Haven't posted in a while, but recently went on a backpacking trip in Wyoming and stopped through the Tetons and captured this at sunrise. I almost went to the barns that everyone shoots that morning since it seems to be "the shot", but decided at the last minute to head to a different spot that was a little more my style. Very glad I did.
I really like this shot, but wanted to get some objective feedback on a couple aspects of it.
Does the leading line of the stream in the foreground pull you away from the main mountains on the right side of the frame too much?
This is a high-res pano, so I have a lot of room to play around with the crop. I like that the stream adds another element and layer to the image, but as a leading line it does draw you away from the more dramatic mountains towards the right of the frame, and the super wide crop de-emphasizes those mountains as well. I've tried some tighter crops that really put the focus on the Grand Teton, but it felt a little off--it made it so the stream just cuts a line through the bottom of the image, rather than traveling through the image.
Curious to get some other opinions. Any other feedback is welcome too.
Hi Josh! Good to see you posting again.
Yes, I think you have a point about the stream leading my eye to the pale peaks at left, at the expense of those on the right. And again, I agree that the aspect ratio of the image further de-emphsises the peaks ar right. I understand your dilemma in incorporating the stream to provide the leading line. Sometimes it's just hard to get the apparently promising elements in a scene into a composition that does what you want in reality.
Fantasising a bit, a drone shot or a higher viewpoint by other means would angle the stream more steeply, reducing the second effect.
It's still a pleasing image; the craggy peaks reveal themselves by their jaggedness and tonal contrast pretty quickly, more or less completing a clockwise path through the image for my eye, so I don't think the issues you mention actually detract from the image in reality - rather, they create a less obvious celebration of this magnificent range.
Thanks Chris! Insightful and helpful as always. The clockwise rotation through the image is essentially how I've been looking at it too, but wasn't sure if that was just because I knew I wanted to arrive back at the mountains on the right, or if it was a somewhat more "natural" journey through the image. Good to hear that it works for you too.
Funny you mention the higher angle--I got there in the dark and climbed as far up a fairly steep embankment as I could while still having flat enough ground to set up a tripod. Once it was light out and I could see the surroundings better, I started to wonder if I could have actually accessed the top of the embankment from the road rather than following a footpath up the stream. Will have to try it out next time I find myself in the Tetons.
beautiful landscape those Teton mountains. In my opinion the stream does not add to the photo. I like the stream and I am not put off by the direction that it moves through the frame however I think that there is to much middle ground in the scene which puts the stream out of the real picture and just an afterthought.
Thanks for the feedback John! My eye gets drawn to the stream pretty quickly so I hadn't considered it coming across that way, but can definitely see your point about too much mid-ground now that you mention it.
I almost ran headlong into a moose standing just on the other side of the stream as I was looking for a spot to set up. I wish he'd stuck around to fill some of that mid-ground, but he moved on before I could really get set up. The only shots I have of him, he's walking away and largely obscured by the tall grass.
Perhaps Chris' suggestion above for a different perspective would help alleviate the mid-ground issue as well.
Thanks again for your thoughts!
Nice photo and lighting! I do see that you wanted to include the feathery plant in the lower left but I think that it could be vertically cropped down the dark tree just to the left of the low pass and at the low pass on the right side because I don't find much of interest to the left and right of those points. I do find the stream very interesting and makes for nice curving lines in slight opposition to all the vertical "pointing" of the distant trees and peaks.
Thanks so much for the feedback Charles! I think the crop you're describing is actually one that I've played around with a lot and almost went with for this post. Ultimately, I ended up going with the crop I did for a couple reasons. On the left, I liked the effect of the stream sort of trailing off into the tree line, and found that it was hard to find the right place to crop the stream at the left since there are a couple slight bends in the stream that create some distraction if they're too close to the edge. On the right, I actually had that cropped close to where you suggested initially, but ended up adding some extra space because I felt it helped to bring the more jagged peaks closer to the middle of the frame and bring your eye to them a bit more. I know it's somewhat counterintuitive that making the crop wider--and therefore making the peaks take up relatively less of the frame--would give them more emphasis, but it kind of worked to my eye.
Based on your suggestion, I'll have to give a version of this crop another look though to see if I like it better. Thanks again for your feedback!
Well, I certainly like this one better, though I think a little further to the left would be fine because the stream does seem to be cut off. But also if printed and framed, one would need a little more on either side. I do like the stream in the photo. Without it, the photo would feel more static.
This is a very strong image, I agree with some who say the stream does not that much to the image. I don't know what type of lens you are using but maybe if you "zoomed" in more on the mountains to the right side eliminating the stream it would become more of an "intimate' landscape, sometimes as they say "less is more".