Planet Earth Collection:Your Best Landscape, River or Ocean and Major Land Features!

[Mike Spinak]

We're starting up another Picture "challenge", to go along with these. This one is:

1. Challenge, 2006_09 Landscape_01 Your image can have been taken on any date, all the way back to the beginning of the 20th century as long as you shot it!

2. Aim high, but don't be shy or hold back. The images cannot be snapshots. They have to be of a quality one would expect to be able to sell or show in a gallery. If in doubt, send the image to me first, but don't get mad at me if I decline. That's just my opinion, not the truth in any way.

3. 800 pixels largest side, jpg, sRGB, sharpened

4. Label your image, e.g. John Smith © 2006

5. Add a TITLE in text below the image, e.g., "Grand Canyon" or "Moon over Pacific Ocean"

6. Post by linking. Up to 3 entries per photographer.

7. Images deemed, subjectively, not to fit in with the challenge might be removed. (If there is big doubt, email the image to me first at w84u at mac.com.)

8. When we have enough entries, we will have the voting.

I'll get things started with one of my own:



Morning, Tenaya Lake
© Mike Spinak



(Don't vote on this one.)

Mike

www.mikespinak.com

[Asher Kelman]

I really love the picture. Have you tried printing it. If so would you use a textured paper and print matte or would you go for a glossy look?

How well will those deep blues print?

Asher

[Mike Spinak]

Hi, Asher,

I really love the picture. Have you tried printing it. If so would you use a textured paper and print matte or would you go for a glossy look?

How well will those deep blues print?

Thank you. Yes, I print it fairly often (usually 12"x18"), to fulfill sales orders. For pictures with a lot of dark tones, I prefer matte... it is too difficult to see dark portions of a picture through the reflections, when using glossy paper. However, I sell it as people want it: if they ask for it on glossy paper, then I give them what they want. (By the way, just to be clear about papers: I do all of my printing onto Fuji Crystal Archive, a light sensitive, silver halide, photographic paper, not an inkjet type of paper.) The deep blues print beautifully. The whole picture prints very nicely, even stuff like the details in the shadows of the foreground rock.

Mike

www.mikespinak.com

[Asher Kelman]

Which printer do you use and do they automatically fulfill your orders as they come in? BTW, what camera was this shot with?

Asher

[Mike Spinak]

I use different printers, depending on the price point. If a customer wants the best and is willing to pay extra for it, then I use a different printer than if the customer wants a nice print at an affordable price.

I don't use an automatic fulfillment service.

I made this picture with a Canon EOS 1Ds.

Mike

[Dierk Haasis]

Ahem, shouldn't a challenge have a title, an aim? What are we going for?

Thanks for the pointer: corected A.K.

[Mike Spinak]

It's about landscape pictures. I just used the term "challenge" because that is the title that the previous ones had. You can interpret as you'd like, and "challenge" yourself or "challenge" us with your landscape photography. Just show us landscapes you've made that you like, and I expect they will naturally lead to appreciation of beauty, good discussion, learning, and further sharing and discussion of more pictures, amongst all of us.

Mike

www.mikespinak.com

[John_Nevill]

Lovely picture Mike, its got all the components that i'd look for, color, composition, interest and curves.

Great benchmark to kickstart this one.

[Tim Gray]

3 for the "Major Land Features" Category :)


Kananaskis Country, Alberta Canada


Banff Jasper Highway, Alberta Canada


Athabasca Falls, Alberta Canada

[Mike Spinak]

Good stuff, Tim! I really like the first one (Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada). The third one (Athabasca Falls, Alberta, Canada) doesn't seem to be showing.

--------------------------------------

Thanks, John!


Mike

www.mikespinak.com

[Tim Gray]

Seems fine now??

[Mike Spinak]

After refreshing the page in my browser, I can see the third pic. Sorry about that.

I like all three. The top one is splendid.

Mike

[Roger Lambert]

I like all three!

