Mountain Vacation in Colorado
We visited Pikes Peak, Rocky Mountains National Park and Garden of the Gods. What a beautiful land!
More Posts in: Landscape and Nature Photography
Hector Reyes
Amberlie's indoor swim sesion
Amberlie reached out for a session. We discussed a few looks including a swim look. I wanted to change it up by shoot the swim look indoors. I like the way it turned out. I hope you do as well.
Don Don
First time
First time this young lady posed and worked in studio. Just finished her Masters degree and is now pursuing her PhD.
Charles Mercier
A few shots from Germany
Just a few interesting details walking around a couple of towns in Germany. In the second one, I was just captured by the setting sunlight in an alley.
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Last: Jun 17, 2026
6 Comments
Hi Marisa! I think all these images are appealing, and all are well composed - a deal breaker if an image isn't, as bad composition will always grate, no matter what other virtues an image has.
Your profile suggests you seek CC, so I would say the following in this regard:
The sky in the first image looks too dark in relation to the cliff, so it leaves an impression more like smoke blowing by (which has darkened the top of especially the second-from-left rock spire).
You are working against a fundamental difficulty in the second image when it comes to creating an appealing photographic image, even of the most beautiful landscape - "flat" lighting, giving little form to the mountains or trees, which raking light would provide. Also, I think it's tilted a few degrees ACW.
The third image suffers again from the over-darkened sky, and there are some haloes above the mountain peaks which are a processing give-away - what I'm referring to here is that if processing draws attention to itself, as here, it detracts from the image. Even radical processing should generally be invisible, unless it's an obvious stylistic element. like, say, heavily vignetted, high-contrast black and white images (some of Michael Kenna's work, for instance).
I hope I'm not putting you off! Keep at it. You have an eye, as they say. Processing is tricky, and it's easy to go too far. Hope to see more from you.
Hey, I appreciate your input! On the first pic, it was a very weird lighting: There was the sun setting behind me and a nasty storm was coming from behind. Should I have tried to lighten up the sky?
How do I overcome "flat" light? I can see what you are saying and I would love to learn to give more dimension to my pics, especially when they are a bit dark and the elements get lost.
On the third one, this is pretty much how the pic was taken. It was raining so hard down the valley, so I tried to lighten up the foreground a bit to show the rocks and the different curves of the mountains. I guess I didn't realize that I went a bit too far lol
I may be wrong about the first image, then, Marisa. If it actually looked like this - well, then it did! It's the frequency with which skies are darkened in processing & taken a bit far that made me wonder. I'm often on the edge myself, wondering what I can get away with without it looking processed.
Can't do much about flat light in the landscape, except try another time. Not every beautiful vista can yield a beautiful photographic representation. We're at the mercy of light & weather. Serious landscapers will do internet research about weather forecasts & sun direction before visiting some sites, but that's a bit much for me. I will take note of sun direction and time repeat visits to some places accordingly.
Posting and even simply commenting gets you noticed on FS, Marisa, and leads more people to your portfolio, as has just happened for me. Get active in the discussions, and don't be afraid to give your opinion on others' work. Trolling is virtually unknown here - FS is generally pretty friendly.
Your water drop images suggest to me you might be interested in the Minimalism, Abstract, Experimental Group, which is often quite active, and very friendly and constructive.
I like to think outside the box sometimes and challenge myself to do weird stuff with the camera. The dandelion drops and the water drops were challenging for me because I'm doing it with rudimentary things. I use a plastic bag with a tiny hole and I hang it on a broken tripod and then I use an external flash to light up the drop while making it a slave to the camera. Also I use white sheets of paper for a background to try and get a nice clean water drop.
Thanks for letting me know about that group, I want to see what others do and learn new techniques and maybe easier ways to achieve them hahaha
You might be surprised how many intriguing photos are made with rudimentary gear, Marisa. I was until I heard the details of a few - toilet roll snoots, etc! It's having the imagination to think of the idea that makes all the difference. Your water-drop images don't betray their humble origins. At all.