"Outback California"

This reminds me of a scene you might see in Australia. The cloud bank provides a natural reflector to help tame the harsh light. They will tell you not to shoot landscapes during midday, but it can work under the right conditions. I usually don't, but that happens to be the time frame when I came upon this scene. Any later and the sun would have dropped behind the mountains, resulting in shaded light, which is not so favorable either. Thanks for your thoughts and please take in the Larger preview!!

Thanks for your viewing time. I would be interested in your thoughts!

As a traveling photographer (as opposed to a travel photographer) I often face the challenges of midday shooting and agree that it is not alway a bad thing. I often use polarizers and neutral density filters to help mitigate the effects of harsh sunlight. Beautiful landscape. GJ

Very nice Mark, what more need be said. rek.

Stunning! Beautiful landscape as always Mark. Well worth the midday shoot. Superb work! Regards, Leslie

Mark, I'm struggling with what part of Australia you might see this in. Components, sure but the whole scene is the challenge. This does, however, work very well with lots of lines nicely arranged, and the light is excellent.

Thanks GungaJim, Richard, Leslie and Jeff. Jeff, I'm struggling to know why I have that impression! I have never been to Australia, so pictures are my only visual reference. What you can't see in this image is that the soil was much more sandy than in other places here in California. As well, I see so many images of Australia with puffy white clouds like this. It is one place on my list to see; the other, New Zealand. Someday I hope!!!

Nice shot!

Mark - The cloud bank provided just the block you needed to avoid the wash out of colors. Mid day is OK. Found similar conditions this fall and made an image that would have been impossible at other times of day(not uploaded yet). The key is you knew what to do with the lighting that you were presented with. Doesn't always have to be sunrise/sunset for an interesting image.

 

Regards, Harry

Mark,

Beautiful, love the colors & light. Regards, Patsy

Mark, white puffy clouds are one of our features for sure. You could probably see a display of flowers like this but probably in a desert where you wouldn't see the other foliage. Both Australia and New Zealand are spectacular places. NZ is definitely more compact. You can spend and awful lot of time in Australia travelling between locations with little change in the scenery. Folks from other countries often severely misjudge distances in Australia.

Thanks Dr. Didi, Harry, Patsy and again to you Jeff!