up on my screen as if they could not hold sharpness (actually, the foreground ain't that sharp either). Sorry if I obsess over the sharpness -- blame my studio instructor for this, I hope I'll get over it. The other thing is, the lower portion of the clouds formation is blown out -- I am not sure if you wanted that unnatural effect (it does give a nice break comparing with the rest of highly muted tonal range).

Yes the clouds immediately behind the ridge are blown or close to pure white. But aren't they portayed so perfectly against the ridge? Don't you think they make the ridge line sing? And above them we have fluffy ordinary clouds, saying to us that the blown ones were deliberately bright that day. Just for John. I thank the blown out clouds.

Maria, I'm surprised nobody else has yet commented on the softness in the foreground. The bushes were flapping madly with the wind, and with a small aperture and red filter, a slow shutter speed was inevitable. In a large print, the motion blur looks quite nice (at least to me), but I agree it is distracting here. The rocks are meant to be sharp, and if they appear soft, then I have failed in the computer work.

 

Interesting comment about the clouds. I'm happy with the far clouds being bright white, but the overhead ones have perhaps been burned too deeply. I should also tone down the one on the right edge to match the others. Thank you (& Phil) & everyone else of course.

I just noticed you were shooting on tmax 100 speed -- I screwed up a roll of rye fields and fantastic clouds because of the wind, my red f on and a long exposure with same film (oh yes, stupidly I did use a tripod!). It hurts -- even clouds were moving too fast.

Beautiful B&W. The blacks are there. The whites are there, as is a great tonal range of gray. The composition is excellent. Beautiful scene

Great depth and detail. It makes me want to forget digital and pick up large format.

 

I really love the tonal range of this photo. There's nothing quite like T-Max when the light is just right over a scene like this. The composition is great with the rocks in the foreground serving as a wonderful anchor for the rest of the image. That sky is amazing. A very impressive image.

Not much to add to the above other than my praise also John - I quite liked the colour one too though and I think this comp could in fact be an absolute stunner in colour in the right light (maybe on a bit of a stormy day if the hike's no too treacherous).

Excellent!

Nicely exposed, wide range of tones, great composition

I go hiking myself about once a year for about 5 days in the mountains. I take b/w as well as colour film with me. I think that if you use b/w in nature it is to give more importance to lines/composition, or to create a particular ambiance that wouldn't have been possible with colour. In this case I wonder though if the shapes and compositions are interesting enough... or more interesting than the different colours that this scene could have provided. Looks like you would have had some nice blues, greens, yellows and browns in this scene.

 

Other than that, this is a well composed photo with a good exposure that shows many different tones.

 

Regards,

Julien

This shot, like so many of your images, is fantastic. If I have one small nit, it's that I find the foreground a little too sharp. I want to take in the whole image at once with my eye moving toward the lake from all directions. However, the sharpness on the rocks in the foreground is a slight stumbling block toward that way of looking at it. (Maybe that's not how you want folks to look at it but I thought I'd send my two cents.)

Wow. Incredible view. What a glorious place. I like the subtle off center positioning of the lake. Not really a third but fits very well in the frame. I like the inclusion of the rock near, right. Helps give a real sense of distance and size....

So many special works, I don't think there is more to add here... a complex image with a lot to explore,different textures and many color hues

Beauty0full. Pnina