The first is a stunner. A wonderful crop or framing. Seldom does one get a feel for the titanic size of large mountains, but that shot really conveys that well. Beautiful abstract feel to the image - it works in that sense as well. :)

The third image is pretty cool - the serenity of the lone pine, iso lated, with its vibrant color, juxtaposed against the sheer chaotic explosions behind it, in muted earth tones. An unusual and intiguing landscape for me. :)

[Roger Lambert]

Well, I am going to lay it on the line here. I think this may be the best image I have ever produced.

This is a blend of 5 exposures using an automated luminosity mask. An HDR image.

The scene is Arrowhead Lake in northern Vermont in Autumn. I was traveling between clients when I saw the lake, smooth as glass. I had never taken the typical water reflection photograph before, and this seemed like a great opportunity.

I wound up not making it to that next client, enjoying myself so much! I took a number of nice photographs in the exact opposite direction. And then I turned around - the Plan B that usually works better than Plan A, at least for me. :)

[Mary Bull]

Roger, speaking as a naive consumer of images, this is a picture I can look at for a long time.

It brings up memories of sunset lake views of my own, captured only in memory. That helps to make me at home in the scene.

I think of Radnor Lake, in Nashville, with similar colors, but without the stark tree branch to rivet my attention on the color. Green Lake at Interlochen, Michigan, where the very late, after-sunset, before full dark (9:00 p.m. EDT) time, put a magical violet glow upon both lake and sky--and upon my heart.

But beyond my free-associating in my own private memory, there is much new and satisfying in the image. And that's what keeps me looking a long time.

Thank you so very much for sharing this.

Mary

[StuartRae]

The images cannot be snapshots. They have to be of a quality one would expect to be able to sell or show in a gallery.

Well, that appears to exclude all but the professionals! I've raised the question "what is a snapshot?" in a seperate post, but I honestly have no idea whether I could sell or display any of my thousands of landscape photos.

However, with Asher's permission, I will strike a blow for the amateur.

Ten or twenty years ago, before my knees were shot, I used to spend all day in the hills, often returning as the sun was setting behind the mountains. Here are three random examples of photos (dare I call them snapshots?) taken in failing light. All are pre-digital and taken with an easy-to-carry 35mm camera.

The first one is of Innominate Tarn on Haystacks, where the author Alfred Wainwright requested that his ahes be scattered.
All I ask for, at the end, is a last long resting place by the side of Innominate Tarn on Haystacks, where the water gently laps the gravely shore and the heath blooms and Pillar and Gable keep unfailing watch.
A quiet place, a lonely place, I shall go to it for the last time and be carried: someone who knew me in life will take me and empty me out of a little box and leave me there alone.
And if you dear reader, should get a bit of grit in your boot as you are crossing Haystacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me!



Innominate Tarn, October 30th 1988
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The second is looking along Derwentwater. It was bitterly cold, already freezing, but with enough light left to see the last rowing boat heading for shore.



Derwentwater, November 2nd 1988
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The third is also of Derwentwater. We had run the last mile to catch the last ferry across the lake and save ourselves another 6 miles on foot. As I struggled up the shore away from the boat I realised everyone was looking behind me......



Derwentwater, November 6th 1994
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Regards,

Stuart

[Mary Bull]

Oh, Stuart, I have been to Derwent Water on my one trip to the UK and seen it in just such lovely light, or light as lovely, since light on water is never the same moment to moment, much less year to year.

These images are beautiful, and as a naive viewer (read amateur?) I thank you from the bottom of my heart for them.

Mary

[Don Lashier]

Hopefully the definition of "landscape" is broad enough to include "seascape".


Tidal Pool


Cape Fog


Wave

- DL

[Asher Kelman]

Don and Stuart,

Awesome and beautiful! Oh how beautiful!

Thanks,

Asher

[Don Lashier]

Originally Posted by Roger Lambert

The scene is Arrowhead Lake in northern Vermont in Autumn.

Very nice Roger. I like the juxtaposition of the near reflection and far reflection, and you very nicely brought out the close detail to balance the composition and prevent the bottom from fading out. Well done.

