Balanced Rock Photo

Photographer’s Note

Location: This precarious rock formation is known as Balanced Rock. It's located in Arches National Park, Utah.

About the Photo: This photo was taken in the late afternoon just before sunset. It has some flaws, but I still like it.

Robbienight, gp_pl, ramthakur, tjanze, kermit350, Floydian, mjdundee has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

fkk (1806) 2006-05-22 2:34

Merhaba Ryan;
Cok etkileyici ve gösterisli bir fotograf olmus, renkler, kompozisyon ve düsünce gercekten mükemmel, tebrikler Ryan....

Great job...

catman-fatih

gp_pl (1394) 2006-05-22 2:39

Hi Ryan,
this is a wonderful subject but your picture is amazing too. Nice colours, contrast and focus. Excellent DOF. Congartulation.
regards
Grzesiek

ramthakur (1501) 2006-05-22 3:03

Hey Ryan!
You have no reason to denounce such a beautiful image.
Everything is perfect in it and I love it!
I like the slanting light illuminating portions of flowers and other vegetation in the foreground.
The warming tone suits this image like the proverbial glove.
You deserve great praise for this beautiful image.
Ram

Amandine (1028) 2006-05-22 3:13

Very nice pic Ryan, the association rock/flowers is very intersting, the donwing sun give here a beautifull golden light. Well done

GerdVDC (836) 2006-05-22 3:26

Hello Ryan,

This is a magnificent shot. I love the vibrant colours and the softer tones in the sky. It's a strong composition with the vegetation in the foreground and the intriguing rock formation as the main subject. Excellent work!

All the best,
Gerd

krysia (4004) 2006-05-22 3:27

Hello Ryan,
Wonderful photo with grat colours, sense of depth and pov.
Congratulations,

markstaples (15670) 2006-05-22 3:29

A superb shot with great lighting and colours. The composition has been carefully thought out with good foreground interest leading through to the rock. Great DOF.
Best wishes
Mark

tjanze (5674) 2006-05-22 3:38

Hi Ryan!
Interesting motive,good composition.Flowers in front works perfect.Beautiful light on all photo.

Cruize (0) 2006-05-22 5:03

Very nice use of light Ryan...it has created an almost 3D image with incredible depth. The colours are great too.

Regards
Vernon

kermit350 (8994) 2006-05-22 5:04

Hello Ryan, pretty framework or appear of pretty color in this place of rather mineral Utah and filter employs it is not so badly share general report/ratio with the colour of the image as well as the exposure with the assistance of the wind in fact a quite dynamic image, in a friendly way

mdetay (4362) 2006-05-22 5:23

Hi Ryan,
Well done. This is a typical TE picture. Good POV, excellent colors. Congratulation. TFS, Cheers.
Michel

luisafonso (858) 2006-05-22 6:56

I have mixed feelings about this one. I am not against these warming filters, though I am not really sure if it was needed here. Since the deep earth colors are already warmed by the late afternoon light, the filter just overstretched that feeling. I would prefer to see the sky without it... But it is the shadows that bug me more. In my opinion, the foreground lacks some character being almost covered with shadow. I like the nicely balanced composition.

fallan (1860) 2006-05-22 12:07

Never point out the things you don't like about a photo and most won't notice. Other than the warming filter, I don'think I would have. I really like the compostion and lighting. Nice job.

kensimage (8545) 2006-05-22 14:20

Hi Ryan, you are brave to point out the flaws in your own picture! I think it's very successful overall--the only really big improvement would be to wait and catch the balanced rock at the moment it falls, hoping that happens during sunset light ;-). The warming filter is unnecessary due to the very-late-afternoon light, but I don't think it's harmful, the clouds would have had some of that tint anyway. The foreground shadows are great, adding nice drama, especially with the light on the flowers like a spotlight. Blurry flowers are a very small minus, but what could you do? I think overall the shot is dramatic and beautiful. Regards, Ken.

