Pinnacle Peak

[Ron Tnompson]

Pinnacle Peak as seen from the trail to the saddle.
Canon 40D
f16
1/20 of a second
28-135 @28mm
ISO 100
I took this picture on they way to the saddle last week C&C much appreciated,as it helps me learn. Thank you Ron Thompson

[Robert Amoruso]

Always the kind of images you want to make while out hiking to record your trek.

Composition-wise I feel that moving right and lower would have strengthened the trail more as a leading line. As it is now, it comes into the image at an awkward position and leads to the edge of the frame. I would also eliminate the partial branch tips on the left. I like balancing the rock peak with the tree and would maintain that as part of the composition.

After looking at the image for a bit, I really not am sure you could have moved and made the trail as leading line and the rock/tree balancing act work. Always hard to decern that just looking at one image.

Your exposure for the FG was just right but left the clouds too hot (though not perhaps clipped) in the brighter areas. Less exposure for the clouds under-exposes the FG, the problem we landscape photographers face all the time.

I can see some alternate compositions here. The pink flowers in the FG: up closer to those to fill the FG with the peak in the BG may have been a good composition.

[Ron Tnompson]

Thanks Robert for your thoughtful remarks. It gives more tools and things to think about the next time I am out Photographing landscapes. Ron Thompson

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ron,
Great advice given by Robert above. This image brought back great memories for me as that is how I started in photography......hiking out to beautiful places and I wanted to capture their beauty......which I soon learned wasn't that easy. Do you own a split ND filter? In this case you could have used one on the sky to bring it more into the same tonal range as the FG......helping tame those whites and giving great detail to the sky. If you don't have one....you could take 2 exposures.....one for the sky and 1 for the FG and blend them......not super easy but worth trying before plunking down the $. I will confess that I am pretty picky when it comes to frame edges.....I always ask myself the same thing when looking at a scene.....does it add to the image. In this case for me.....the tree on the left doesn't......having more of it in will make it act like a framing element.....but it may also take away from the peak.....so just something to keep in mind when composing. You don't mention a polariser......and that is still one of the big tools for a landscaper and using it here may have cut some of the haze on the mountain also. A lot to digest but I hope this gives you some ideas for out in the field next time out and thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories for me!

[Ron Tnompson]

Thanks Roman I am learning alot and will try to use the suggestions you and Robert have given me the next time I go out. Ron Thompson