Same picture as vazaar.com/user:ErikUnger/photos/id:33289/ , this time the flower is much sharper. I've been getting mixed opinions on which one is better. Some like it sharp, some like it soft. Any opinions?

The bokeh is so beautiful on this on that you really don't need to muck it up with the soft focus effect on the other one. I MUCH prefer this one!!

I agree with Beamer, the flower has much more to say this way.

ajo das war im wunderschönen Colorado

the mood that youve been able to capture with this shot, is utterly fantastic.
there is soo much emotion and so much story behind it..
i think its awesome!
and i actually like the square format for the photo..
i think it makes a greater distinction between the road and the infinite sky..
but awesome shot!!

Thanks

The look works perfectly for this picture. The runner, the car, and the power lines make a great horizontal line across the middle of the picture. I'd also have to agree with cropping the sky just a bit. Very nice work.

do you feel the heat? beautiful capture.

Wow, this is magnificent! Nothing needs to be said!

Very beautiful and the colors are amazing. I must say, I am very jealous of all the amazing JT pictures you are able to take.

Thanks Erik, it helps when you live an hour and a half away!! I call JT my church. It's where I go to recharge and talk to God without religion getting in the way.

The colours are amazing...
I also like the way the fern (?) breaks up the long straight horizontal cloud.

@Jan: Thanks! The plant you refer to is commonly know as a Joshua Tree, the namesake of the National Park. It is in the Yucca family. This is a young tree with only one stalk, examples of more mature trees:

www.vazaar.com/user:Beamer/photos/id:33257/
www.vazaar.com/user:Beamer/photos/id:29280/

Nice "firey" treatment Will. I like it all except in the exposed sky I would like to see some color not pure white. Maybe a little pass thru Lens Distortion correction also?

looks quite smooth and warm...
well i prever from forest pictures theese melancholic black and white pictures, but this one is also cool

I think that the perspective and colours work exceptionally well here to convey a sense of "autumn". The shadows also play off nicely with the backlighting and dark trunks to help set the mood of the sun still low in the sky. Nice work.

oo
i love love love this shot!
ive always wanted to spend a fall in a place like this...
youve captured the very essence of the season..
great shot!

Lighting and colors are fantastic. It's just the shame the sky is a bit blown out, but even then, it is still a very nice picture.

These are some wild colors man!! I like all 3 of these. Tell us some about your lighting setup, please.

Thank you. I am actually pretty lucky with how these turned out. Took them with the Cannon 100mm f2.8 macro lens. I didn't have a tripod on hand, nor do I have a ringlight flash or a good flash for that matter. It was mid afternoon (about 4pm) and the light was hitting them almost directly at low angle. Took the shots by hand set to aperture mode, and just kept experimenting with different apertures trying to get the most detailed shot with a fast enough shutter.

The lighting pretty much came out that way to begin with, but with a little messing around the blacks in raw.

Very cool Erik, nice work for sure!!

Colour - great. DoF - great. Composition - great. Exposure - great. Subject - great. So what do I think of this image - great! Well done, Clyde, I wouldn't change a thing.

It almost looks alive! Great lighting and dof.

Interesting capture

Great I love the color and the composition of this one.

Nice frame and great work with shadows

Beautiful picture. Where exactly is this?

Thanks Erik!
This picture was taken in Nikko, Japan. It's a little town north of Tokyo.

Thanks. Again, very nice. I went to Japan this summer, mainly around Kyoto, but I will be going back next summer and ma looking at different places to go.

I really like this image a lot. Have you tried dodging some of the spectators just a bit to bring them out a little more? Great job.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I agree with most that the lower 1/3 of the image is too dark. For most displays the contrast is just too low here. I played with this for days and the more I tried to lighten it the worse it got. There just isn't enough there to boost it much more than I have. This image does look great printed though, so overall I am happy with it.

Oh and I should also point out that this is a self portrait. That's my big head in the way there. The purpose of the image was the silhouette not the fireworks. Something I have wanted to do for a long time.

This is a great shot. I would crop it off just below the horizon. I might even crop into the top of the fireworks which would give the viewer a clearer story.

VERY nice, missed this one, really well done. I do agree with the comments about a little too much at the bottom. How long was this exposure?

Thanks Beamer.

Lens: 18 mm | Aperture: f 7.1 | Shutter: 15 sec | ISO: 100

The three fireworks were in succession not at the same time. This was the only one I jumped in front of that night. All my friends (sitting in front of me) had a good laugh at me for not watching the fireworks. I was too busy "working".

Great subject, very nicely done!! The B&W is great here, love the hint of tint in the midtones, unless that is just my monitor. The detail is great, very sharp, very straight.

Crisp and very nicely done. I don't think that I would change a thing. Great work.

The B&W works great with this.

This is wonderful. I am curious of what the color version does look like though!

Absolutely amazing photo! This is a personal favorite. Just outstanding!!!

beautifull colors not very original but i like

Great shot, Clyde. Just goes to show that some of the older gear in the right hands could/can make a pretty fearsome image. Love the detail and the depth of field from foreground to sky.

Very nice! I like old cameras. This is Real Photography! Excellent scanner result. I wish I had one.

Great sky, very vivid. Not sure about the snow drift in the front tho....

Looks great. Can't believe this is from 1979. Great shot, colors, and details.