rosaline (0) 2006-05-22 14:32

Hi Ryan
I notice you used an ND grad. The .3 is usually subtle in its effect but is quite noticeable here because the light is already warm. I use an 81A and 81B filter myself but not when the light is already very warm, as this spoils the colours and even PP work can't save the picture. I think you need to be very careful when warming up the scene and only use the warm up when the light is flat, or when the scene is cloudy or very faintly lit. The blurr and shadows are not too much of a problem but the colour of the sky is, as it's a touch unnatural.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Aubrey
PS By the way, it's a cracking image!!!

servin (474) 2006-05-22 15:52

magnifiques!!!
merci pour le partage

recepyuksel (17786) 2006-05-23 5:47

wonderful composition with warm colurs.
best wishes

bboss (3570) 2006-05-24 8:47

Hi Ryan,
A beautiful photo but I suppose its only natural that you are more critical than most of the critics. Now you mention it it does look a little too warm, but I quite like the blurred flowers. Of course its easy to be wise after the event but I wonder if f22 was really necessary (how close were you to the flowers?). If you could have used f11 (f8 even) then overall the flowers may have looked sharper as you could have used a significantly shorter shutter speed. Did you use a nd grad and a warming filter? you could have saved another stop there as well.
Aalso you could have underexposed it a little and brought it back in post processing, not good for a slideI guess but good for web imagery. (I think like this as I cant be bothered to carry a tripod!).
But hey, its pretty wonderful as it is!!
cheers, David

Floydian (30970) 2006-05-24 9:59

Hi Ryan,
Don't tell anyone what kind of problems you had to deal with. As long we don't know, we really dont see it.
For me this one is high class in great light.
Thanks for sharing...wonderful light..great shot..!!!
Regards, Henk

Polonaise (5640) 2006-05-25 10:57

Somehow different and very charming way of showing the Utah's treasure.
Usually, we see gazillions of the 'other' POV, with rough red sand and the archy rocks, but this time you expose us Ryan to another kind of perception.
Gentle flowers, greenery, and the rocks! Yes...rocks !!
Is it my imagination Ryan, or I just see some shapes resembling, well...another kind of perception?
No.It is not my imagination. I've already asked my wife and her lady friend, and their 'first' reaction was...YES! It is, hm..The other kind !!!
This way or another - pure marvel.

(chuckling) George

Emmie76 (2009) 2006-05-25 15:51

Hi Ryan,
You have quite an impressive gallery. I clicked on this one because I am fascinated by the work of erosion. We have a great exemple here. This rock formation is beautiful. I like the foreground you included (even with the blurry flowers) and the color of the sky given by the use of filter.
Emma

fotobram (386) 2006-05-25 16:20

The photo has the shortcomings that you mention yourself :-)
Apart from that it is an enjoyable scene.

Bram

rmatthews (941) 2006-05-30 19:09

Nice job Ryan.

Pretty good getting the foreground and background in focus w/out using a view camera. This image just screams for a larger view with more detail. Nice framing, nice color, good exposure...shouldn't get too hung up on the 'flaws'...I can't find a single Ansel Adams photo that doesn't have them as well.

Very nice image.

Rodrigues (995) 2006-06-02 17:23

Flaws? Come on Ryan, this is another great shot (I particulary like important foregrounds, despite the scale inducing error). Once again you made an excelent framing, the foreground shadows are atracting attention to the foreground flowers, good usw of the rule of thirds (al least horizontally speaking), and of course the location looks wonderfull.

MDL (1062) 2006-06-03 1:26

Nice picture, I like the flowers on the front and background's stone/sky, the lights is perfect.

mjdundee (3532) 2006-06-13 11:27

Hello Ryan,
Great saturation of colours and POV.
Perfect timing at the very right place. TFS Thomas

ccooper (836) 2006-06-19 21:40

Ryan,
Great composition of the many facets of nature here in this beautiful place. The flowers are a great contrast against the hard rock. What a beautiful balance of elements.

cdmonson (2789) 2008-04-23 13:59

Hi Ryan:

I've meant to critique this one for a while, but you keep posting others. :) Seeing it on the front page of TE though, I couldn't pass it up. Composition-wise I love this shot, and the lighting is quite nice as well. I can see how you might talk about flaws such as slightly over-exposed clouds, but otherwise, there's nothing I can complain about. Great job.

Clark