Awesome shots Mark - the long exposures provide a very unique look to these photos. I agree with aF that your greens are lacking something - that green looks more like a muted tropical and not the vivid neon North West in my opinion. Well done and that rented 5D II is probably the same one I rented a couple of months ago. Good ole' ProPhoto Supply
realkuhl wrote:
Awesome shots Mark - the long exposures provide a very unique look to these photos. I agree with aF that your greens are lacking something - that green looks more like a muted tropical and not the vivid neon North West in my opinion. Well done and that rented 5D II is probably the same one I rented a couple of months ago. Good ole' ProPhoto Supply
Thanks EVERYONE for their responses. I am a bit caught up at the moment and will get back to responding to some of the other comments soon.
Hi John. Thanks very much for responding. I agree with you and Aaron both. The greens of the NW are so nuclear, often people will have a hard time believing that they can look that way. I consciously decided to hold back a little. I felt that if I took them any further some people might think they were embellished. So, my goal was to take them up to the line that might appeal to both parties (those sort of purist types who don't like over saturated colors, and those folks that love vivid velvia'ish colors). In the past I gravitated toward the latter, so my goal was to be a little conservative this time. The prints on the other hand, will have more vivid pop, due the wonderful saturated qualities of Fuji Flex Silver Halide paper. Often Peter Lik gets a lot of slack for pumping up his colors (and I don't know what he does) but from my experience that paper packs a punch. If you guys think I was too conservative, well that it an east fix! I can always grab that green slider!
Again, thanks for your appreciated critique, comments and time.
BTW, I used Lens Rentals.com www.lensrentals.com They were a pleasure to work with in every respect.
I do absolutely love Pro Photo Supply in Portland, and did use them for a few things, but for 1 week of rental, one camera and 4 lenses, LensRentals.com was a lot cheaper.
Mark,
#5 Cape Kiwanda is awesome ! Nice job on that one, really like the composition a lot - makes you feel your right there in all the action. Keep it up.
Nick
Mark,
Now that you have me in a trance, I'm going to come to Oregon, I'm going to come to Oregon, I'm going to come to Oregon, I'm going to come to Oregon.
Lynn
Lynn Ross wrote:
Mark,
Now that you have me in a trance, I'm going to come to Oregon, I'm going to come to Oregon, I'm going to come to Oregon, I'm going to come to Oregon.
Lynn
Yessss! Thanks for bumping this up... I was wondering when I was going to get to see the fruits of your trip. Really lovely Mark, you've nailed the longer exposure technique. The first two are easily my favorites, but they're all super!
Only nit is the sky in #5 on the horizon in the left looks a little 'cooked' - it seems too dark, that's the sun lighting up some sky there right? What often works for me in that scenario is to process it light, but add a lot of saturation just to that brighter area. Anyways, small nit on a great set.
Milan Hutera wrote:
Really good stuff Mark, I like first 3 a lot. I also like 5 and 6. I think 7 would be even better if you'd included a bit more of water.
Milan,
Thank you so much for your feedback here. You know, you are right, I would have included more water if I would have known how nice it would turn out! With those long (10 minutes here) kinds of exposures you never really know what you are going to get, and sometimes the movement in the clouds sends the shots over the top. I was very surprised the sky moved so little in 10 minutes! Had I known that, yes the water would have been emphasised instead!
!!! 
Had I known that, yes the water would have been emphasised instead!