Gauss Loc: Earth

If I understand what lighthouse is saying, it might go something like this. I'm hiking and see this cool, gnarly pine tree near tree line. If I just take a shot or two, they're snapshots with subject first and composition and light an afterthought or not considered. But, if I take time to check different angles, different shooting positions, the light, etc. this will affect my shot - hopefully for the better. Maybe I wait for a cloud to cover the sun, or I decide on a close-up of part of the tree rather than the whole thing. This is putting the subject after the composition and light, even though the subject ultimately came first as it started the process.



I don't think this is really a hijacking because it does apply to OP. I'm guessing that Bloke not only likes bare trees but would like to take better pictures of them. Like him, and lighthouse, I've got pictures like this too. And considering what lighthouse said, it's because I did subject first. It's a habit I want to eliminate; I want composition and light to become my habit. Threads like this, in this forum will help me start down that path.

There is another thing that's important in making a great photograph - craftsmanship. A blogger I recently read put it this way, great craftsmanship is necessary but not sufficient to make a great photograph. It's the composition, light, story - the artistry - that ultimately bumps an image. Being one who has a large collection of regular photos, I use them to build my skills at craftsmanship - as minnie has done here, essentially making the most of an ordinary image. What I learn can be applied to my better images as well as to my thinking when I'm shooting and trying to put artistry before subject.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Very well put Gauss.
I'd also like to add that i very much like what the girls did with post work too.
They elevated this image to beyond a snapshot by seeing something that I did not see in the original.
They made the shot about the trees and it has magically transformed them from "trees in a big picture" to the "dominant element".
Maybe they brought it up to the original vision that Bloke had for this image?

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

I like the sky you got... It has a lot more 'oomph' than my original!

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Yes, I want to learn to take better photos. I am a bit put-out by the suggestion (whoever it was from...) that I just snapped this and went on my way. This is one of several hundred shots I took on a cold and windy day. I tried many different angles and compositions. This just happened to be the one I chose to post first. I am not claiming that the others will be world-beaters or anything, just that I *did* spend a lot of time working on composition, and trying to get the right light.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Hi Bloke, it was me.
I didn't mean that you didn't work at it.
I suppose part of what i meant was that sometimes the composition or the light might just not be available, no matter how long we spend at it.
We want there to be a shot there because we like the subject, but its just not there.
Maybe the answer is to go in a different season, or a different time of day, or closer, or with a different lens.
Looking at the girls very slight crops of your original, a longer lens and a touch of processing made the day.
I have no problem saying that you and they saw something in it that I didn't see.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

That's ok. My problem is in seeing the 'good' shot myself... Everything I shoot, I think is good when I shoot it, or else I wouldn't bother. I am just learning the whole PP side of things, and I manipulate the photos to what *I* think is good. I guess I have trouble in knowing *why* a shot looks better with a different edit. I am using an SX50, so I don't have different lenses, although I do have a heap of focal lengths to play with.

I am just trying to learn *what* makes a photo *good*, as opposed to a snapshot... I know what I like, but then someone changes it, and I can see that it is better. Why can't I see the better picture that is in there at the start?
It's late, and I am just rambling here. I have a lot to learn - and that's why I hang out here!

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

I think this shot provided a good example. What you think is good might be even better with a little pp work. This example showed how much was hidden in your sky just waiting to be brought out. More color was there in the field, too. It's well worth spending the time learning how to make some basic adjustments so you can bring out the beauty that is already in your photos just waiting to come out.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

For the sake of this rather interesting discussion, I asked myself what might have made me take this shot, if I were Bloke. May not be his steps, but some of them might be similar.
1. The light looks pretty good this afternoon, soft and diffused, no harshness. Think I'll go look for something to shoot. Colors may be a little dulled out but I can deal with that in PP.
2. Those are nice clouds forming over yonder, need to get them in the shot, I can make them pop with (fill in the blank- photoshop, elements, NIK viveza, Topaz)
3. Aha! My favorite, a clump of bare trees. Those lacy branches will look good against those clouds but I'll probably have to fight halo-ing in PP.
4. Got some decent overlapping layers here, trees in front, fields in middle, farm and more trees in back. Let me get my big trees out of the center of the frame.
5. Yeah, that small tree on the hill in the field can give me some balance on the left. Big trees on right, little tree on left
6. Great! a cute cow standing beside little tree. Even better. Be sure to make her show up in post.

To me, it is first about light but bad light seldom keeps me from trying. After light, it turns into something like baking a cake. I assemble the ingredients - light, subject, composition, color to see if I have enough ingredients to make something. It is interesting to know how others go about it this process.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

:thumbup: :thumbup: You take great photos and also express yourself very well, Minniev. Thanks for sharing this thought process of how photos come to be.