Heading back out of New Mexico a few weeks back. There had just been a bunch of rain/snow storms with the ground being too wet to hike back into Bisti without leaving footprints all over. So as I thought of where I could go and shoot where I wouldn't destroy the moist ground. Monument Valley came to mind. So I headed there from Bisti and caught up with the storm as it was exiting New Mexico. It made for some dramatic skies.
This one is at sunset with an almost full moon rising. Having shot this wide, the moon turned into a small dot in my image, so I did slightly enlarge it. I didn't want to go crazy, but I believe the size is pretty realistic to what I saw with my naked eye so the scene better represents as a whole what I saw.
All comments are welcome,
Jim
PS. Added a Crop. A couple people asked for a crop, though they wanted to crop off the bottom, the added photo is cropped on the left and the top. It actually was the photo I thought I was posting initially as I like the cropped version better. I hated to lose some of the sky, but I thought it made for a better overall composition.
Very pretty image Jim. I love the reflection and the diagonal created by the snow. Then there is the stunning sky. Now a little nit, the subject (title) seems odd as the moon is so insignificant.
How big will you print it?
Morris
Mar 16, 2015 at 08:22 PM
Jonathan Huynh Offline • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
NICE!!! Wow, what a gorgeous sunset to have the moon peek out from so perfectly! Well done... Got any closer-up compositions? I like the attempt at a reflection, but the rest of the foreground is just a little too busy for me mainly due to the dead foliage I guess...
You got a nice image with some lovely conditions Jim. The foreground is a little busy for me so I would have been tempted to get closer to the water (but maybe that's a no-no), or maybe crop off 1/5 from the bottom. I think you can also use some correction on the wide-angle distortion from the looks of the reflection.
matthewsaville wrote:
NICE!!! Wow, what a gorgeous sunset to have the moon peek out from so perfectly! Well done... Got any closer-up compositions? I like the attempt at a reflection, but the rest of the foreground is just a little too busy for me mainly due to the dead foliage I guess...
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Tuan Le wrote:
You got a nice image with some lovely conditions Jim. The foreground is a little busy for me so I would have been tempted to get closer to the water (but maybe that's a no-no), or maybe crop off 1/5 from the bottom. I think you can also use some correction on the wide-angle distortion from the looks of the reflection.
Hey Matt and Tuan,
Glad you both liked the shot, it was really cool and very cold to be there!
As for getting closer with the reflection, there is no way I could do that. Even as far back as I was and standing in about 6 to 8 inches of snow, my feet sunk into the wet mud below the snow about an inch or two. As I moved to the left to try and see about a reflection from that side, it was worse, I was sinking in about 3 or 4 inches. So I went back to this area, my original composition and stayed there. I definitely thought about walking forward more, but it looked even more wet. Not only did I not want to sink deeper into the mud, but more importantly, I didn't want to mess up that composition with a bunch of foot prints. Because once I did that, there would be no going backwards to shoot wide again. And also it would be ruined for anyone else who might try to shoot it in the coming days. So yeah, that's the best I could do with the reflection. Maybe I am just more in love with it, but it doesn't feel busy for me, I actually like the flow of the snow/water and how it mimicks the sky a bit.
This is a beautiful image! Gorgeous colors and reflection. I like the way the foreground has snow that tapers out to water and earth. This totally works for me!
A very nice image indeed, Jim! I like the counterpoint between the open vastness on the one hand, and the intimate moment of the moon and clouds on the other. Cool image!
Boy Jim, what a beautiful capture! It really has my eyes taking in all the color, reflections and expanse of the shot. Many natural elements encompassed in a fine frame.
Dan
