www.graemehird.com

Stunning light and an unusual composition. Excellent

Too much sky and too much foreground. The light is also a little flat and the shot would have benefitted from a lower sun angle

Beautiful light, but no point to hold the composition together. There is also a slight lean to the shot, where the camera was not leveled correctly.

 

The tree on the the very right of the frame should be cropped out.

What do you think? Is it a keeper?

Oh, my apologies Alexander.

Don't worry if someone else doesn't like the dark hill at the bottom - they're free to critique the shot however they see fit. I listen to what others think, but usually don't change my shot unless the suggestion is valid in my opinion. And then I only change the shot as one would in the darkroom - digital trickery is not for me.

Sometimes it's best to have the conviction of your own opinion and not be swayed by the vision of others.

Cheers,

Graeme

I don't get it Alexander. Why?

Digitally altered? Well, it has been cropped and had the contrast adjusted, then it was resized and sharpened to post here. So yes, there has been digital work done on it, but a straight scan of the neg would show the same elements of composition as you see here. If you search through my portfolio, you'll see the colour version of this image - it has had colour added and I would definitely call that digitally altered.

 

Peter, no I wasn't searching for a spot to shoot from just before the storm arrived. I have several spots already scouted and go to the most appropriate one for the storm. I use this particular hill quite often. But thanks for the words of support.

 

Cheers,

Graeme

Laura asked: I am curious though...what elevation was this shot taken at?

Kalgoorlie's elevation is about 400m above sea level and is 400km from the nearest ocean. The landscape is an old one with very little local relief. The hill I'm standing on for this shot is about 50m higher than the surrounding area and the distant horizon in this shot is about 30km away.

Cheers,

Graeme

Thankyou to the Elves for once again selecting one of my shots as photo of the week - it's a real honour to be awarded PoW for this shot.

 

There seems to be a lot of discussion about the hill in the foreground. To me, it's a very important part of the image, since it forms the anchor for the whole scene. Without it, the image is top-heavy and unbalanced. Perhaps I could have cropped a little off the bottom of it, but that was my choice at the time of cropping and I stand by that. I think it has the correct "weight" to balance out the fury of the lightning behind it.

 

There have been a few mentions of "moving closer to the crest" of the foreground hill: that can't be done. This shot was made from the top of one hill overlooking the foreground hill - moving closer puts me into the valley and the city lights won't be visible. It is also impossible to shoot from that hill itself, since it is private property and fenced off by the mining company that owns it. They will not give permission to drive to the top of it because it is being rehabilitated.

 

David, no, my tripod is metal. If the storm were close enough that I might be in danger, I'd get back in my car and drive away. No shot is worth dying for - even one that might eventually win PoW!

 

The Elves asked "Could it have been improved?". As some of you know, I own my own gallery where the general public can buy my work. When presented with a choice between this shot or the toned version of it, 99% select the colour version. So, in the eyes of the public, this shot can be improved by adding colour to the scene. I know that irks many photographers (such as you reading this now) but money talks. Incidentally, I also prefer the colour version myself - it's like the Gates of Hell have opened and an army of demons is marching on the town.

 

Cheers,

Thanks for your opinions people. I've printed as it's shown here and sold three in three days. Seems like the public are voting with their wallets - who am I to do a re-count?

Cheers,

Graeme

Should I crop the left side or not?

 

The print was made from a 5x4 tranny, so I have a decent amount of

film to play with (this is almost full film width shown here). As it

stands, the print is 31x12", so cropping and still retaining a large

print area is easy. And if I want bigger, I'll just get it drum

scanned.

 

So what do you think? Is the composition helped or hindered by the

sheet lightning emanating from the main body of the storm?

 

Graeme

Hi Back,

 

I'll contact you shortly off list, since we are now moving away from discussions about the PoW. Such off-topic discussions can become tedious for those not directly involved.

 

Regards,

Graeme

Well said Philip. My thoughts exactly.

