Photo of the Grand Canyon shot from the south rim

I can't believe this image has been viewed 3210 times without a single comment. It's a seriously beautiful picture; not much of a comment, but what else can one say about a near perfect image?

Gotta love black and white, well at least I do. I think you've achieved some beautiful tones on this shot. I find the twisting nature of the tree on the right fascinating, and the one on the left a tad distracting. I think it is covering up a beautiful sky. I would love to find this tree and work it a bit, but I think I would try to cut the other one out of the pic, figuratively speaking. It's good work and I think your on the right track.

The kind of picture I click on to see how it was shot. Awesome!

Amazing light! Very well done. Congrats.

You've captured that tree in a way that makes it seem animated, as if it struck a pose, just for you. framed against a seemingly more static background, including the more traditional looking tree only adds to the impression.

 

Your ability to capture emotion and a sense of "moment" even in your landscapes is impressive.

This image has been selected for discussion. It is not necessarily the "best" picture the Elves have seen this week, nor is it a contest. It is simply an image that the Elves found interesting and worthy of discussion. Discussion of photo.net policy, including the choice of Photograph of the Week should not take place here, but in the Site Feedback forum.

When including images, please make sure they are relevant to the discussion, not more than 511 pixels wide, sufficiently compressed and make sure to enter a caption when uploading.

It's a good shot. But B&W photos of canyons and gnarly trees aren't exactly very original either.

I like the scene, and think the framing with the trees is great. I'm not happy with the granularity within the sky--especially along the left side. Looks as if it's been worked too much in photoshop. Overall, I like it and it deserves a nice long study. Not great, but certainly quite good. Congratulations on being chosen for POW.

Wonderful tones/light, details, and composition. I particularly like B&W landscapes..:).

I see the tree on the right as a voluptuous maiden, perhaps a Siren, luring the second tree with a sensuous dance instead of a song.

(Doug lives! Good to know.)

 

I like this picture, Michael. The sky appears a bit grainy to me, but the picture overall has very good composition and tones. I like the long view up the canyon on this one. Makes me want to be there.

 

Congratulations on having it named Photo of the Week.

 

--Lannie

I don't do this often, but this is "awesome" !

There's so much to look "at" in this shot ... so many details & rich tones. This is a very well executed shot ... probably not the best composition ... but it "works" !!

I agree with Dhiren. There is SO much to see in this shot. Great detail and light on the tree, complete with a shadow for added interest. I find I want somewhere for my eye to rest, or perhaps, no detail in the sky at all so I can better appreciate those scrumptious, chaotic lines and tones in THE tree.

 

Just for my own information, I wonder how you scanned this in to your computer?

 

Congratulations on the POW. All of your work is just so interesting. Your own unique style. I love your stuff!

Congratulations on the selection of this photo for POW. I tend not to like B&W photos, especially for colour-rich landscapes like the Grand Canyon and Utah National Parks. Despite that, I think that this is a fabulous photo. You've managed to capture a tremendous amount of depth, texture and interest in a single capture. There are many components of this picture that draw the eye. My only critique is the amount of granularity in the sky above the horizon in the middle of the photo, but other than that it's fabulous.

I very much appreciate the Elves picking one of my photos for photo of the week. The photo was scanned using a Kodak Coolscan.I will admit that this is not one of my favorite photos in my portfolio ,I hope it serves its purpose and sparks a discussion.I will say that after photographing the Grand Canyon over a number of years, that the canyon is so large and vast, that it is hard to show its depth in a 2 dimensional photograph.I like many Photographers ,used a object in the foreground to give added depth,the photograph Ansel Adams took of the Cypress Tree at Point Lobos, is a much better example. Thank you again for your comments.

I think that it's a wonderful image, but I'd make a picky suggestion of a tiny bit more work in Photoshop: remove the merger of the small branch with the left edge of the picture and fix the merger of the left branch of the right tree with the leaves at the top nof the left tree.

Joe has it right with the merger problems, and the top is too cluttered and grainey too, and Michael is not getting that depth he says he wants. Try this crop and notice the feeling of more depth and less visual impairments due to merger problems removed.

Sorry, but I prefer the original image. The cropped version is way to thight. I feel like I have to dougt to avoid hitting my head... Maybe a portrait should be cropped closely, but such a wonderful landscape needs space.

All things aside, the photo abides by quite naive snapshot

aesthetics; Joe's crop improves it quite a bit.

Sorry, I meant Michael's crop. That was one of those infamous

Freudian slips I guess...

I think the original works much better, given the clouds give the picture immense

atmosphere and add to the depth.

I was surprised when the comment near perfect was used to describe this photo. I agree its a nice photo but I must say that it is far from perfect in my opinion.I think if the shot was done in natural colors then we may have been a step closer to a perfect picture. As we all know black and white images also hide inperfections. Is this one of those situations? Please don't get me wrong.... I am not discediting the photographer, I am sure he is more than capable of taking an amazing photo. I will bring my comment to close by saying " If this is what the photographer saw in his minds eye when he shot it then it is a perfect photo to him". as for us the viewers well thats left to each and everyone of us to decide.

 

Frank

I agree that it needs work, but maybe a simple crop is enough. Certainly, the tangled mess in the upper right corner needs to go. Allowing items to touch the side of the frame is a difficult trick to pull off, but it can be done. If you leave the intersecting limb in the upper middle/left, then the limb on the left edge can stay. They balance each other.

The mountains (and that includes canyons) are also about sky. Don't crop out the sky because of a little grain. As for pruning limbs with Photoshop, that rarely works if you want something to look natural, and it does not work here.

 

--Lannie

I don't know whose that square crop is, 'cause is appears and reappears under different posts. Anyway, I mean the SQUARE crop is what I strongly prefer.