Autumn

This scene for me is the perfect analogy of the road we travel in

life. We have a general sense of where we're going, but never really

know what's expecting us beyond our often limited vision. I welcome

your comments.

Yes, it's a very good one. What would you think of cropping it like this?

fantastic image.

 

crop is spot on, i was thinking the same myself. i was almost disapointed when i scrolled down to find someone else had suggested it!!!

crop looks much better - I would like to see this one as a square

 

RGDS

Nice perspective and great color.

Yes, nice fall landscape. But it's better to crop off this white spot in upper right. Square format also works.

Very good work!

I like the photo alot. I have been driving around here in Bellingham Washington looking for shots like this. I like the original over the crop too. Gives a perspective of distance.

Late

Come on guys why would you crop this so severly when we have such a beautiful photograph to begin with.

I have to say I much prefer the original, the sense of being led into the photo is greatly diminished when you remove so much of the road, something which is all the more important given Margaret's description of how it reminds her of our life long journey.

The cropped image seems much flatter having had most of it's depth cropped off the bottom. If you have to crop anything then I agree that the sky should go but personally I wouldn't change it at all.

I personally feel as the cropping would not only make it lacking the "lead in" element but the composition would become less dinamic and common.I find some simularities in our 2 last shots :)) emptiness and space surranded by the tall elements. Surly it is coincidential and may not look very obviouse to many..but it seems a bit too me. PK .

Outstanding Shot!! I prefer the longer look up the road with no crop.

Great shot Margaret. I like how that road disappears before taking over the picture; and the colors are wonderful.

What Ben said, and the sky serves to balance out all the road in the bottom left corner of the frame. Beautiful picture!

Yes, I agree with Ben, cropped bottom made no sense here, so I probably was not right abour square format. However, I disagree about his balancing suggestion. This white fragment on the top just detracts attention and creates disbalance. Not heavily, but still...Cropping its off might help, I suspect. Another option would be burning this piece of sky, add more density. Again just my guess about what can improve the composition, I may be wrong. Nevertheless, absolutely agree that it's beautiful as is.

Wow, thank you all for your great comments! I will address your points as much as possible. Firstly, I actually took 2 different shots of this road. In the one I didn't post, I had moved in closer simulating the crop that some of you had suggested. I ended up choosing this one precisely for the reason that Joey, Ben and Piotr pointed out. The curve of the road gives a greater sense of perspective, depth and feeling that the road has been "traveled". The crop imho makes the image all around less interesting.

Piotr, the coincidence is rather striking about your latest post as well, isn't it? Great minds think alike? LOL ;-) I will get to yours shortly..

As for the bit of white sky, well.. it was cloudy and rainy almost the entire time that I was there, so I was at the mercy of the weather. However, this did help bring out more saturated colors in the leaves so all is not lost. I could've used PS to cheat but instead I chose to retain the integrity of the original capture. All I did was adjust contrast/levels and make sure the colors were restored to original from the scan.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to comment on this photo!

I'm a bit late for my comments but here they are anyway. One of the first things I learned when I bought my first camera and took photography fairly seriously was some basic assets for composition. One of the things virtually every book suggests is the use of an "S curve" winding into the scene. Hacking off, (excuse me...cropping off) the bottom of this shot robs it of a very basic artistic asset. Second thing is the crop job robs this marvelous picture of its depth. He who sees ugly blacktop and misses the depth of the scene misses some of the art of this image. One more thing: you did good, Maragaret, by not taking the crest of the road to the center of the frame. In my less-than-professional opinion, leave this picture as is. It's teeming with perspective and design. Cheers!

wow! this is a picture perfect road. where is this? i would like to pollute this road with the sound of my 83porsche. great shot. composition is excellent. disregard the crop.

I agree with Certo. No crop is necessary. I tried both crop ideas from others, cutting top and bottom...In my opinion, our life's journey is not like a framed square picture, but with grey sky and bumpy road...I enjoyed this photo, and watched long time...and I still like it...Thanks Margaret...Very well done.

Love the original uncropped version..

Margaret, nice one - i go for uncropped version, the three lines provides the leading perspective, imo just right... no more, no less :)

i like the uncropped version better,because of the right and left bend.greets

Thanks for your kind comments and keen observations. You've allowed me to see things I hadn't noticed before. Hoon, I like your analogy to the bumps & "cracks" in life's road :)) Good one.

This road is in a small town called St-Adolphe d'Howard in Quebec. I'm sure you would enjoy burning some rubber on this road, but you might frighten the squirrels.. ;-)

Very good use of the 50mm, keep the image as is.

do not crop....looks great as is......