Position study (Images added at the end)

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Yesterday I presented a focal length study of this place. Today i want to show you a position study.

The first one will be the same place I have been showing, but at a different time of day. The second is a place further upstream with an S curve. There is another S curve even further up, but made inaccessible by beaver work. There is really no other place with a good alignment of stream to mountain.

I would like you to once again ignore clouds and reflections here and give me your opinion on which makes the best composition.

Original position

190929-11501-5DS R copy.jpg


S curve position

'
190929-11508-5DS R.jpg
 

AlanLichty

Moderator
I'll bite - #2 is by far a stronger comp for me. #1 feels too centered with the backdrop mountain peaks nearly in a bullseye and the river only barely venturing astray from the same path. The second one draws me into the scene more gradually with nice bends in the river to lure my eyes into the valley with speckles of color along the slopes. Having the high peaks off-center in this view helps.
 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Now I don't care for the S curve Ben, at least from where you shot it. My issues are the S curve swings way to the right but then you have the mountain placed on the left side of the background. Also, and this is minor, but I don't like those rocks in the lower left.

So for me, #1 works better it has a slight curve, but the ending of the water leads the eye right back to the peak.

I am enjoying your studies Ben, and I hope others are benefitting from them.
 

BarryHamilton

Founding Member
I'm with Alan. The 's' works better for my eyes and I prefer the non-centered aspect of the 2nd.
I would agree with Jim on the rocks in the lower left corner.
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
I'll bite - #2 is by far a stronger comp for me. #1 feels too centered with the backdrop mountain peaks nearly in a bullseye and the river only barely venturing astray from the same path. The second one draws me into the scene more gradually with nice bends in the river to lure my eyes into the valley with speckles of color along the slopes. Having the high peaks off-center in this view helps.
Thanks Alan, not obvious in this view with wind chopped water, there is no mountain reflection in the S curve version. Which is why I tend to go with the first one. Where I either wait for the wind to stop, or use a ND filter.

Now I don't care for the S curve Ben, at least from where you shot it. My issues are the S curve swings way to the right but then you have the mountain placed on the left side of the background. Also, and this is minor, but I don't like those rocks in the lower left.

So for me, #1 works better it has a slight curve, but the ending of the water leads the eye right back to the peak.

I am enjoying your studies Ben, and I hope others are benefitting from them.
Thanks Jim. I am still looking for the perfect composition here. This is a poor mans Maroon Bell place, and has lots of potential. I had planned on cropping the bottom off even when shooting so the rocks would be taken care of.


I'm with Alan. The 's' works better for my eyes and I prefer the non-centered aspect of the 2nd.
I would agree with Jim on the rocks in the lower left corner.
Thanks Barry, makes me feel better about choosing the first place for my primary shots.
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Here are two more images. The first one is from last spring, and shows the kind of reflection I was going for. It appears I was close to this spot this last trip, but not identical. Anyway, the much higher and wider rives makes a bigger reflection areas.



This is the place about 1/2 mile upstream that Jeffrey found in July 2018. It's not accessible without waders now

180804-7546-5DS R.jpg
 

AlanLichty

Moderator
Interesting new perspectives here. The full mirror reflections in the first of the new shots makes sense out of the centered composition although I almost always try to avoid centering my subject when I frame an image.

I do like Jeffrey's viewpoint choice - a nice S-curve with some excellent reflections and the peaks are slightly off to the right and not dead-on centered in the frame.
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Thanks for the new look and comment Alan. I will take waders next trip and see if I can get there. I doubt it's possible in spring, last spring the are was a lake and the bottom too boggy for walking. But it looked possible in fall.
 
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