-- Andrew Y. Kim (andy_roo@mit.edu), November 27, 1998

Answers

I find the lighting in the shot very harsh. Aside from that, from the title, the intent is on the tree, however, the background draws the eye away from the tree. Try cropping off the far background past the mountain dome to see what I mean.

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), November 27, 1998.

I like the image. I also agree with Paul. The name points to the tree, the image does not. I would not crop the image since the movements of mountain and the tree seem to go together. Bahman.

-- Bahman Farzad (cpgbooks@mindspring.com), November 28, 1998.

I think I get it. The tree is very small (Bonsai) but this isn't quite apparent without the title. Was there anything else in the foreground that would show how small the tree actually was? I think your point was contrasting the foreground and background objects but this doesn't come across 100% clearly.

-- Warren Kato (wkato@aol.com), November 30, 1998.

Paul, if I understand your comment correctly, you're suggesting I crop about 10% of the right side. You're right, it does effectively bring the focus more to the tree by destroying the "equality" of having both the tree and Half Dome at the 1/3 positions. Thanks!

The tree is about 2 feet tall, growing in a small rock crevice. I was surprised to see it, as I rarely see even cultivated bonsai that are so convincingly miniatures of a full sized tree. I was thinking how ironic is was that from where I was sitting, the tree looks larger in scale than the enormous Half Dome in the background. Actually, I was concentrating so much on the landscape and the tree was so short that I didn't even notice it until I sat down for a break, talk about changing perspective!

Obviously, this was taken from Glacier Point in Yosemite. I had demolished my 24mm Nikkor while hiking up to Vernal Falls the day before, but I'm sort of glad now, since my usual first response is to pull out the 24mm. I think the 50mm worked well (shooting data, for what it's worth: 50mm f1.8 AF Nikkor, Nikon N90, MC-20 cable release, aperture priority at f/16, Elite II 50, resting on my backpack).

It was near noon, but the clouds were rolling and producing some remarkable light. I'd agree that the lighting on the tree is harsher than I'd like, but I like the lighting on Half Dome and wish it had stronger shadows (the clouds over there were diffusing the light), since I think it highlights the strength and majesty of these formations. I waited for a while, but then the lighting in the valley that forms the background for the tree lightened up and I wanted that dark to set off the tree, so as soon as the clouds rolled over and darkened it again, I shot.

-- Andrew Y. Kim (andy_roo@mit.edu), December 01, 1998.