Old Man of the Mountain

[Joanna Trescott]

A storm was arriving and the wind was blowing. This flower called Old Man of the Mountain was close to the ground on top of Independence Pass in Colorado.

Canon 20D, 28-135 IS lens, handheld. ISO 400, evaluative metering -1/3 stop. 1/200 sec @ f22.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Joanna, I feel that if you'd walked around the 2 prominent flowers & tried for a vertical crop (with 2 prominent yellow flowers in the FG) leading to the mountains far off, it might be interesting. As of now the FG looks a bit too cluttered.
Just MHO...

[Robert Amoruso]

Joanna,

I am understanding Kaushik's concern. I find my eye getting lost in the FG and not making it to the BG. The large yellow flowers are too close the the edge. Moving around here and looking for alternate views may have helped to improve the composition. You are definitely onto something framing the mountains with a strong FG but it needed to be arranged a bit differently.

I know that this may sound weird, but the flowers are looking to the left strongly and that makes my eyes look that way too and away from the mountains. I had a similar issue on the beach a few weeks back. The beach sunflowers are in bloom but the direction they were facing in relation to how I needed to set up the image were opposed to each other. After a few test images I walked away from it as the only line that work had an unpleasing FG and moving did not help me in that instance.

Including a FG element in an image is a great way to show depth and arranging it such that lines, textures, colors, shapes, etc. lead the viewer into the image will make it work.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Joanna,
You really have an excellent eye for landscapes. This one is just a bit tight on the FG flower. I agree with the above comments especially with the large FG flowers being so close to the edge. My repost with green lines shows what Kaushik was suggesting (I think) in a vert ...........and the red shows a horizontal.......just getting the flowers away from the edge.......but keeping the distant receding one......somewhat minimizing the direction issue Robert was talking about. Moving around and taking numerous compositions....both vert and horizontal.....especially when the scene grabs you is very important. Megs are free.......so reward all the hard work you did getting to the location by working the scene.

[Matthew Kuchta]

Joanna,
I like this image. It has an honesty about it that shows your point of view. I see the others' suggestions as making the image a little more "stable." By adding just a little bit more of the Giallardia (aka "Old man of the mountain") in the lower right, the tension you created by placing it so far down goes away. The foreground and composition have just a hint of tension. Is the tension bad? Not in my mind - there's a sense of urgency, a sense of unease that I can relate to when being high in the mountains. There is a sense of the fleeting, of the all-too-short good times on the tundra.

I agree with Robert regarding the motion those flowers have - it feels like they have to be far to the right because they are pointing us to the left side of the image. I don't think they are forcing you into a position where there is no good image, but rather into a situation with a slightly uncomfortable image. And maybe it's just me, but I like photos that have a little bit of discomfort to them.

-matt

[Robert Amoruso]

Nice idea with the crops. I did not explore that option.

[Joanna Trescott]

Thanks for all the comments. I was looking for a dramatic shot and wanted to include all of the mountains and show the vastness of the area.. I do like the recrops and did explore some vertical shots of the flower and mountains in the background. I will send one of those on for your critique. When up in these vast expanses, the little tundra flowers tend to get lost -- I guess I overdid it!