new work "Allium Nation"

Dedicated to Mike Mancil:

Not far from my home in Bakersfield, there are many opportunities to shoot a vivid sunset on short notice. I would rather be shooting this whopper of a sunset along the Big Sur Coast or from Olmstead Point in Yosemite, but I'll make use of these farmland scenes in a pinch when time is short. For over a month, I had passed this field of Allium, basically onion seed head stalks. The bulbous nature of the seed heads intrigued me and I thought this would make not only an interesting shot, but perhaps even magical. When the opportunity came as high thin clouds ushered into the valley region, I shot out to this spot without hesitation. The reward was an almost unearthly appearance of "coke fizzle bubbles" or "floating jellyfish"! Thanks for your observations!!

Dedicated to my friend, Mike Mancil! Thanks for having a look and offering

your thoughts. Please consider the Larger preview!!

Beautiful capture Mark,

Small comment would be to get rid of the light 'or whatever' poles in the distance.

7/7 for me anyway!!!

This onions part is so interesting,I have my self one image with it,most of people didn't know how nice can be this simple inflorescence flower,contrast with sunset colors gives another dimension to this,I like it.

Thank you!  My day is made and it's barely started.  I'm not sure I would have thought of Coke bubbles, but it's certainly a beautiful mixture of surreal and real with the unearthly looking pods and the trees with an apparent farm beyond (remember Superman grew up on a farm)... ;-).  As always superb light treatment and presentation...  Mike

What an intriguing landscape, made especially so by the profusion of green stems and round pincushion heads.  The light is handled exceptionally well throughout the frame.

Mark,  I like this a lot. It appears to be an onion world.  While I like the image as it is, I tinkered with the white balance on the allium.  My doing so is just out of curiosity.  See if you like this version.  Best to you.  Larry

Brilliant work, Mark.  Your coloring is the magical element.

Beautiful.

I've always loved Allium....we call it the pin cushion flower.  When I click on the large view of your image, the detail in the flower heads is amazing!   A sea of allium is beautiful enough on its own, but the sunset puts this in another realm.  And since the blue flowers are so prominent, I love your choice of coloration with an emphasis on blues and purples.  A real beauty!

Awesome photo! Just simply awesome!

In regards to one of the comments, I find it odd and maybe offensive that one would take another person's photo, tweak it, and then ask them what they think of it. 

Andrew, that's a controversial topic.  Some folks advocate just giving a detailed verbal description of the suggestion (often thinking that way the photographer can have the privilege of discovering how to do the modification and to what extent), while others, taking a cue from the adage "a picture is worth a thousand words," offer a photo version of their suggestion.  On the other side, some photographers object while others don't mind.  And as an aside, I generally find that I personally prefer roughly 80% of the original versions of those for which a photo suggestion has been offered.

Just Beautiful

Mark you are a talented photographer and you have some magnificent images here at photo.net. I suppose you can`t hit the jackpot every time.  The floral area is a bit too blue but i would not go quite so far as Larry. I don`t get a sense of clarity especially in the foreground.  I have noted that you used f16 to eke out more depth of field but diffraction may be stirring up the pot. Would have f8 been better with some focus stacking while gaining a faster shutter speed? 

fine work!! like♥♥♥ regards,Pekka :)

My own $0.02 regarding the slight blue in the foreground and somewhat muted colors (most notable when compared to an edited version):  This scene is near sunset, and I expect the colors to be muted -- night is approaching.  Yes, the scene can be brightened and the colors made more bold, but then (to my eye and IMO) the photograph starts to lose that which gives it an end-of-day feeling.  The overall sense of a day winding down is more important to me than onions as they would appear earlier in the day, and I'm not looking for excitement in the sky -- I want to get ready for bed or at least settle in an easy chair and read a good book.  Mark's original imparts that feeling to me.

I am very familiar with these sights of farmland in California; these fields go on forever. Your capture of this field is both elegant and magical. Beautiful color and composition; very well done. Thank you for sharing. :)

greeat great picture, great tones. 

Very simple but most beautiful.  Sharp details, excellent color and interesting foreground.  Well composed.  Best Regards,