Thanks Back Shooter. I really appreciate constructive criticism. If you would like to offer some on how you think I should improve visual understanding and design skills, I'm all ears. By no means am I putting myself forward as an expert on these skills, so your thoughts might be valuable. Contact me off list if you feel less threatened that way.

If you have no advice to offer, then I'll continue to think that your nom de plume is entirely appropriate.

GH

A great rendition of an often photographed subject. This is one of the best pictures of the Half Dome that I've seen. Well done.

 

Graeme

Back Shooter,

It's a lazy and wet Sunday morning here, so I'll come out to play with you.

Yes, this discussion is "much ado about nothing", as is nearly every discussion on the internet. A bunch of people talking about inconsequential issues always qualifies as "much ado". But those discussions give people pleasure and a way to perhaps examine their own feelings on any particular subject.

To a termite, my picture represents a free lunch, and to a dog it's an ornate urinal. It only draws the attention of people because of the passing resemblance of parts of it to faces. Indeed, I've intentionally guided people to find those faces by using a suggestive title. The picture works because of our inate ability to search for and recognise faces in the scenes about us. Ever heard of the face of Jesus in a bowl of baked beans or The Virgin Mary in a plate of scrambled eggs? Our brains are hard-wired to recognise faces. (We even see them in a colon, a minus sign and a right bracket :-) ). If the "faces" weren't hiding in the wood, it would indeed be YAWP. Turn it on it's side and it has no more impact than any other image posted here.

People like the shot, and it has given them pleasure to examine the depths for more hidden details. For those two reasons, it qualifies as a good image. When people stop and think about an image, the image works.

If you feel like you are not in the lime-light enough, Mr Shooter, might I suggest that you try to capture those faces in the clouds, then bring them to a life of fame and glory by posting the image on photo.net? You do have a camera, don't you? :)

Cheers,

Graeme

 

Nice capture Dave.

 

I think in this instance the bushes in the lower left could have been left out of the scene. They detract from the clean lines of the distant mountains. Since you would have to find a new location to shoot from, you might also find one where the lights in the bottom right were also left out. They don't really define a township, so are really just a distraction.

 

Cropping the top quarter of the image (ie making it more a panoramic aspect) would not go astray either.

 

(I think I prefer this one to the one with the lighter foreground.)

 

Regards,

Graeme

Hi Adrien,

 

Yes, I had a little chuckle when I read the comparison with Edward Weston and I thought of our earlier discussions. There must be something to your assertion after all :) The digital print looks just fine to me, so I'm not disappointed with my failure to reproduce the earlier contact print.

 

I do indeed enjoy the work I've done. I just have the feeling that I can do so much more, if I can just find the time to explore the medium more fully.

 

Jonathan,

 

I did think about toning the image with a warm hue, but that would detract from the "haunted" feeling, which many people associate with a certain coldness. Turning the image a blue hue would not work for me either, since wood is associated with earthy colours (even though this particular wood is actually bleached grey in real life).

 

So, grey it is.

 

Cheers,

 

Graeme

Joseph,

 

The image is combined from two trannies because the exposure value range from the scene greatly exceeded the tonal range of my film. If I had not used the method, the scene would have been a sunset photo with no foreground detail, or an iron shed with a blown-out sky.

 

Cheers,

Graeme

Len,

 

I chose a square aspect to crop out some unwanted details and thereby improve the composition. There was no need to weaken the image just to gain extra image area.

 

Cheers,

Graeme

Thank you Elves. I feel very honoured to have one of my images chosen as PoW. The next couple of weeks should be interesting, and I eagerly await the discussions.

Regards,

Graeme

 

Marco,

 

No sitting and waiting. When the storm approaches, I go to the most appropriate of my pre-scouted locations and set up. From there, a shot like this will take 10 minutes per exposure and I might make 3 or 4 before I chicken out (ie. the storm gets too close....). Three others I made that night worked out well too.

 

Graeme

Too much clutter ....

Depth of field too small for this particular shot. Not my cup of tea :)

???? Are you aware that we are looking at photos?