The Landscape Thread

[TheWengler]

Yeah, until I moved to AZ 4 years ago I was stuck in a rut, but then when I returned I rediscovered The Peninsula, Tahoe, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey (my perenial home), and the Salinas Valley and associated river. Ever been to Spreckles, Coalinga, Paso Robles? You should go.

Here, there's the ubiquitous Desert w/Saguaro Cacti (shown), Tucson, White Mountains, Tombstone, Prescott, Flagstaff, Williams, Sedona, and of course... The Canyon. Western scenes and lifestyles. So much to shoot, so little time. This weekend the Salt River... including warter... flowing(!!!)

I actually drove through Paso today. I used to go to school near there. Never been for photography though. Haven't been to the other places. The beach is just easy and close. I don't have to make a trip out of it. Plenty of places I want to go inland though.

I went to Sedona last year. It was a fantastic place.

[D70FAN]

I actually drove through Paso today. I used to go to school near there. Never been for photography though. Haven't been to the other places. The beach is just easy and close. I don't have to make a trip out of it. Plenty of places I want to go inland though.

I went to Sedona last year. It was a fantastic place.

Paso and Coalinga are pretty close. Spreckles is off of 68 heading to Monterey (before Laguna Seca).

Next time... Williams, and the Grand Canyon Railway, or come down for the Festival Of The West...

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Love it D70fan. A bit freaky seeing gum trees from the USA.

If you hadn't given Wengler all the advice on potential subjects I'd have never known the Sonoran Desert in your sig meant the USA.

[raven15]

I haven't put up a picture here in forever and a half. Funny because I never stopped talking pictures, I just got tired of sorting through and posting them.

The following shots were all from my parent's back porch over the past two weeks, where I am staying while I have some Chinese visa issues sorted out. Or in some cases through the window if I was especially lazy. These are the Ruby Mountains in Nevada, where a number of my landscapes and many of my wildlife shots are taken. It looks spectacular, but for a long time I thought this scene was very boring because I saw it so much. It was only recently with my improved knowledge of composition that I looked at it again. The first one was taken around 4:00 in the morning just after a night of 12 inches of snow, just before the full moon, it is a 1 minute exposure. Some of the others are so bright that at ISO 100 I wasn't able to shoot wide open (my 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 lens) because my camera's 1/4000s shutter speed wasn't fast enough. The last one gives the best impression of how the mountains actually look, I think. The others were generally taken at 36-18mm, making things look too small.

C&C appreciated, I posted too many of the same thing.

[TheWengler]

The 2nd one there is my favorite of the set and probably one of the better shots I've seen from you. The 1st one is also interesting. I'm going to give the moonlight photography another shot at the next full moon.

[raven15]

Really? That one I probably liked least of the set and almost didn't post. Though, it is the best composition foreground-wise. I probably shouldn't be allowed to sort my own pictures .

I suppose I need to look at composition rather than content, if I had the cloud formations of some of the others with the foreground of #2 it would be a nice combination.

[raven15]

While I'm at it, a few more. Two from Pyramid Lake that I took a few months ago. It was cold. About 10 degrees F with a 20 mph wind.

[Prospero]

While I'm at it, a few more. Two from Pyramid Lake that I took a few months ago. It was cold. About 10 degrees F with a 20 mph wind.

WOW, the first one is amazing. I love everything about it. Brilliant colours, composition and atmosphere.

I agree with Lukas about the second shot of your other post. I also think it's the best of the batch. I don't really like the last three, IMO they are lacking in foreground.
I also like the slightly more misty shot of this batch; very nice!

[Phill D]

Nicely done Raven, two very different shots. Is that a duck of some sort in the water on the first one?

[raven15]

It's not a duck, but it is some sort of waterfowl, I don't know what. I followed it up the shoreline about 100 feet as it swam by, trying to keep it in the frame and taking shots whenever it crested a wave. It was a spectacular morning, it was the first really cold day of the year so the warm water was steaming. I think it helped that part of the lake is geothermally heated (ie. hotspring). Basically I was throwing everything available in the foreground.

A few more, possibly better than the first, but I am not entirely sure I did the scene justice. I think I'm leaning toward the last one.