Fall in the Hole Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is a fall shot that I took while hiking in the Gros Ventre Wilderness. The sun had just fallen behind the Grand Teton mountain range, minutes before. Again, looking for advice. Is there too much black in the foreground? etc. Thanks.

Nobody has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

trinko (2940) 2006-10-03 23:58

very nice colors. i like the black in the front. i think ou could sharpen the ridgeline and the clouds a bit though.

lglase (78) 2007-10-22 20:39

What a view! The elements in the composition are great - nice balance of water, trees, mountains and sky. You certainly have an eye for composition.

In response to your note:

There are some situations where allowing the foreground to go dark, resulting in silhouetting the foreground is desirable. You are the artist, and it is your decision. If you are of the mind that the foreground is too dark, however, (and given the chance to take the shot again) I would recommend metering on the trees of the mountain in the middle ground -- that will give you a medium exposure of the foreground. However, it also means that the sky will be overexposed.

You can compensate for this by using an neutral density graduated filter (ND grad). What that does is block some of the light from the upper half of the frame, so your highlights are not overexposed, and your darker areas are not underexposed.

It definately takes practice to know where to meter when setting up your composition, and how to calculate your exposure settings.

Thanks for sharing,

Lorna