I thought it would be interesting to post some photos that I feel mediocre about, photos that some might like but I personally don’t. There’s also one whos composition I completely missed in the field. I’m certainly curious to see what others think. Unfortunately due to my slow rate of follower growth (not that I’m upset) the feedback will certainly be limited.
We’ll start with the photo above. I look at this photo and see a nice composition; the sun from behind lighting up the yellow grass in the background, the sand dune with a some nice gradients, and a yucca growing out of neatly combed sand. But it’s definitely a poor photograph due to pixelation and color. When I shot this, I wanted a scene with the sun in the frame. A huge ball of light shining on these dunes right behind what little foliage there was sounded interesting to me. I set the camera settings to try and not blow too much of the sun out (some was okay) and took the photo with hopes of not crushing the darks too much. Well I crushed them too much AND it’s a poor composition. The photo you see here is a severe crop. I think I was moving too quickly when I took this photo. If I saw it in post processing – I should’ve seen it in the field. A lesson for next time!
As we were walking out away from the road to get away from dunes tainted by footprints I noticed this little…mushroom? I have no idea what it is but it certainly looks like a mushroom. I’m just surprised it’s growing in such a barren place. On the drive to the park we read that the gypsum has some interesting water-retaining qualities which lead to it not being blown away. Perhaps that’s how this little guy is living. I digress… There is definitely a picture here though I don’t think this is it. A few different angles were tried but I ended up with this one to show the mushroom shape but there’s little interest in the background. Perhaps I could’ve moved around and gotten a different low angle that would’ve shown more dunes in the background. Visiting White Sands National Park again is definitely on my list to do again soon but the GPS was off – I highly doubt I can find this little guy again.
I’ll show off another photo next week with this butterfly perched on the plant. This is one that I felt I should’ve had a different angle. Like the photo above, there doesn’t feel like much to look at behind the butterfly. I definitely feel like there was some potential for this situation (airborne butterfly) but whatever it was, I missed it.
Finally I’ll talk about this tree (or something). This photo is definitely on the ‘not quite’ list. The difference in texture is fun. I like how there seems to be chaos up close in the tree but the background is peaceful and calming with the sun showing off the contours on the dunes. The angle is certainly part of what causes the chaos so I think I like that part. It might have been nice to wait and see if I could fit clouds between the branches better. I’m not entirely sure but I know I don’t want this hanging on my wall.