Home › Forums › Photo Critique › Azaleas at Dolly Sods
- This topic has 10 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 8 months ago by James Staddon.
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June 24, 2017 at 9:45 pm #24136Dan CopeParticipant
Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Dolly Sods wilderness with my family. After spending some time at the Bear Rocks area it was time to leave but I wanted to stop just down the road where I had seen some wild azaleas in bloom. The afternoon had been clear and sunny but some clouds were developing in the western sky and it looked as though there might be some potential for a dynamic photo. I pulled to the side of the road and grabbing my gear I jumped out to see if I could find a worthwhile composition. My first attempt wasn’t too bad but I knew I could do better.
So I continued on. I went from one flowered bush to another but it seemed like there was something wrong with every composition I tried. I tried including rocks and I tried including the trail.
I spied a uniquely shaped lone tree with some flowers blooming near it and tried several angles around it.
But the more I tried the more frustrated I became. Here I was in the middle of an area with gorgeous flowers and a dynamic sky but I just couldn’t find a composition that I really liked. I finally decided it was time to head back to my family before they became too impatient with me, so I started back toward the road where they were waiting. As I did I noticed a rock with some azaleas beside it. I stopped to try one more composition before heading on up the path.
I liked it, but it still did not fully portray the beauty of my surroundings like I wanted. Again I picked up my camera and headed toward my family. Just as I got near the edge of the road, I turned to look back one more time at the flowers and the scenery that I had tried so hard to capture, and suddenly there it was right in front of me – the composition I had been looking for! A cluster of perfect azaleas was at my feet and a complimentary cluster just a few yards away. The scene was simple yet vibrant with life and color. I took three exposures at f/11 and ISO 100 with varying shutter speeds to cover the dynamic range. When I exposed for the flowers, my shutter speed was only at 1/15 and with the wind blowing strongly, I knew that the flowers would be blurry. So I set my aperture to f/5 and raised my ISO to 160 to obtain a shutter speed of 1/60 and freeze the movement of the flowers blowing in the wind. This is the combined result of those four exposures.
So for this critique, in addition to analyzing this final composition, I would like to hear you discuss what you see in the other photos as well and why none of them seemed to be “just right”. I have several reasons why I am not drawn to any of those compositions as much as to the final one, but I would like to hear your thoughts.June 24, 2017 at 9:47 pm #24137Dan CopeParticipantJune 24, 2017 at 9:55 pm #24140Dan CopeParticipantJune 24, 2017 at 9:59 pm #24143Dan CopeParticipantJune 25, 2017 at 5:48 pm #24150Lewis FamilyParticipantFrom a newbie to the forum: Nice job. Your knowledge of how to vary the ISO, f/stop and shutter speed, to narrow in on the final shot, produced a great result. (Agree – the last shot is the best although the one with the path shows potential. Too bad you didn’t have a ladder to improve the down-angle and capture a little more of the road that almost leads to the sun.) From your text and pictures, it is obvious that you “worked” your way to the solution by trying and discarding previous shots/settings. The colors really pop.
June 25, 2017 at 10:12 pm #24152Jinny SchoberParticipantHey! Personally I like the one with the trail, with the suns rays and the neat clouds. Although the last one has the beautiful sunset, I think the one with the trail has more detail, and I am attracted to it more. The colors are great, but to me it seems like the pics are heavily edited, is it just me, or is that the lighting?
June 26, 2017 at 3:22 pm #24172James StaddonKeymasterWhat a fantastic story! Love the idea of showing your sequence of shots behind the “perfect” shot. Will look forward to giving my thoughts about why the first shots don’t seem “just right” on the webinar tomorrow!
By the way, where did you upload the pictures online before trying to embed them in your initial post? That might help us figure out why they don’t show up….
- This reply was modified 54 years, 3 months ago by .
June 28, 2017 at 8:02 am #24222Dan CopeParticipantThanks for the comments! The picture are definitely edited but I wouldn’t say they are “heavily” edited. The path definitely has potential, but the reason I didn’t spend much time working with it was because I was focused mainly on finding a composition that showcased the Azaleas. Sometime maybe I’ll return to the location and work on getting a good “trail” shot! The pictures I tried to insert were uploaded to photobucket.com.
June 28, 2017 at 5:07 pm #24226Ezra MorleyModeratorThe pictures I tried to insert were uploaded to photobucket.com.
It’s better just to host them on Lenspiration, they’re already there, you just have to link them together. 🙂
You’ll need 2 tabs open in your browser, one with your post open normally as someone would view it on Lenspiration.com, the other with your post in “Edit” mode. Click on that attachment that you want to embed in your post in the “normal” tab, and it should load in the black “lightbox” as normal. Now right-click on the large photo and select “Copy Image Location”. Go to your other tab, and click on the
img
button and paste the link to your image into the little popup that comes up. Click Submit to make your edit final, and presto! Self-hosted embedding for Lenspiration photos. 🙂When I make a new post, I first write up all the text, and attach the photos that I want to embed, then I submit it. After submission, the photos are now uploaded to Lenspiration, so I have to go back and edit the post to add in the embedded images using the technique described above.
June 29, 2017 at 11:26 am #24228Dan CopeParticipantOk great! Thanks Ezra!
July 4, 2017 at 12:05 pm #24339James StaddonKeymasterAnd here’s the video from the Critique Webinar! It was really great that you were able to join in live and provide your insights and perspective as well.
https://www.lenspiration.com/video/critique-azaleas/ -
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