Thursday, March 3, 2016

Death Valley - Yellow Ribbons

Yellow Ribbons in Death Valley

Part of improving nature and landscape photography skills is to take in all the elements of a scene that the eye sees, make sense of it all and then visualize a pleasing and interesting composition.  This means narrowing down and eliminating some of those elements and emphasizing other elements, and deciding on foreground to background elements.  Then comes deciding the f stop, shutter speed, angle, perspective or point of view, etc.  You may do this numerous times with different results.  The critical part of deciding whether you have an interesting and pleasing image that is a 'keeper' comes when you critique your images on the computer.  This is where you have to honestly determine the value of your work.  Here are a few of the many questions you could ask yourself:

Does this image tell a story?
Does this image evoke emotion?
Does this image make a statement?
Does this image show something unique or unusual?
Does this image show something common but seen in a different way? (Different light, different angle, different perspective, additional elements, etc.)

I asked the last question above about this composition.  I took lots of photos of these yellow fields of flowers along with all the other photographers in this location.  But I always try to think of what I can do to make my photos unique or different from the crowd.  I spotted this scene a ways away from where the rest of the people were taking pictures.  I liked the way the flowers looked like yellow ribbons as they reached the base of the mountain, and decided that this met the criteria of photographing something common, while including a unique element.   

 

9 comments:

Barb said...

When I look at this photo, I think "bounty!"

Mersad said...

I try to capture a scene from various angels so that I have more control in editing. But thinking ahead can save you lots of trouble and work later. Sometimes I find that the less options I have the better the shot turns out. I love your example image and the questions you ask. It's a very important part of photography.

Mersad said...

I try to capture a scene from various angels so that I have more control in editing. But thinking ahead can save you lots of trouble and work later. Sometimes I find that the less options I have the better the shot turns out. I love your example image and the questions you ask. It's a very important part of photography.

Unknown said...

Karen, it's a keeper for sure!

黄清华 Wong Ching Wah said...

The layers of deep yellow background is just fantastic.

Michelle said...

Excellent focus and layering in the background!

Stephanie said...

Excellent shot.

janc@mac.com said...

It takes the eye of an artist to see these things. Great job!

Nancy J said...

I see the perfect focus on the flower at the front, the uneven petals on some, and the hazy background, showing more yellow, but not overshadowing the main feature, which to me is the one front flower.