wind river canyon

No HDR aside...thoughts?

Hi Tiffany, looks like a hazy, hot, mid afternoon at the canyon. No doubt a spectacular site (and sight) that can be difficult to capture where one often has little choice of location.

 

I might have, in addition to what you've captured, tried a landscape orientation to get that wider angle view, and maybe several shots in a horizontal sequence to stitch later as a panorama (it's easy - Google AutoStitch).

 

The haze and brown foreground vegetation makes this picture a little flat. Tone mapping might be an option; I tried B/W instead, then used the B/W as the luminance layer to increase the color contrast. It's maybe a bit over done but does illustrate the intent. :-)

Thank you Michael. I really appreciate the feedback. It seems really hard to get these days. I am not (obviously) a landscape photographer but it is an area that I would like to stretch out in. I am studying other landscapes to see what works visually for me. With the shadowed mountains on the left and a highway to the right...the vertical perspective seemed best. By tonal mapping...are you referring to using the tone layers? I am on ELEMENTS 5.0...so I don't know if I have all the resources. If the answer is yes....I did do that. I added the sky as well. You nailed my number one complaint about all my landscape shots.....FLAT. Trying to get the depth that I want without oversaturated colors is challenging. I am still shooting JPEG which I know is an issue....but due to size limits on my computer I haven't started down the RAW road. Again...I really appreciate the feedback.

Tiffany, I'm no expert in landscape work and my early interest in the area has been channeled elsewhere, so take my comments with a few bags of salt. :-)

 

I think successful landscape photography usually results from a committed approach where a site is targeted and often repeatedly visited to be captured in its full glory. The odds of getting a good picture from a random visit becomes more a case of chance and luck unless one is armed with visualization experience - seeing in ones mind's eye how a scene will appear in its final form.

 

In this picture, I see a shot taken at a moment which was not particularly optimal in lighting and atmospheric conditions - two important attributes. The Composition is of course a matter of individual taste, but to my eye, it's a bit too busy made worse by the drab colors of the excessive (dead grass) brown. This is where I might have taken as many documentary shots as possible, knowing the odds of getting a prize shot is slim, to study the results for future opportunities. Even staying at the spot for an hour or two to study the live scene would have paid dividends, although not always practical if photography was an incidental affair.

 

This image can be reworked in many ways as a learning exercise, and there's no harm in trying every possible technique including HDR and Tone Mapping.

Great insights Michael. I know that Ansel Adams would set up shots for days. Of course I have seen a lot of pretty awesome "drive by" shots too. With images like your tree and windmill...the repeated visit school of thought make sense. I would have no problem going back to this spot again and spending some time there. Unfortunately...I may have to wait a year. Wyoming surprised me by being one of the most beautiful states I have been through.