My favorite landscape

iambarefoot

This one is from my point-n-shoot days taken in April 07 in Big Bend. What would you do given a dSLR?
To save you some typing, I'll pre-critique:

1. focus is generally fuzzy (limitations of a 2mp camera)
2. taillight is on, which is distracting
3. The scrubby roadside bushes in the foreground are distracting, subject to cropping, or perhaps I could have lifted the frame a bit.

What I love is how the mountain range is framed, and how the empty road gives a feeling of loneliness. What say you?

iambarefoot

Moderator: am I not allowed to submit this as a whipping post?

schmoo

iambarefoot wrote:

Moderator: am I not allowed to submit this as a whipping post?

Given the comments you made in your text, I'm guessing that the mods have decided that you don't feel this is your best work. The Whipping Post is for the shots that you really don't know how else to improve, those really special shots that you want to push. That is why it was moved here, since critiques can be done in any of the Shots forums.

Please make sure you're familiar with the WP rules before submitting entries. It's no biggie if it gets moved! Your shots still get critiqued if you ask for it.

iambarefoot

Ok, I guess I don't have a feel for the rules around here yet (though I did read the WP rules). In any case, this is one of my best photos and though I've already posted it to 'Landscapes', I'd like to open it up for critique, please.

Thanks!

dbd

iambarefoot wrote:

Ok, I guess I don't have a feel for the rules around here yet (though I did read the WP rules). In any case, this is one of my best photos and though I've already posted it to 'Landscapes', I'd like to open it up for critique, please.

Thanks!

As someone who is not a motorcycle enthusiast the taillight isn't as distracting as the bike itself. The lines of the road lead the viewer to a vanishing point within the image. The bike breaks this flow. Maybe it wouldn't if it were moving, but as soon as I wonder why it's parked in the lane, I'm no longer moving into the image.

The haze across the mountains gives a flat appearance. The mountains to the left could be darkened and contrast enhanced to increase the depth as the haze increases into the distance at the right.

The dark areas of brush on each side of the road could be lightened and contrast enhanced with the effect decreasing on the more distant portions to reinforce the feeling of depth in the image consistant with the effect of the lines of the road.

Cropping the bottom as you have suggested would move the strong boundary at the base of the mountains away from the center of the image and make the image less static. The untrampled nature of the flowers and weeds, however, says more about loneliness of this road to me than the parked bike. Something like, somebody put this road here, there's no sign of any traffic since and nature is trying to take it back. So, I'd leave some of this in, but make it less distracting by enhancing the other areas I've mentioned.

I hope this complies with your request.

Dale B. Dalrymple

Huzband

As a long time avid rider, & one that loves to make pictures for ride tales, I feel qualified to comment here.

1) Tail light is definitely distracting.
2) Mountains are washed out, as well as the sky.
3) If you want your bike in the shot, you need a tighter composition.
4) Next time, get a curve in the road. It gives the observer a perspective of going somewhere.

If you don't mind, I'll give you a couple of examples of composition with a bike. Never mind exposure, these were my early days.





Keep in mind, as much as we love our ride, it's not the focus of the shot.

For what it's worth, my wife says I've ruined many a picture by having the bike "stuck in there". And she loves riding as much as I do.

alexkhoo82

Nice series you have here~ Nice~

Grainbelt

Huzband wrote:

For what it's worth, my wife says I've ruined many a picture by having the bike "stuck in there". And she loves riding as much as I do.

I get that alot.

FWIW, I agree on getting the bike out of the middle of the shot and tighter to the foreground. This is one of my favourites from Glacier, on the way back from Utah.




Another option is hiding the bike in the backround, a la 'find the dual sport in the flax field'.




There are some technical issues with each of those, but I still enjoy them.

Huzband

Exactly! It's fine to have the bike in shot, but be sure the eye is drawn elsewhere.

iambarefoot

Interesting suggestions, everyone!

As I'm still learning the basics of composition and even exposure, I'm not really sure how to affect the post-processing changes (don't own Photoshop... yet).
I still like where the bike is in the shot (probably because I'm so used to bike-oriented publications/forums) but I'll explore tighter compositions as well.

Thanks!

mrlassiter

The direction the bike is facing is distracting for me. The tires in both shots are "aiming" away from where the road would otherwise lead my eye. The bike looks to be "tired" (no pun intended), like a broken down horse and thankful to be off the roadway, rather than eagerly awaiting it's rider.

mrlassiter

f-rider

As an avid motorcycle tourer I, too, have some thoughts. First, however, is that motorcycle touring shots ARE, in fact, about the ride. We want the bike in the picture. Non riders may not understand that or even want to look, but putting the bike in the photo makes it a photo about a motorcycle ride, not a a photo about a road or horizon. One of the first things any photographer should think about, IMHO, is: what is this picture about? what am I trying to get across? Some viewers will develop an answer, others will not. That's OK. If a cow is in the picture, it will become a "cow" picture. Focus on one element, maybe two.

Having said that, yes, turn off the lights. Also, take your gloves, helmet, etc with you as you move back to frame the shot. Don't leave your jacket hanging all over the bike, or the tank bag or side cases half open. Tidy it up for the photo.

Try not to use flash, even fill flash. All that wonderful reflective stuff on your bike will light up like a Christmas Tree and will be hard to remove in post processing.

I think it is good (again, for a motorcycle touring photo) to point the bike in the direction of the road, but frame it tighter. It is not the scrub that is distracting, it is the amount of road behind the bike. Frame it so that the bike looks like it is on its way into the picture, with lots of road in front of it, rather than half way. This brings the narrative element into the frame in a more interesting way. "This is where I am headed..." If you were shooting behind the bike, then frame it to show the bike more extreme left, with lots or road behind to create an unspoken narrative that "this shows where I have been..."

For some variations, try shooting from down low, looking up, with only part of the bike in the frame, or use the handle bars as a frame, or shoot through the wheel, you get the idea. Lots of possibilities.

Of course, all this is hard to do when you've got your gear on and are just hopping off the bike for a quick snap. But it will be the photo memory you have of a great ride, so I think it is worth the time to tidy the bike, place it properly, and take some time to frame it. Zooms help a lot, as does cropping in post processing. I crop a lot in PP for my shots, saving several versions from the same scene. Ride Reports have become an art for some of us, a whole genre of its own for the motorcycling crowd. Here is one of mine, best viewed in "journal" view.

http://f-rider.smugmug.com/gallery/1848481_Maqy6/1/93546350_DngLe

YMMV.

iambarefoot

Nice thoughts, F-rider, thanks!