Tetons Sunset

[bulldurham]

 

[bulldurham]

It's not haze, it's pure light washing across the face of the peaks.

 

[bulldurham]

Bump...I do not understand why it is so hard to get a response in the B&W forum...

 

[jcdeboever]

It's rather boring to be honest. People may not be responding because you tend to be very critical and harsh in your comments with people learning. You do not pay attention to these people normally and all of a sudden you crush them with your comments, right or wrong. Then on top of that, you can not balance your knowledge and insult supporting members (you have no idea how much they support). So do you need kid gloves? Nope, just better common sense, sensitivity, and the appearance of a true desire to help someone improve. You just did that perfectly in my healthy thread mum. There are various levels here and you are in the lower to middle part I suspect based on what I have seen. Think about where you were a year into photography as me? You may want to consider asking for critique because the more I learn, the more I see whats wrong with your images.

Oh, and you don't have to post inferior images either.

 

[Causapscal]

Sorry, the picture is overexposed and lacks contrast. Black and white is not dark grey and light grey.

 

[bulldurham]

You crack me up. You post on a forum and ask for critique then take the critique personal. Really. The picture is not overexposed nor does it lack contrast, Causapscal. Have a look at the histogram. JCD you would have never survived one of my classes. I taught in an International program, named the Photography Teacher of the Year, USA two years running and had a 94.6 pass rate over a period of 17 years. All film and Alternative processes for the first 8 years before we moved into digital which still only accounted for 25% of their grade. I critiqued my students (said exactly what was wrong and directed them toward what was right) exactly the same way I critique everyone on here because the schedule to which we had to comply there was little time for niceties; I gave out the kudos in the grading folder. My students knew going in I wasn't a warm fuzzy kind of guy but they also knew that if they wanted to attend the better photography schools in the country, this was an avenue. They took it on the chin and they learned. Over the course of 17 years I placed over 270 students in schools like RISD, SCAD, Ringling, Art Center School, Haystack, UMass...yadda, yadda, yadda on full ride scholarships.

Do I know everything..not hardly, but rather than whine about a critique, harsh or sweet, I endeavor to move forward every day. You might want to give that some thought. But to alleviate any further anxiety from one future critiques, I shall make doubly sure not to ever critique you again. Learn from Causapscal as he seems to know what he's talking about. Just as an aside, with the exception of one really good filmmaking professor in college, I cannot say I liked many of them., I found most to be very harsh, and demeaning and at times quite full of themselves but I LEARNED something from every one of them.

If you are going to take critiques personally, then why post at all? Oh, and all that crap you hear about the best way to critique...I suggest you not do graduate work.

 

[waday]

It's rather boring to be honest.

I agree with this.

While I wasn't there, you mention this was an evening shot (edited from morning to evening). So, I'm thinking warm colors, nice colorful trees, golden/green fields in front of the building, probably a nice rustic color to the building...

But, instead, it is black and white, taking away all that interest. What vision did you have when you converted it to B&W (assuming it's digital)? Also, I'm not sure what the subject should be? The building, the mountains, the trees in the field? Maybe it's the crop that's throwing me off, I don't know? But when I look at it, my eyes dart all over, and I lose interest quickly.

But, take my comments with a grain of salt, because I'm not a professional.

 

[bulldurham]

And boring is fine..I didn't ask for anything other than a response. I converted because I didn't think the light translated as well in color as it did in the B&W version. In color the light looks more like haze and that's what I was trying to avoid.

 

[sw_]

My eyes just don't rest anywhere. In my mind I want to explore the nooks and crannies of the peaks but that depth is lost with "haze" light. It is understandable though, we had this same light issue at grand canyon on Sunday. That's my 2 cents, so grab another 4.98 and you can get a small coffee lol.

 

[MSnowy]

You crack me up. You post on a forum and ask for critique then take the critique personal. Really. The picture is not overexposed nor does it lack contrast, Causapscal. Have a look at the histogram. JCD you would have never survived one of my classes. I taught in an International program, named the Photography Teacher of the Year, USA two years running and had a 94.6 pass rate over a period of 17 years. All film and Alternative processes for the first 8 years before we moved into digital which still only accounted for 25% of their grade. I critiqued my students (said exactly what was wrong and directed them toward what was right) exactly the same way I critique everyone on here because the schedule to which we had to comply there was little time for niceties; I gave out the kudos in the grading folder. My students knew going in I wasn't a warm fuzzy kind of guy but they also knew that if they wanted to attend the better photography schools in the country, this was an avenue. They took it on the chin and they learned. Over the course of 17 years I placed over 270 students in schools like RISD, SCAD, Ringling, Art Center School, Haystack, UMass...yadda, yadda, yadda on full ride scholarships.

Do I know everything..not hardly, but rather than whine about a critique, harsh or sweet, I endeavor to move forward every day. You might want to give that some thought. But to alleviate any further anxiety from one future critiques, I shall make doubly sure not to ever critique you again. Learn from Causapscal as he seems to know what he's talking about. Just as an aside, with the exception of one really good filmmaking professor in college, I cannot say I liked many of them., I found most to be very harsh, and demeaning and at times quite full of themselves but I LEARNED something from every one of them.

If you are going to take critiques personally, then why post at all? Oh, and all that crap you hear about the best way to critique...I suggest you not do graduate work.

I was just thinking the other day how soft TPF has become. When I started photography 6 years ago I would come on here and get great critique from experienced photographers . Unfotunately most of them have moved on from here. They were very direct and to the point. Did I always like it no, but it pushed me to get better. The last 6 months or so I've noticed a lot of flattering comments for very substandard images. Telling people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear won't make them any better. I appreciate the way you critique, to the point with no bs.

 

[waday]

What about using dehaze on a gradient filter?

 

[bulldurham]

Possible...but not sure the image is worth that much work. I'll have to open it in the Cloud version as mine doesn't have the dehaze feature.

 

[Tim Tucker]

Just chiming in. I think the B@W conversion is good and also see what you're trying to do which is quite difficult.

The main problem is keeping scale and depth together. You can use a wide angle, but then your foreground is large and your mountains become small and distant. Then you could use a longer lens, and although this keeps the scale of small foreground and large mountains it also introduces another problem.

Our bi-nocular vision really only works at it's most effective at closer distances. We therefore see near objects as having more '3D'. Far objects tend to be percieved as flat and their sense of scale and distance is because we have a direct comparison with the foreground. However when you use longer lenses and isolate the background to maintain the scale of the mountains you also isolate the distance from any foreground reference. Then it is difficult to imply a sense of depth.
I like the way you've kept the impression of light to enhance this, but there's no sense of rhythm in the image. The foreground barn is not the central point in the image as you're trying to draw the eye to the distance, and the distant mountains are random. You have a nice tension between the barn and the trees in the field, so have you considered trying to balance the distant skyline and just seeing how the foreground pans out (it also brings the foreground closer without changing the perspective)?

BTW, B&W is scales of grey and actually rarely B&W, and I don't mind your style, though I do think you've got it wrong on a couple of occasions. ;-)

 

[Advanced Photo]

In my mind a sunset should blaze with fire. This just fizzles.
If it was pure light washing across the faces of the mountains, the image doesn't capture that, it looks hazy and faded.
Wouldn't be a great print, IMO.

 

[bulldurham]

It is a grand print...but it is one where I did clone out the ranch house and did some dehazing. I'm working on another image I took moments later where the sun finally dipped behind a more distant peak. We'll see.