"As the Aspens Turn: A Soap Opera"

I had just finished shooting the sunrise from another location. I was originally looking for this spot, but somehow missed it along the way. This is an iconic composition, but I just had to try my own hand at it. I have seen much better, but I am still pleased with this result. The colors were very strong on this morning because of the thin veil of clouds softening the sunlight. Thanks for your impressions!

The clarity of this is absolutely spectacular, and the aspen colors are very beautiful. 

However, and I hope you'll forgive the bluntness,  this rendering of the image doesn't work for me.  Something struck me as off from the first view, and I think it's the brightness of the foreground.  With that lovely morning light on the mountains, the human eye would not also resolve the foreground at a brightness consistent with noon on a cloudy day, yet that's what is presented here.  Honestly, it distracts my eye from the background and sky lighting, making those elements more of a competing entity, rather than parts of a harmonious whole.

very nice composition, I feel like I was there. thanks for sharing.

i think it is one of your best photos. congrats!

the picture is very natural to me, it shows again your impressive processing skills. the scenery is amazing, and put togethet and composed precisely.

Thanks John! I appreciate your candor and I don't see it as blunt. We really have to call em as we see em. You know, I totally relate to your impressions. When it comes to luminosity, contrast and saturation, these subjects will receive a wide variety of opinions. No telling who is really right. I have had many other comments regarding these attributes and how they don't appear quite right. If someone points out that an image of mine is overly saturated, I will listen closely and perhaps even pull back. In this case, the luminosity appears unnatural and I am not surprised by that. Early this year, I began taking a much closer look at these three attributes and the only way I knew how to examine them was to do so while I was at the scene of the crime. I made it a point to describe in words what I was seeing as I shot the images. Words would create a mental reference when I dealt with the task of processing m the RAW files. I would ask myself how green was the sage or how dark were the shadows. I challenged myself to do this because I value integrity; that is to say I wanted to convey what I saw in an accurate manner. Still, I am not the consummate purist. Removing distracting elements with the clone tool is fair game. I also like the use of chiaroscuro lighting, even if it wasn't present, to draw the eyes toward the main themes. In the case of luminosity, I ask myself how much light is available. Is there enough light to read a newspaper might be an example. My thinking is that as we scan a scene, no matter how much light is available, our eyes will correct for low light by opening the pupils. My wife is forever turning on the lamp behind me when I am reading in the dark. In a scene with a wide range of light, our eyes will adjust in real time while we are looking around. The camera does not have that ability, unless of course we persuade it to do so with grad filters or manipulate the final output with blended frames of varying exposure. While I want and need feedback, the most I can really do is process my images to convey my impressions. When I completed this, it looked just right. I wouldn't compare this to a normal photograph. I have taken many of those and they never paralleled my recollection of what I saw. My film and grad days are over because I never achieved satisfying results. I am satisfied with how this appears. I do however, want others to be satisfied with my images, so contrary comments  are appreciated and often heeded. Let's not overlook the fact that each of us has unique perceptions. Even how we see the world is not totally unified. Still, I am sure Ansel Adams and others before me encountered this kind of artistic struggle, if you will. I do know this however. Comparing myself to Ansel Adams is definitely inaccurate!

Thanks Mark and Zsolt! I was typing away while you guys chimed in. 

And that take (yours) is the definitive one.  Thanks for elaborating.  Actually, I'd love in future posts to hear more about your on-the-spot recordings of the experience.

This capture is excellent with respect to naturality and well controlled color saturation, but with light i suggest a slightly darker f/g and more contrast. Just an opinion, and still very eye pleasing. My best.

Hamid.

Mark...  "chiaroscuro lighting"  You just wanted to make me look that up! :-)

Actually, I find the lighting in the foreground sufficiently dulled to appear natural in this side lighting.  The ray of light catching the tops of the trees and terminating on the cliff face is a feature often desired but hard to catch.  A truly beautiful scene and presentation.... Mike

Thanks John, Hamid and Mike! Well Mike, at least I know you got halfway through my diatribe! I know many will feel this falls short on contrast. I think it all comes down to what we are used to seeing, and I think we are used to seeing excessive contrast. I believe that film cameras relied on contrast because the limited tonal range. Let's not forget how contrasty Velvia is (or was). Black and white photography lives by contrast. That's what I like about digital. I can tweak my files to have a single black point and a single white point (or perhaps 253 to avoid complete white and metamerism in printing). That to me is as natural as it can be and many scenes may not have blacks or whites in reality, but a film camera will make it so. I avoid blocked shadows at all cost so my prints have full detail, but contrast will appear weak as such, so there is a tradeoff. I think when one sees this as a large print, the contrast will be just right. Anyhow, that's my story and I'm stickin with it!!

