"Softly I Spring"

I can't wait to return to this valley as the wildflowers peak. This sets up so well for my eye, the many parallel and converging diagonals with layers receding into the distance. The best part is that there are no barbed wire fences to hop, so the family jewels are safe and I don't have to worry about trespassing violations. My biggest challenge is the capabilities, or lack, of my wide angle lens. I wanted to be as close to the flowers as possible, meanwhile the far right hills have gone imperceptibly soft. I really like tack sharp across the frame unless I am doing macro flowers, which I rarely do anyway. For something like this, I think the nearest elements should be sharpest, so it's a minor tradeoff. I will play with it some more and see if I can better dial in the optimum hyperfocal distance settings. So, hence the title "Softly I Spring" came to mind first. Thanks for looking and be sure to enjoy the Larger preview!

Thanks for your thoughts. The Larger preview is available!

Excellent compo ^^^ BR

 

***Ali***

Actually, I don't see the distant softness as a problem, since it looks "proper" with the fog. I had to go looking for it to see what you were even talking about. This is, by the way, a luscious composition, owing to the strong curves of this narrow little valley and the spectacular clarity of the fiddleheads.

Mark, I agree with John. This is excellent just as it is. I wouldn't change it at all.

Thanks Ali, John and Jeff. I appreciate it. As I said, it is almost imperceptible, but at 100%, it shows on the far right. Having the fiddlenecks sharp is required while the distant hills can go soft to some degree. Yes, the hazy fog effect is there as well. I am really crying out my desire for a nice tilt/shift wide angle so I can have almost endless depth. Meanwhile, who can justify the expense of one of those TS lenses. Someday!

Make that unanimous.....I agree with John and Jeff. Convenient for you that the fog is working its way to that top hill on the right, and it just leads back and melds together with the sky. If you hadn't said anything about the focus, I would have thought you intentionally composed it this way. :-) Anyway, another brilliant shot......you just have to rub it in, eh? We still have snow on the ground! Hey, we're going to be in San Francisco in June for a friend's 80th birthday, then we're going to travel around CA for about a week. We don't have an itinerary yet, but if we get your way, we'll give you a shout.

Very nice soft light and a perfect location with those receeding hills. I'm really looking forward to seeing your next shots from this vicinity. As to the sharpness problem you are worried about - it certainly is not a problem at this size on the internet and I doubt it's a problem at all. A perspective correction lens would be handy though in this particular situation if you want total sharpness from the nearest flowers till distant hilltops.

beautiful and very well captured - the very white area at the top completes the tonal range.

Beautiful shot, Mark ... great work !!. Regards.

The soft light gives an ethereal glow to the landscape, and the lines of trees and the ridges give a beautiful structure to your image. .

Thanks Christal, Sandris, Tony, Ricardo and Claude. I know, I sound like a whiner because of a little unseen softness. Meanwhile, many of you are still seeing snow and cold temps; spring is still a couple of months away. OK, I'll stop whining. In my film days, I used to have a 20mm Nikon lens. I could get about as close as I wanted to a subject, set it on infinity, and have sharpness throughout. Therefore, I am a little frustrated with the difficulties that I have with my digital outfit. There is no way I can afford to get a perspective control lens, so I have to make the best of what I have for now. Christal, that is awesome. By june, the landscape around here is all dried up and the wildflowers are long gone, but the weather is still quite nice. This year could be different, however, if the el nino pattern persists. Then there might be some remaining spring in the higher elevations. Even Carrizo Plain could still be hanging on. Let me know if you need any help putting together an itinerary!

This is quite a eye full of eye candy and it is delicious. The near far focusing becomes near impossible as you get closer to your foreground. May I suggest shooting one exposure focused for the FG and another focused for the BG? It is then just a simple blending. Speaking of blending Mark, the hill on the upper right has a slight halo as does the one on the left to a lesser extent. All of these images that you have posted of late are just magnificent photographs.

Hey Leo, yes I see the halo and I will go back and hopefully work it out. Thanks for the suggestion about multiple focused blends. I know that CS4 has a merge tool for that, but I have CS3 and I'm not planning on upgrading soon. I have actually been thinking about blending frames with different focal lengths. In fact, on my next venture to this spot, I will be doing some 3 and 4 vertical frame pano stitches to increase my file size. I will also experiment with changing the focus from frame to frame and then using photomerge to blend them. I will let you know how it works out!

This is a great picture. The steep slopes, the variety of greens combined with the eyecatching orange flowers. Just beautiful and well composed.

Very nice

Nice scene!

Even without CS4 a simple masking of two different exposures would be child's play to an expert like you. This is still one beautiful image, Mark.

Blending two separate exposures is easy enough, but when the focusing ring is turned, it changes the dimension or perspective of the image. In other words, it minimally zooms in, which means the second frame will not register with the first frame. If there is a distinct plane of focus, then I would blend along that edge, but if it is a continuous receding plan, there may be some challenges. Sorry, I am not so well versed on subjects of focal planes, I just know what I see when I change the plane of focus. The CS4 action was engineered to tackle that perspective problem. Still, I'm going to give it a try, it may be easier than I am thinking.

Mark - The details and atmosphere are magical. I think the sky has been render just perfectly - it must have been a bit challenging as the sun seems about to be poking through the clouds. Enoy your spring out there.

 

Harry

I enjoy your work very much. It is original fresh and beautiful. AM

Oh :)