Angel's Veil/Mammoth Hot Springs

[Arthur Morris]

"Angel's Veil." My name for a beautiful section of the Lower Terrace.

Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II (at 145mm) with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400 in pre-dawn light. From a 3-frame bracket+/- 1 stop around +1 stop: 1/8 sec at f/22.

Tripod-mounted (3530 LS). Giotto's tiny ballhead (MH 1302)andbubble level. With the Giotto's ballhead I can switch from a short wide angle zoom with a P-5 plate on the camera body to the 70-200 f/2.8 with a P-20 plate on the tripod collar. Just like I do in Bosque. It takes 3 seconds to spin off the Mongoose and put on the tiny ballhead.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

ps: The version II 70-200 is incredibly sharp.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Artie,
Have debated the tree trunks in the ULC since I saw this in the bulletin....I am leaning towards keeping....but perhaps a touch more room there. Now for the LLC one.......thats gotta' go! Same situation as cut/ don't clip......looks clipped down there and out of place.....while the trunks look intentional/like they belong there. I love the lines you captured as well as the fog....so don't feel adding contrast will help as that will change the mood and feel. Overall, I think you did an excellent job with the comp....just the small tweak will take it up a notch!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Artie, Interesting and pleasing image overall. Agree with Roman on 2 points. First evicting the small branch on the lower left. It has no real relationship to the overall image and is clipped. I like the sublety of the trees on the left but also feel it needs a bit more room(not much but away from the edge) The soft patterns,texture and muted colors make this one for me. Agree on not adding contrast in fear of lessening the mood. Nice one!!

[denise ippolito]

It's beautiful Artie. I agree 100% with the suggestions already given. You really captured the wispy feel to this and I love the name you gave it.:)

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Arthur,

You really did capture a lovely "wispy" effect to this as Denise has already mentioned. I do agree with Roman on both counts. Remove the tree in LLC and give a little more space to the trees in the ULC. I don't think they need too much room, just a touch. Nice one!

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all for your kind words. I too love the mood of this one. When I posted the image I figured that some would suggest that the little bush lower left should go. And that seems to be unanimous. And I carefully chose the positioning of the tree in the upper right. If I went any more left, bad things happened to the image. I could not see how to make a tighter image that worked well. Now here is the craziest part, I actually love the little bush lower left. Go figure. For me, it helps to balance the little dark area lower right. And the tree upper left works for me to balance the large salmon-colored rock upper right.

Hey, I knew that the little bush would not be popular but heck, I love it and the image as is.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Fabulous effect here, Arthur. I'm so glad you used that 1/8 second to avoid the cottonmouth. The veils of flowing water are perfect. And lot's of them! I love it.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Jeffrey. Please explain the cottonmouth thing. If I wound up with the right shutter speed it was mostly by luck.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Arthur....Lovely soft image...I like everything about it except the LLC tree ..on second thought the blacks do form somewhat of a triangle that helps to organize the image :2eyes2:

[Arthur Morris]

OK. I give. By popular demand. I am still not sure about the bush llc, but I like it a bit darker as here and with a bit of clean-up.... Thanks all :)

[Andrew McLachlan]

I like this version much better with the bush in LLC removed and I think the touch darker works better too.

[Andrew Merwin]

When I looked at the OP, I too thought the LLC branches had to go. However, after seeing the repost, I decided that I like the LLC branches. I would keep them. I think they add perspective & compliment the trees & branches in the ULC. This is obviously a well thought out & composed image in camera. I find it immensely pleasing.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Andrew. I am still not hating them :) But I will do the original a bit darker.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Art, darkening the image has brought out more detail which is a plus.I also realise that removing that branch on the lower left was a major concession :-) nice image!

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Dave. I am always willing to respond to popular demand.

[Gary Hamilton]

This shot is about the water, not the trees. It's a beautiful image either way, tree in LLC or not. I'm not a huge fan of removing every little "distraction" from every image but for an "Artsie" http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/images/icons/icon12.png image like this, removing the LLC tree is fine with me.

[Judy Howle]

I really like the image, it's very artsy and the wisps look almost like a fractal! I like the repost better too!

[Robert Amoruso]

Artie,

I understand your point on the branch balancing the right lower corner darker area but now seeing the repost, I feel that this is the way to go. The softness of the flow, the veiled look of the upper left trees where in keeping with the images overall mood. When you got to the lower left edge, the branch was sharp and to me appeared more as a distraction - too much a graphic look in stark contrast to the overall look of the image.

Though with landscape images my preference is to eliminate edge distractions in the field by careful composition, I will clone out small stuff that has to be included to get the overall comp they way I want it.