This shot was taken on the way to photograph some of the ancient petroglyphs in the North Bishop Area of the easter Sierra. As I was 4 wheel driving around waiting for the sun to go down to do Milky way shots with the petroglyphs in the foreground I came upon a large burnt over scene where there was almost nothing but black except an S shaped array of new grasses and a couple of trees that had burnt trunks but remained mostly unburned. I don’t know if they survived the fire as I never made my way down to the burnt out area. Unfortunately, I could not get the entire s shape in the bottom of the frame. Does that negatively impact this image and are there ways to improve it? As always, thanks for taking a look.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any please
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any please
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Tripod, D850, 24-120mm, .4 sec @ f/11, ISO 100, 70mm
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Single shot
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I think you have done a great job with the composition. Taking in account that you couldn’t frame the entire S i think the it ended up quite nicely, even cutted a bit on the sides its cutted evenly making the composition balanced.
I love the light on that S shape, and those trees are gorgeous.
Maybe because the burn area absorbs so much light comparing to the rest the image looks a bit to constrasty to me, maybe raise those shadows a bit to soften the light gradients.
Also I would burn that top part (reflection and left grass) to avoid it from distracting the viewer attention as some of those highlight reflections on the S, and warm the whole image a bit, but its just a matter of personal taste.
The light makes this image and for me its a beautiful one. Thank you for sharing,
Cheers
This is amazing, I guess this is a case of “S marks the spot !!”
This image is probably the most impactful and intriguing use of an S-curve that have ever seen in a landscape. I also love the high contrast processing, the rich blacks and whites make for a very graphic image. I also love the story of the fire, with burned trees hanging on and surviving, and the new growth taking it’s place. This is a very beautiful and high impact image, congratulations, it’s a winner.
This is most excellent. I think having the S curve cut off adds interest, as it implies things going on outside the frame. The curve gives this a gracefulness and the white trees give a sense of hope (even if they are white because they’re dead!).
I’m with Joao on burning down those bits of highlights at the very top. Other than that, I wouldn’t change anything.
This is a unique image for me. It might have been nice to have the full S in the frame but the implied S does a good enough job. For me the sweeping greens against the stark blacks and white is what makes this image. For me it has a feeling of hope.
A great image, really special. I don’t mind the cut off of the S curve and I agree about Joao’s suggestion to darken the small highlights at the very top. But that is just improving an already beautiful image. Thanks for sharing.
This S curve actually looks like an S. I’m wondering how this would look in b&w. It’s might make the case of a burn more forcefully. Although, here we have the additional story of life rising from the ashes, which you wouldn’t see in b&w.