- DL

[Don Lashier]

Originally Posted by Asher Kelman

Don and Stuart,

Awesome and beautiful! Oh how beautiful!

and all done with AWB ;)

- DL

[Roger Lambert]

Originally Posted by Don Lashier

Very nice Roger. I like the juxtaposition of the near reflection and far reflection, and you very nicely brought out the close detail to balance the composition and prevent the bottom from fading out. Well done.

- DL

Thank you, Don. :)

The photo looks a lot better printed than on the monitor. Because there was no wind whatsoever, I could take multiple exposures and yet they all lined up quite well. On a print, you can see a whole lot of detail on the far shore, as well as see pebbles on the lake botton on the shore line.

Here is a crop that allows you to see the far shore better:

[Mike Spinak]

Originally posted by Asher Kelman

Don and Stuart,

Awesome and beautiful! Oh how beautiful!

Thanks,

I agree with Asher.

Since we seem to be developing a water theme, here's another:



First Light, Mono Lake

© Mike Spinak


www.mikespinak.com

[Don Cohen]

Some exquisite images here - I've enjoyed viewing them all.

I normally shoot birds/wildlife, but do try my hand at landscapes when the opportunity is there. There was certainly gorgeous scenery everywhere I went during a 3-week trip around the Southern Island in New Zealand. Here's my contribution to this thread, from that trip:

Lake Matheson Sunset:



Lee Bay:



Somewhere between Kaikoura and Greymouth:

[Don Lashier]

Originally Posted by Mike Spinak

First Light, Mono Lake

Beautiful Mike. If I'm allowed a little critique here, I would experiment with cropping a little less off the top. My eye wants to see the pink band in the sky continue, and reciprocity between the top and bottom. I realize this would "uncenter" the mass but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

- DL

[Mike Spinak]

I would experiment with cropping a little less off the top. My eye wants to see the pink band in the sky continue, and reciprocity between the top and bottom. I realize this would "uncenter" the mass but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Thanks, but this is just the way I want it. I'd rather keep only the strongest parts, and leave the viewer wanting more, than lead the viewer's eye up into an uninteresting area. If you saw the pre-cropped version, I expect you'd agree with my cropping decision.

Cheers,

Mike

[Dierk Haasis]

Three times Noth Sea:


On the Beach



Holding Fast



Winter Haze

[Mary Bull]

How beautiful these images of the North Sea are!

I have been waiting for others to post a response to them. Others, more nearly your peers, Dierk, than I am.

But, here goes:

The near-monochrome "Winter Haze" is stunning and it has held my attention for a long time in several viewing sessions here.

I like all three images very much.

"On the Beach" called up a tangle of emotions--the title sets the tone, resonating as it does with Nevil Shute's 1959 novel of the same title, and the movie made from it, directed by Stanley Kramer (also in 1959).

I am quite sure the title of your picture was carefully chosen and that the resonance with Shute's and Kramer's work is no accident.

"Holding Fast" partakes for me of the same resonance. The muted colors, the sense of bleakness.

But of the three images which you offer here, "On the Beach" is my favorite. It's the beautiful range of blues that you captured, which I drink in like brilliant poetry.

Mary

[Mike Spinak]

I'm bringing this back to the top, to keep it going.




Alabama Hills with Storm over the White Mountains, #3

© Mike Spinak


Come on folks, let's see some more landscapes.

Mike

www.mikespinak.com

[Mary Bull]

Originally Posted by Mike Spinak

I'm bringing this back to the top, to keep it going.
< image deleted to save thread space >

Mike, I don't have any landscapes which are not merely snapshot quality. And my battery charger died last Saturday, so I can't go trying my novice hand at them right now. But, BH-Photo came through with my package this afternoon and a fully charged battery now sits in my G2. Just in time for tomorrow's storms..

I have seen these Alabama mountains. Got many kinfolks in Alabama.

I very much appreciate the bold colors and horizontal planes in your image.

Come on folks, let's see some more landscapes.

I second the motion. I have enjoyed this series very much.

Mary