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Archive 2017 · Monument Valley

  
 
claudefiddler
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Monument Valley


Jred

I get the sense that this was seen, the car pulled over and the photo made. Cropped or not cropped the image does not have definitive movement. Cropping the foreground makes the lack of movement worse! It does eliminate the distracting foreground shapes. I don't see how moving left, right, up or down would have made this photo any better. Cropping after the fact as long as that is intentional is fine but should not be the way one works. Looking long and hard for the one best composition in my view is crucial. Thirty years of 4x5 work with one lens only, with color film only kept me from making more than one or two pictures a day on a photo trip. Even now with a digital camera I take on average less than one picture a day on an excursion.

Blown highlights or too dark shadows don't matter much if the composition is not solid. One particular part of an image being good will not make up for a photo that does not pull it all together.

The arguments for placing subjects off center is something that happens naturally if there is a movement through the picture. Your photo has hints of movement, but you have to look too hard to identify them. With the light and storm that was going on I might have looked for something with strong and definitive graphics or simply kept looking and enjoyed the show.

I have to say that I do not drive or run around looking for compositions. I spend many hours, days, weeks, years, looking at landscape photographs. I place my tripod within an inch of where it needs to be. At the time of exposure I'm concentrating on focus and exposure exclusively.

Experiencing a place is paramount in my estimation in order for anything really good to happen in a photograph.
The strong photo elicits an emotional response that goes beyond good composition, good light, nice post process, etc. This gut reaction does not happen in a snap shot or drive by shooting. Ansel Adams drove by Moonrise, Hernandez many times before he made his image. He knew exactly where to pull the car over.

This is a good photo to study, specifically looking at graphics of movement and how those are employed to create a beautiful landscape picture.

Claude



Sep 04, 2017 at 04:02 PM
Jred
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Monument Valley


Thank you Claude for you well penned thoughts, I agree and appreciate that I will have to spend a lot more time looking for compositions.


Sep 04, 2017 at 05:29 PM
KCook0
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · Monument Valley


I would have aimed the camera slightly more to the right. Even more centered.

Kelly Cook



Sep 06, 2017 at 02:27 AM
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