Monday, April 23

Not Done This Before - Hulp!

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Here's a second in the Ephrata Cloister series from yesterday morning. This is the first time I've attempted a pastoral image. I was after that sort of dreamy look you see when, through sleep misted eyes you peer out upon the sun rising's first rays sparkling from the grassy morning dew. That early heat generates wispy fog which glows with the light's earliest color.

At least that's what's there when a good pastoralist makes it happen. I tried to hush the sun's worst glare with the orchard's limbs. And the entire image was intended to represent the very earliest spring painting the scene. Now... How could this be done better? Suggestions?

Whoa! Lookit this
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I posted the original above on the Canon Photography On The Net forum. JSimonian suggested these changes. I think they are terrific. Whoa! Who would've believed that a sunrise could look better without the sun? Plus you will note the suggested crops, particularly on the left where a small amount of useless information simply distracted the eye. I'm really so pleased with this. Any comments?

3 comments:

Andreas said...

Rethoric question, aye? My first impulse was "this upper third is too red", and then I took the red out of it and it was not too bad, and then I reread your specification and knew, at that time of day the sky would be quite red and, squinting into the sun, one would see an enormous amount of red, and then I closed Photoshop and knew it was good :)

Fine image, mission achieved, as always.

Andreas

Andreas said...

Interesting. It is good and it is most probably a better image, but it definitely is a different image about different things. The original was about the subjective impression of the sun, and this one is much more about the perspective.

I like both, and the new version may be much more perfect at solving its problem, but the problem in the first version is way harder to solve. If it were my image, my heart would hang at #1 :)

Andreas

mcmurma said...

I am right there with Andreas on this one. Both are good, but they are very different images even though they come from the same capture.

Since I did not view these images seperately (well, at different times anyway) I have unique opportunity to see which I like better! Hmm.

Well, number 2 is fine, but I must also go with the 1rst version. In the first version there is a whole lot more image to digest but there is nothing rough about it. No harsh lines (unless you count the sun) and the whole image has kind of soft and misty morning feel. It's familiar and comforting. In the second there is a much more intimate look at the structure on the right, as if it plays a crucial role in the image rather than being more a part of the whole.

It is interesting that even the second image contains a small sunkiss at the base of the tree, center left. They both do a fine job of giving the impression of early morning, cause even you can;t see the sun directly, you know its there.