Yosemite's Palette

Gallery: LandscapePosted May 28, 2010393 views28 comments

Captured this one over the Mother's Day weekend in Yosemite with Harley, Jason and my lurker buddy Kyle. This was on Mother's Day and it started raining as we were set to head for home. You may recognize the main tree on the left as I have photographed this grouping of trees countless times over the years. I tried to get something different and in the end, sometimes you just can't do any better than previous attempts. I do much prefer Jason's image over this one. Taken within a few minutes of each other and probably not too far apart either.

The larger version isn't that great. The wind was blowing pretty steadily with a light rain on and off, so the leaves are moving. I tried to keep the saturation in check so I hope this comes across as pretty natural. I like it enough to post, but not my best trees.

All comments welcome.

4x5, V100, Nikkor 300mm, f/16 @ 1s.

thanks!

Lon

ps. Images like this are a b**** when it comes to saving for the web. the large version had to be saved at 50% quality to keep under the 500k.

Comments

28 comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on May 28, 2010 at 8:49 PM

Still a beauty to me Lon - lovely soft colors and nice details.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Raymond Marlow on May 28, 2010 at 9:14 PM

I like this capture especially in the smaller version seems a shame you have to break quality down by 50 percent or more in many cases. great composition and lighting in the trees as always, nice work

Registered on October 15, 2008, 158 Posts, 531 Comments

Comment posted by Michael R Reynolds on May 28, 2010 at 9:15 PM

Lon, the colors in this image are just amazing. Rain or not, you always seem to come away with a fantastic composition. Really well done.

Registered on February 26, 2008, 54 Posts, 812 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Windom on May 28, 2010 at 9:16 PM

I really like the diagonal lines and the colors created by the early Spring growth. Nice stuff!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 176 Posts, 2302 Comments

Comment posted by Bruno Silva on May 28, 2010 at 9:19 PM

by the thumb I knew it was your´s! beautiful work, lon! the large version is quite impressive, lots of detail all around. love the color mix here. great work Lon with you´re signature, off course!

Registered on May 6, 2009, 132 Posts, 1406 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on May 28, 2010 at 9:41 PM

I think both yours and Jason's image look great. I'm impressed with the different colors that come through. You both seem to have a different sense of white balance for the scene and both seem just right.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Gabi Lach on May 28, 2010 at 11:51 PM

Very pretty shot with refreshing pastel colors. Beautifully designed and captured. Great stuff, Lon.

Registered on May 1, 2007, 101 Posts, 3187 Comments

Comment posted by Youssef Ismail on May 29, 2010 at 12:00 AM

Wow, Lon, your work is always very sensitive and really captures the essence of the subject. It is amazing how different the colror paletes are between yours and Jason's.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 474 Posts, 5555 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Dayton on May 29, 2010 at 12:03 AM

As always, Lon, I enjoy your tree pix. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on November 11, 2008, 281 Posts, 3958 Comments

Comment posted by Vance Gese on May 29, 2010 at 1:29 AM

This is gorgeous Lon. You truly have a gift for making incredible images of trees. The lovely lines of the tree trunks are so well balanced in your composition and evoke a wonderful sense of movement. The varied colors in the leaves with that soft light are just superb. Really a stunning image.
You must really have an excellent sense and method for determining the optimal focus point to shoot with a 300mm on a 4x5 at f16 and have adequate DOF for an image like this. I realize you were trying for as short a shutter speed as possible due to the breeze. Excellent work. Really wish I had something like this in my portfolio. Fantastic art.

Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on May 29, 2010 at 1:32 AM

You're the master of this subject, Lon! Looks terrific to me. Personally, i love a square crop of the bottom 2/3, it looks very mysterious to me.

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Dietrich Gloger on May 29, 2010 at 4:10 AM

A agree with Stan, you have mastered this subject. It is a subtle effect, but I like what the bg does here. The orange/yellows in the lower part of the comp. add a lot, and this alternates with the colors at the top where the bg is "just" rock.

