I am interested mainly in opinions about the compositions of these images. I have wide, wider and even wider images and then an image that required an ultrawide lens and panorama stitching. At this point I am still trying to decide on the composition. I haven't thought much about processing and these were done quickly. I know I need to spend some more thought and time on better processing.

The arch is bigger in the first - a good element, but the composition seems awkward. The composition of the second is better, but could probably be strengthened with a careful crop. The third is OK but not as strong as the second. The pano is the strongest because the pool and the arch share a visual motif, but it would also benefit from a crop to emphasize the visual echo of the arch in the pool:

2nd is my favorite, probably because I dislike squarish images.

But the pano does get all the pool which I like. Karens crop is better, but maybe even more.

Pretty much in agreement with Karen, except that I prefer 3 over 2.
As Karen pointed out, a strong compositional element is the successful echoing of shapes in the foreground pool and distant arch.

Scott

Thanks for the input.

I often find it difficult to be objective especially for images like these where setting up a composition was difficult because of the rough ground and dropoffs.

I like image #1 because it was the most realistic and the bridge was of reasonable size. #2 I like because of the curving line. It seems that #4 is the most liked image. I do like the composition but have some difficulty because the wide angle has caused such distortions. The foreground appears to be a small stream pouring into a small lake. Actually the foreground stream was nothing more than a very small trickle of water. With the help of an ultra wide lens and panorama stitching I may have created an interesting composition, but it is very poor in representing the actual scene.

Nice images. I think I prefer the pano shot.

I was there on new years day, and the creek was frozen. And I was back there in June, and the creek was completely dry. So no reflections either time that I went, unfortunately.

Camperjim wrote:
I may have created an interesting composition, but it is very poor in representing the actual scene.

Odd because it's the pano that is the image that transports me there most. For me it conveys the best 'sense of place'. I don't know whether this is despite or because of the distortions.
(I hadn't even noticed the stream coming in until you'd mentioned it!)

HiredGoon wrote:
Nice images. I think I prefer the pano shot.

I was there on new years day, and the creek was frozen. And I was back there in June, and the creek was completely dry. So no reflections either time that I went, unfortunately.


I guess I was lucky. This is an image from the second week of June 2012. It was just short of 100 degrees and had not rained since who knows when. I was also lucky enough to also get water reflections for Sipapu and Kachina.