Yin and Yang

Gallery: LandscapePosted February 23, 2015307 views18 comments

Went for a drive yesterday afternoon expecting to have to travel a fair ways to find something interesting to shoot, given that the landscape near where I live is pretty bland but luckily didn't have to travel more than a few miles before finding this scene. I thought it would make a good location to shoot the sunset from so I returned there just as the sun was setting. The sky really was that brilliant and I liked how the patterns in it appeared to be the inverse of the ones in the snow drifts to give this image an abstract quality.

The wind was pretty strong when I took this shot so if the image appears a little grainy in the foreground it primarily a result of the blowing snow not noise.(If anyone has a great suggestion for a title let me know, I have nothing)

Thanks for looking.

D800
70-200
F/11
1/200
ISO 800
78mm

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Rick Turner on February 23, 2015 at 3:11 PM

Wow. This is very different and I like it

Not sure why you choose ISO 800 but

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by D.A. Edwards on February 23, 2015 at 6:44 PM

Has a nice yin-yang feel to it, Carey. Hot/cold, blue/yellow, left/right as you mentioned. I will say that it looks outside of my comfort zone.

There's a bright white pixel only noticeable on the large version, one third in from the right side, about half way up for you to clone out.

Registered on October 8, 2014, 226 Posts, 1187 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on February 23, 2015 at 9:00 PM

Perfect! I would say more but I got frustrated looking for the bright pixel...

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on February 23, 2015 at 10:02 PM

You had some beautiful light. I like the warm / cool contrast. I also like the "Z" formed by the foreground drifts as they recede to the distant shoreline. It's also nice how the swoosh around the clouds near the sun seems to echo the form of the foreground drifts. I would recommend dialing back on the contrast / saturation a bit.

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on February 23, 2015 at 11:07 PM

The colors and multiple gently curving patterns are simply awesome. Sometimes the best title is no title - let the image speak for itself. Very nicely done!!

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on February 24, 2015 at 10:54 AM

I'm intrigued both by the pattern in the snow and the pattern in the sky. Very effective combination, they complement each other both in form and color.

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on February 24, 2015 at 11:27 AM

The large photo is a must see here. I didn't appreciate this fully until I saw the large version last night on the big monitor with the lights turned off. The lighting on those snow drifts is amazing. It reminded of those slow rollers that we see at dusk on the Pacific. The combination of warm and cold tones works well here (like the Arizona state flag).

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on February 24, 2015 at 12:59 PM

Patterns and colors are nice and, as long as you're going for an abstract feel, the strong saturation and contrast is very effective. The repeating wind patterns in cloud and snow is mesmerizing.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Navin Sarma on February 24, 2015 at 2:46 PM

This is an outstanding image, Carey! As stated, the shapes in the ground and sky are perfect together, as well as color combo. I don't have a crit

Registered on July 17, 2011, 233 Posts, 1373 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on February 24, 2015 at 6:20 PM

Works for me! Very nicely done.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on February 24, 2015 at 7:42 PM

What a wonderful image, Carey. Large version in a dark room is just beautiful. Now if we could just to see it on a dark background.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

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

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on February 24, 2015 at 8:13 PM

The colors and shapes of the clouds and snow compliment each other nicely.

Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments

Comment posted by Carey Closs on February 24, 2015 at 9:29 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone :)

Rick, iso 800 because this was a handheld shot. The windchill was pretty severe and my hands were freezing up so quickly I had to keep getting in my vehicle to warm them up. I decided against fussing around with a tripod and just hopped for the best.

D.A., couldn't find the words I was looking for when I posted but Yin-Yang, that's what I was looking for. There's my title. Thanks.

Nick, I posted this on my Flickr page today so if you click on my weblink you can see it in the lightbox there.

Registered on April 15, 2012, 107 Posts, 326 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hansen on February 25, 2015 at 5:39 PM

I like everything about this. Just gorgeous!

Registered on May 5, 2011, 161 Posts, 908 Comments

Comment posted by Julia Flanagan on February 25, 2015 at 7:08 PM

Beautiful colors and the sweep of the fg and sky sets the smooth texture of this very well.
Lovely.

Julie

Registered on November 13, 2003, 59 Posts, 986 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on February 25, 2015 at 7:19 PM

Carey, I checked it out with the dark background....Looked great!

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

Comment posted by Tom Falley on February 25, 2015 at 8:02 PM

The main element seems to be the mear and far sweeps in opposite directions, the smaller scale of the distant clouds emphiize the near far effect.

Cheers. Tom

Registered on November 21, 2014, 189 Posts, 454 Comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on February 25, 2015 at 9:58 PM

Really sweet, Carey. I love the purple tinted drifts and a super sky. Seems often we don't have to travel far to find what we are looking for. Awesome job on this.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments