Taken near the Holgate cabin, Holgate arm of the Kenai Fjords in Alaska. Pentax ZX-5, SMC-FA 50mm F1.7 lens, Bogen tripod and ball head, on either Provia or Velvia.

-- Mark Erickson (maericks@netcom.com), March 25, 1999

Answers

Once again, I am a bonehead and posted the wrong link. The correct image is

-- Mark Erickson (maericks@netcom.com), March 25, 1999.

Very nice Mark, I like this kind of image - soft light and a simple composition of a subject that is often too busy. Makes me think of spring, still a month and a half away here in Alaska.

The plants around the cones are Five-leaf Bramble (rubus pedatus) of the family Rosaceae - the cones themselves are those of the Sitka Spruce (picea sitchensis).

-- Hans Buchholdt (hans.buchholdt@sealaska.com), March 25, 1999.

Personally I like the top image a lot more, what a wonderful sky! The bottom image needs something more for a subject, the cones do not stand out enough for the composition to have any strength (IMO). Perhaps trying them in different locations or concentrating more on the cones would bring them out more.

-- Altaf Shaikh (nissar@idt.net), March 25, 1999.

Nice images. I think the cone picture is very well done. I too like its simple composition.

I think there is too much sky in the top image. IMO there isn't enough cloud formation to make the sky interesting, so I prefer a horizontal composition.

-- Shun Cheung (shun@worldnet.att.net), March 26, 1999.

You've done a very nice job on the intended cones post. Very pleasing simple composition. Good lighting. Good work!

-- Garry Schaefer (schaefer@pangea.ca), March 26, 1999.

re. the "cones" image- upon further examination i will stick by my initial reaction, which was "...beautiful". besides the nice soft colors and pleasant shapes, i like the symmetry (sp.?) of the 3 sitka pine cones, and the little flowers add another nice element. thanks for posting it. greg

-- Greg Rothschild (gnr@toast.net), March 26, 1999.

The cones image is beautifully and simply elegant. I would be proud to have it in my portfolio (it does resemble a lot of my close-up work).

My only question is regarding exposure: the image appears a bit light, maybe a 1/2 stop overexposed, if it is Velvia. I hope the slide is just a bit darker to hold details in the white flowers. This is an easy situation to meter for exposure - almost all mid-tones in soft light, so, if all your Velvia images are this light, I suggest that you check your meter.

Frank

-- Frank Kolwicz (bb389@lafn.org), March 26, 1999.

Frank,

Blame brightness-darkness on the scan. The original slide is clean, saturated, and I think that the exposure was right on. The PhotoCD scan was a little funky, so I tried to do a little color brightness/contrast adjustment with somewhat mixed results. Thanks for the otherwise positive feedback!

-- Mark Erickson (maericks@netcom.com), March 26, 1999.

I think the cones are a nice but I think that you have to create more a sense intimincy (sp?) by cropping in a little closer around the edges with these kinds of shots. Otherwise they tend to look like a a collection or pile of objects. By cropping in you get a sense of dividing the space with the object. The background and foreground (subject) seem to be more in balance.

Its the same with taking a picture of somebody. Take a close picture from the neck up but cut of the top part of the head. The picture is more intimate. The eyes and the face stand out. Step further back and get the top of the head and some of the background in, and then the intimincy is lost.

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), March 27, 1999.

Just curious, did you find the cones this way, or did you arrange them this way? To be honest, I don't find this a very interesting picture, in fact, I keep looking at it because of all the positive comments, and just can't "see it". Perhaps it's me...

-- Andreas Carl (andreas@physio.unr.edu), April 01, 1999.

Andreas,

As far as I recall, I found the cones, set up my tripod, and took the pic. As far as the interest in the picture goes, it certainly doesn't have a "reach out and grab the viewer" showstopping quality to it.

I found the contrast between the rusty brown cones, green leaves, and tiny white flowers to be pleasing to my eye. I think that the composition is reasonably good, but not great. I guess that it is one of those subtle images that either works or doesn't for each particular viewer.

-- Mark Erickson (maericks@netcom.com), April 01, 1999.

Let me clarify my above answer slightly: I did not move the cones. I found them where they lay and tried to create a nice composition through the use of camera position

-- Mark Erickson (maericks@netcom.com), April 01, 1999.