Mountains: Sun & Clouds

[jfdana]

Finally I was able last Friday (9/27/13) to get up onto the long ridge South of Mt. Washington in the Presidential range in NH (USA). What would have been a moderate jaunt a few years ago now has become, with age, borderline hardcore. It was a great day, shorts and long-sleeve t, clouds forming and evaporating around me, ravens playing overhead in the thermals. I've included a few shots, and more can be found (in chronological/linear order) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/society-guitarist/sets/72157636048196693/

Mu-43 involves trade-offs: IQ vs size/weight most apparently. For me, the joy lies in using a coherent system that allows capturing the feeling of being there with the ability actually to be there.

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Cloud forming on Monroe by John Dana, on Flickr

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Trail Bonsai by John Dana, on Flickr

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Field of Lichens by John Dana, on Flickr

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Washington by John Dana, on Flickr

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Out over the Oakes Gulf by John Dana, on Flickr

Thanks for looking, and carrying a camera added the inspiration without which the trip never would have happened.

John Dana

 

[tdekany]

This is really eye candy for me as i love landscape photography. Looking only on an iPad right now, but your pictures look fantastic - what lens did you use?

 

[jfdana]

Going up, Pana 7-14. Switched at the top to the 12-35. It was really fun!

And I made it back.

 

[RT_Panther]

#1 :smile:

 

[OpenCS]

Nice A bit too saturated for my tastes, but that's completely subjective (mine are generally too dark and grey for most people's tastes): they're great shots. I switched to m43 precisely so I could get pictures in the mountains, it's a great solution

 

[jfdana]

Agreed on the sat. For printing I'll run some proofs and decide from there. It's always a struggle between fidelity to my experience and what people want. I print on Moab Entrada 300 Natural and usually adjust by increasing ev which lowers the sat and contrast. I'll pull a couple of trial proofs and adjust the digital image to print what one might expect within the course of normal experience (enhanced, of course, by the excitement of being up in the mountains). Sometimes I wonder, in our world of HD tv, video games & super HDR, whether "ordinary reality" even makes an impression.

Thanks for making a really important point to consider.

I seriously don't want to help push visual reality over the edge.

(Oh, and my middle name is Fullerton)

JD

 

[peterpix]

Mt Washington has been the source of many of my favorite adventures since the 1960s. I'm in Eliot lets get together !

 

[lakemcd]

Really like the Fields of Lichen and Washington. If you don't mind here is a little c&c. Both pictures are vertically cut in half. imho the composition would be stronger in the lichen shot if you took out about 1/2 the height of the clouds (rule of 2/3). On washington it depends on what you want to emphasize foreground or clouds.

 

[jfdana]

Criticism, at least well-intended, is always welcome! I do agree that reframing the lichen photo (I think that they're lichens, but I'm no botanist), for example, could result in a more classically pleasing image. On the other hand, what I took is the image that made sense to me in that time and place. I certainly was tired, walking on the edge of my endurance, and had a sense of being on the ground and in the clouds at the same time. It was a lucky day as the clouds really were forming and swirling around for several hours, especially in the morning, but with large breaks of blue sky in between. So I guess that feeling of being in both worlds underlies the framing of many shots.

As the immediacy of the moment fades, I may try cropping, but, for now, the images really do reflect my powerful experience of being alone up on a very exposed ridge in the weather many hours away from the road.

Thanks for your comments!

JD

 

[RevBob]

Very nice set. I agree they might be a touch over saturated, but I've always liked vivid colors, hence my preference for Fuji and Olympus.

 

[Mellow]

First, they're great pictures and completely evoke for me the memories of being there when I was younger.

Second, that's the idea of photography to me--and the idea that a photo can be "faithful" to what your eye actually sees is scientifically absurd. So as far as saturation etc. goes, if the processing does a good job of conveying to you the sensation of being there, then it was successful.

 

[jfdana]

In the interest of follow up, I did have time to print the first three images today. Printing 16 x 24 images on 17 x 25 Moab Entrada 300gm natural via an Epson 3880, I'm really happy. The trade off is losing a bit of close (as in at my feet) foreground focus in favor of intermediate, far ground and cloud/peak focus. At two feet or more viewing distance, the technical details become irrelevant. I would love complete front to back focus; I just can't afford to buy or carry a camera capable of such shots (I don't know, 3x my car or my home?). So mu-43 happily remains my medium of choice.

Best to all, and thanks for your helpful comments which I'll definitely keep in mind next time I venture up into New England's version of The Other World.

John Dana

 

[zpierce]

Lovely images and lovely location! I like the saturation with the exception of the sky. The blue doesn't pass the reality filter in my brain might just need a touch warmer white balance.

 

[jfdana]

Thanks, Zach, i hadn't really thought about the WB. Looking again at the raw files, they all were set at 5kK. After speed-reading several articles on line, that does seem a bit too cool. Adding 800-850K makes a small, but significant difference.

So, always more to learn, and I'll keep playing with them. Thanks.