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Archive 2013 · Morning Lupines - Utah

JustinPoe
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Morning Lupines - Utah

This was by far the hardest shot I've tried to process. I wouldn't have even tried except I got really good light right before sunrise. There was a slight breeze that was really making it hard to shoot these flowers, especially close up.

Andy, got a much better shot than I did a week ago in the same field:
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1222985/0#lastmessage

So, I have a love hate relationship for this photo. I usually do a pretty good job getting moving flowers decently sharp with the help of focus stacking in Photoshop, but this scene I had to do completely by hand with multiple images, which is why it doesn't look great.

Jun 30, 2013 at 12:17 PM

ben egbert
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Morning Lupines - Utah

I like it alot. nice job on capture and processing a very difficult scene.

Just got back from the Brighten area, a few flowers near the top (Heber side) but none of these beauties.

Jun 30, 2013 at 12:29 PM

Justin Grimm
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Morning Lupines - Utah

I think this shot gives a great first impression, but like you said it could use some fine tuning. I was talking with Ryan Dyar about his techniques shooting wildflowers and he suggested pumping up the ISO until the flowers are frozen, then using typical lower ISOs for the rest of the scene. Sometimes shots just won't work as perfect huge prints, but by pumping up the iso at least you'll have something to show off online

Other then the moving flowers, I think the composition could be improved by giving a little more room on the bottom right.

Jun 30, 2013 at 12:46 PM

harshaj1
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Morning Lupines - Utah

This looks good. Pleasing scene.I have used high ISO to freeze the scene as Justin describes and it works well at times. How about cloning out some of the blurry flowers?
Harsha

Jun 30, 2013 at 12:56 PM

aFeinberg
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Morning Lupines - Utah

Outside of needing a better blend, maybe crop some off the left as it's a bit empty over there. Would also balance the lupine in the photo better. Nice light!

aF

Jun 30, 2013 at 03:01 PM

ben egbert
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Morning Lupines - Utah

Well it just goes to show. I never noticed the blurred flowers probably because my eyes have a matching blur

Jun 30, 2013 at 03:03 PM

stanparker
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Morning Lupines - Utah

The blur doesn't jump out at you (me!) and the overall impression is very good.

Jun 30, 2013 at 03:25 PM

andyjaggy82
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Morning Lupines - Utah

Nice Justin, the soft pre-sunrise light works really well with those flowers. I haven't processed my shots from that morning yet.

I wouldn't crop off the left, I think the flowers need a little room to breath, and I like the other blue flowers in the background.

Jul 01, 2013 at 09:35 AM

nikon65
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Morning Lupines - Utah

I think this is a great photo. Really nice light. I'd love to have this image.

Todd

Jul 01, 2013 at 10:52 AM

Ben Horne
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Morning Lupines - Utah

Many of the others have given some great suggestions, but I have one more thing that I don't think anyone else has commented on. I feel the image needs some CW rotation based on the clouds. The clouds should be parallel with the true horizon, and the clouds off to the right seem heavily tilted. I find with my own work that often times a strong foreground element will make me feel the shot is level when I'm shooting it, but once I get it on the computer, I realize that it was an optical illusion, and that it was far from level. In this case, you have the strong arch of flowers in the foreground that makes it feel very solid, but when I take a look at those clouds in the background, it feels really tilted and that gives a bit of an uneasy feeling.

Jul 01, 2013 at 11:36 AM

Jeffrey
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Morning Lupines - Utah

First impression is excellent, but I agree with Ben, and additionally, the wide angle convergence is killing this for me. Instead of point the camera downwards, try to keep it more level to avoid the leaning trees and lupine. Especially the lupine which should mostly be standing straight.

Jul 01, 2013 at 11:43 AM

JustinPoe
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Morning Lupines - Utah

Ben Horne wrote:
Many of the others have given some great suggestions, but I have one more thing that I don't think anyone else has commented on. I feel the image needs some CW rotation based on the clouds. The clouds should be parallel with the true horizon, and the clouds off to the right seem heavily tilted. I find with my own work that often times a strong foreground element will make me feel the shot is level when I'm shooting it, but once I get it on the computer, I realize that it was an optical illusion, and that it...Show more →

Interesting, I'm usually pretty sensitive to a tilted horizon, but I'm just not seeing it.