Registered on January 26, 2007, 360 Posts, 9876 Comments

Comment posted by INGOMA on May 29, 2010 at 8:52 AM

Beautiful, Lon. There is really nothing I can suggest here. Your images are inspirational and instructive for aspiring tree photographers like me.

Registered on July 2, 2004, 231 Posts, 3110 Comments

Comment posted by Gary McGhee on May 29, 2010 at 8:58 AM

The larger version looks great to me Lon. I just had a quick look through your gallery and all you tree photo's look great.

Cheers, Gary.

Registered on April 15, 2010, 142 Posts, 2416 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on May 29, 2010 at 9:48 AM

Another wonderful capture of these great old valley floor trees. A very recognizable thumbnail among the many on the page, Lon. I do of course also recognize this tree grouping that you have posted before, but it does have it's own spin going on here too. These trees really do hold an excellent composition from most angles apparently as witnessed in the images you have posted here.
There does seem to be a very noticeable difference in the finished processing of the image between yours and Jason's. The trace of red/magenta always seems to come out stronger on the 100f over the other Velvia's including the 50. Nothing bad either way, just an observation on my part anyway.
I also understand your frustration with the compression issue. Anything with all this smaller fine detail especially with leaves is a real challenge. I actually processed a large group of aspen trees yesterday that finished off at a 43.

Registered on February 25, 2006, 525 Posts, 8448 Comments

Comment posted by Jeffrey Sipress on May 29, 2010 at 12:09 PM

Yes, this is classic 'Lon' all the way. Great palette. Jpegging this type of image is a nightmare, so I let my mind tell me how nice this print must be.

Registered on February 17, 2004, 236 Posts, 1197 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on May 29, 2010 at 1:01 PM

Total enjoyment looking at this Lon. Beautiful!! The colors are fantastic and so is your composition. So well done!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, Wi.

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Luis Argerich on May 29, 2010 at 3:09 PM

To me this is a perfect balance between shape and color.
Fantastic work!

Registered on December 22, 2009, 91 Posts, 1349 Comments

Comment posted by David Edwards on May 30, 2010 at 5:39 AM

I love the soft pastel coloring. The bg haze of blue sets a wonderful canvas for the reds and greens. A beautiful image, Lon.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 142 Posts, 2623 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on May 30, 2010 at 9:31 AM

A very sweet image Lon. The subtle pastels in the background are delightful.

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Younes Bounhar on May 30, 2010 at 10:36 AM

Vintage Overacker! A really lovely colour palette and soothing composition.

Registered on November 25, 2007, 81 Posts, 1234 Comments

Comment posted by Julian Barkway on May 30, 2010 at 1:44 PM

Sheer arboreal pulchritude. Can only be an Overacker....

Registered on January 18, 2007, 344 Posts, 1961 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Adamus on May 30, 2010 at 3:25 PM

Wow, man. You and those trees. Striking! Such a wonderful and varied color palette too.

Registered on September 17, 2005, 780 Posts, 8091 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on May 30, 2010 at 6:29 PM

Exquisitely beautiful texture and color. Your comp of the trunks has nice structure and flow. Another excellent photograph from you.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Jimmy Gekas on May 31, 2010 at 1:32 AM

Another Lon classic! I'm loving all the different colors

Registered on July 26, 2007, 244 Posts, 2807 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Baumbach on May 31, 2010 at 12:05 PM

Another beauty, Lon. I love the color palette and even thought there are a lot of branches, it never gets chaotic.

- Dan

Registered on November 1, 2003, 473 Posts, 7980 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on May 31, 2010 at 1:00 PM

Lovely colors, Lon, that mix of orange and green is to die for. Wish I could have made it up that weekend!

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by Jason Blankenship on June 1, 2010 at 7:56 PM

Very nice Lon! I actually think my shot was from the next day after you left. I have a similar shot from that spot when you were there but it was a horizontal comp...doesn't work nearly as well as the vertical.

Registered on May 20, 2008, 15 Posts, 94 Comments