I agree with John about the sharpness of this image. I did not feel much about the brightness honestly, except a bit more contrast would be nicer, its a little flat at the aspen trees. The bushes at the lower right seem to be invading, as they have not been totally in the frame.

I still love it. and very happy to see this kind of serious conversation back on photo.net

In the facebook era this is becoming increasingly difficult to get good critiques. Some of my recent shots that could have made people to jump on photo.net 2 to 3 years ago, are left with no more than 1 to  2 comments. The top photos are degrading in quality except few exceptions. On facebook quality of comments (only praise) is obviously not what we except on the photo.net. Hence its always good to have serious photographers to discuss thoughts. Tremendous ongoing learning here.

Best,

+Lalit

What a fabulous scene Mark. I can see where it would be an often photographed location. This image is classic Geistweite stuff! Love the detail, and clarity on the mountains. As for the contrast thing I think that's been worked enough, and you know exactly what I'd say anyway ;-) Awesome composition guy!

All the best,
Neil

Awesome image Mark, it almost looks like a painting. I actually really like the distribution of light and how the bright sky and the top of the mountain to the right contrast with the less lit foreground.  It does feel completely natural since it often happens during a partly cloudy day that clouds will cover part of a scene.  I also enjoyed (probably as much) your description of how you take verbal notes of the scene you photograph to help reproduce it later.  I have never thought of doing this. In my days of film photography i used to carry a notebook with me where i often would scribble the aperture values, and shutter speeds etc of some shots, but i never thought of writing my visual impression of a scene.  How do you do this? do you actually use a tape recorder or similar device?  best regards and thanks again for the enlightenment - michel

Thanks Lalit, Neil and Michel!! One more thing about the contrast. If you will note, the sky was a soup of puffy clouds mixed with a high ceiling of thin cirrus looking clouds, so the sky was filled with moisture. This essentially acts like a softbox, giving the scene a very even distribution of light. This type of lighting is used in portraiture to avoid harsh, unflattering facial shadows. The key word here is Soft. It is the perfect light, I think, for evenly lit landscapes and it generally delivers the highest saturation of color, especially fall foliage. It is also what I would describe as a painterly light. Michel, I have done this various ways; a pen tablet at one time, a recorder at other times, but mostly a mental recollection. In general, I would make a mental note of several observations. I might describe the red in the clouds as a number between 1 and 10. I will scan the scene from foreground to sky and ask myself how bright the trees are or if I see any true silhouettes. Each scene may only have two or three visual references. Once a word is attached to an observation, it is amazing how easy it is to recollect. I am mainly concerned with accurate color. I will look at the blues in a scene and describe in mental words how blue the distant mountains are or how blue the clouds are. As well, I want to know if there is indeed cyan casts in the shadows or cyan in the sky. So many critiquers will say the sky is too cyan or the distant mountains are too blue. When I process, I watch these color casts and then make creative decisions. Should I leave the mountains as blue as I remembered them or should I mitigate the color cast to please others? Just because I recall a very blue appearance doesn't mean I will retain such. If the blue is an asset to the scene, it might stay. If the blue is a distraction, I may subdue it with a local adjustment. We all know that snow in the early morning shade is quite blue. Our eyes will automatically correct this, but the camera will record it as blue or cyan. It's up to us in PP to decide if we want it as such. If we keep the blue, then the scene will appear cold. If we balance the snow with a global adjustment, the scene will warm considerably, changing the mood entirely. I'm not saying one way is right or wrong, just acknowledging it. The same critiquers seem to be saying one way is right or wrong. I think it is purely subjective!

To reconcile WB of backround and of main subject (aspens) is very difficult, but blue dominant of far mountains well works for a natural frame. I like your thought about color management. As usual, the image is well composed, and the yellows are splendid. I agree with Lalit about comments. Honest criticism is very useful to more learn. Best regards, Antonio

Mark, nice cluster of aspen you found in front of Carson Peak.  The lone cloud balances out the left side of your frame.  Nice work.

SS

This has to be my favorite of this series. I like all of them as they have different things to offer the viewer but this one speaks to me. The light hitting the mountain peaks sets a wonderful mood for the scene. I love-love-love the sky, it is very natural looking in color and those clouds couldn't be placed more perfect! The autumnal colors are so lovely with the reds starting to peak and there is just enough green left to really highlight the seasonal color change. Really nice work Mark

Warm regards, Pamela

Thanks Antonio, Steve and Pamela! Yes, I would say this is just short of peak by about 3 to 5 days, but having the greens really sets off the changing aspens!