The scene was somewhat tricky to get level I suppose. I actually ended up using the D800's internal leveling on this one.

Justin Grimm wrote:
I think this shot gives a great first impression, but like you said it could use some fine tuning. I was talking with Ryan Dyar about his techniques shooting wildflowers and he suggested pumping up the ISO until the flowers are frozen, then using typical lower ISOs for the rest of the scene. Sometimes shots just won't work as perfect huge prints, but by pumping up the iso at least you'll have something to show off online

Other then the moving flowers, I think the composition could be improved by giving a little more room on the bottom right.

Justin, I was thinking that exact same thing as I was shooting the scene "well.. this will never be a huge print, but it will look nice online"

What Ryan Dyar suggested is exactly what I usually do. This scene was more challenging than most though.
I was shooting at 3200 ISO and f/2.8. I had to focus stack the flowers with 2 shots at those settings, then I shot at f/16 at ISO 100 to get the rest of the scene in focus. The hard part is blending the f/2.8 shots, since the flowers were blowing back and forth, they don't match up perfectly.

Jul 01, 2013 at 12:29 PM

andyjaggy82
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Morning Lupines - Utah

I usually judge how level things are by if the tree trunks are standing vertically, and while you do have some wide angle convergence going on, for the most part they look straight up and down. If you were to rotate the scene cw to get the clouds level the tree trunks would be like 10-15 degrees to the right.

Jul 01, 2013 at 12:50 PM

dgdg
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Morning Lupines - Utah

Your pain is my gain. Thanks for sharing. Lovely photo. Maybe with a bit of cloning, you can remove those ghosts.

Jul 01, 2013 at 01:17 PM

dasams
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Morning Lupines - Utah

Jeffrey wrote:
and additionally, the wide angle convergence is killing this for me. Instead of point the camera downwards, try to keep it more level to avoid the leaning trees and lupine. Especially the lupine which should mostly be standing straight.

Agreed as the diverging verticals kills it for me. Could you have stood further back, leveled the camera and then cropped the bottom or perhaps used PC (shift) lens? Otherwise a beautiful composition

Dave

Jul 01, 2013 at 02:27 PM

Phrasikleia
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Morning Lupines - Utah

A nice patch of lupine with a good peak in the background as a distant point of interest. I especially like the tones and the level of luminosity for the flowers (not overly glowy or vibrant). The comp is somewhat right-heavy with the lupine leaning into the LR corner and the sun going down on that same side of the frame. As for the wide-angle convergence...it's sometimes an exciting effect, but tends to work less well when trees are involved. I actually like how it makes the flowers and grass splay outwards, but the rational side of my brain wants those distant trees to stand upright. One solution to retain the same perspective and reduce distortion would be to shoot a series of verticals (to point higher and use less of the edges of the lens) and then stitch them, with lots of cropping afterwards, of course. With moving subjects like flowers, you'd be in for a painful bout of processing that way, but it could potentially work out.

Jul 02, 2013 at 08:22 AM

yakiman
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Morning Lupines - Utah

I like this shot very much. It has realism.

I like the blurred Lupine and I think a little more blurring would make the shot even more distinctive; more dynamic. It makes me wonder what the shot looks like without the focus stacking.

I also like your comp. If you positioned the Lupine in the exact center it would make the scene look static. It's asymmetrical and causes my eye to move to the lower RH corner and then back to the center. This creates a bit of tension and adds interest for me.

I also like the fact that you caught the light in the Lupine which sets them apart from the darker surrounding area.

Keep up the good work!

Jul 02, 2013 at 02:35 PM

nugeny
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Morning Lupines - Utah

This is a great shot. classic! But, I kind of prefer your previous one. It ids more dramatic.

Jul 11, 2013 at 12:41 PM


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