FIERY FURNACE OVERLOOK Photo

Photographer’s Note

I spotted this nicefully tanned young couple at the Fiery Furnace overlook of the Arches National Park. From this overlook you can observe the different colors of rocks and ground covers. These biological soil crust that have different colors are alive. It is called cryptobiotic soil. This crust covers much of the untrammeled desert. Composed of cyanobacteria, lichen, algae and fungi, it combats erosion, absorbs moisture and provides nitrogen and nutrients for plant growth.

I have revised this photo per ZMey's critique. I adjusted the over saturation of colors. Revised photo may be seen in the WORKSHOP

Nikon D90
2009/06/03 12:34:54.00
JPG (8-bit)converted from RAW (12 bit)
Image Size: Large (4288 x 2848)
Color
Lens: Nikkor VR 18-200 F/3.5-4.6G
Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure Comp.: -0.5 EV
Shutter Speed: 1/750s
Aperture: F/8
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Optimize Image: More Vivid
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-S
Flash Sync Mode: Not Attached
Color Mode: Mode III (Adobe sRGB)
Tone Comp.: High Contrast
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Enhanced
Sharpening: High
Image Comment: Copyright (C) 2009 Andre' Salvador
Long Exposure NR: Off
High ISO NR: Off

Nobody has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

zmey (7248) 2009-06-19 10:00

The rock formations are magnificient, but I suspect, either saturation or WB is off on this one; the mid-day sky looks almost purple.

Regards,
Kristaps

DannyJ (282) 2009-06-19 10:07

Beautiful landscape...everything is tack sharp too! As Zmey noted, however, their is an overpowering reddish tint that could easily be fixed. Nice work overall though!

coco (27820) 2009-06-19 12:09

Hi Andre.

Technically this is a very nice and interesting photo. Maybe I miss a more important point for us, but the whole photo looks good.

Well done.

rlrad (1187) 2009-06-19 14:54

Hi Andre,

Well, I know what the others are complaining about and it happens to me when I set my D300 to vivid and crank the saturation up, too.

I just happen to like the saturation in that mode, myself, at least for landscapes. I take it to neutral mode for people, so they don't look like they are in the beginning stages of liver failure.

What we have here is a combination of folks and fodder - the folks are a little too dark and the contrast is a little high to correctly portray the true color of skin. You did another thing I would have done, which was put the actual lens focus on the people. The people are in total focus and very sharp. The hills in the background are a little out of focus because of the f8 aperture - I find with my 18-200vr that f13 is the optimum for getting a wide range of area in focus when it is under 60mm zoom or so. I almost never care about a wide depth of field when zoomed in closer, I generally want it shallow so I kick it way down.

Yeah, if the people were not there, the people complaining would probably not have noticed so much. But with the people missing, there are many who might not look, too. Interesting place this TE!

Well, you know all this, I'm not even sure why I am explaining - you've been here considerably longer than me!

Anyway, my complaint with this shot is that you wrote on it. If you feel the need to mark your photos, make it small and unobtrusive, or create a small frame and put it there. I also put (C)R. Radcliffe in the text field of the EXIF data for every shot, like you, too.

Otherwise, I like the shot because it has some humans looking on at the Fiery Furnace, not just a bunch of rocks and formations that might be anywhere in Utah. I like your description of cryptobiotic soil and the addition of the exif data from your camera. Right there everyone can see why it's saturated. Because you made it that way!

Anyway, have a great day!
Reed

mkamionka (4412) 2009-07-06 2:03

Hi Andre,
I love Utah.
Your shot is fantastic: including the couple was a great idea. They fit very well and and some more "action" to the scene.
Colors are incredible, The composition very original.
TFS,
M