Valley of Fire

AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Colorful take on that formation. Not an easy target to shoot since it's a small part of a larger scene. I like your late day overcast light - much nicer than direct light for the colors there and the clouds are a nice addition to the view
 
JimFox

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
I like this little different twist on VoF you got Kyle. I would only do something about the lower right corner where it has a dark circle of shade? Other wise this is super cool.
 
Jameel Hyder

Jameel Hyder

Moderator
Staff member
A really nice and different take here. The light really brought out the colors well. And yes that dark circle can be easily cloned out. Good work.
 
Travis Rhoads

Travis Rhoads

Well-Known Member
It is a very nice image, the quality you usually deliver. My question relates more to composition, asking because I see you have done it here. Bringing elements in from the corners, I like to bring in from corners, I feel like it leads the eye in on a smooth path. But I have gotten quite a bit of kickback from locals about that, and then Ben Horne was talking about avoiding it in his DV trip. I thought it might be an interesting discussion here. As others have said, that scrub in the bottom right does effect that flow from the corner.
 
Kyle Jones

Kyle Jones

Moderator
Here's an updated version with the scrub that was creeping in from the bottom right removed.

9812 Valley of Fire_850.jpg



Travis Rhoads said:
It is a very nice image, the quality you usually deliver. My question relates more to composition, asking because I see you have done it here. Bringing elements in from the corners, I like to bring in from corners, I feel like it leads the eye in on a smooth path. But I have gotten quite a bit of kickback from locals about that, and then Ben Horne was talking about avoiding it in his DV trip. I thought it might be an interesting discussion here. As others have said, that scrub in the bottom right does effect that flow from the corner.
Click to expand...
To a large degree I tend to compose by intuition. I move around until the elements in the scene feel "balanced". In this case I have the best swirls on the left, another strong structure on the right, and a decent sky above. I tend to go back and forth with elements (like paths out water) leading in from a corner versus from an edge. I've never really bought into the idea that corners pull the eye out of the scene.

In this case, once I felt the other elements were reasonably balanced that apparent path was in the corner. I can live with that...

I'd be interested in other thoughts as well. Thanks for the comment!
 
Jameel Hyder

Jameel Hyder

Moderator
Staff member
I am with Kyle here in that as I look around the scene a particular composition triggers an emotional response and I go with that. I do a few variations of that and later when I look at them, one or more of them feel stronger than others. I tend to not over analyse from the perspective of certain rules of composition. Sometimes they work, others not so much.

The edit is nice as it removes a distraction. Sometimes I would intentionally capture an image with things I don't like with the idea of eliminating that in post later since the rest of the image looks compelling.
 
Dean

Dean

Well-Known Member
Kyle.. nice, The 2nd version without the scrub is better in my opinion.

excellent discussion about composition ..
I keep 2 thoughts in my head when composing.. Dynamic & Static in this case I use dynamic to mean engaging and static to be sort of flat.
When I feel like the image has achieved a dynamic feeling then I have usually got what I want .. of course this is the simplified version :) As for leading the viewer around the image .. every image is different so I don't believe you can rule out anything on how you intend to bring the viewer into your image
 
Douglas Sherman

Douglas Sherman

Staff
Nicely done here with an unusual view of this famous location. I agree that removing the shrub in the lower right hand corner really helps the image.
 
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