Eye of the Beholder +RP

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 20, 201710,442 views15 comments

... as in "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder..." I've thought of this often as it relates to the Eastern Sierra and the 395 corridor. I was even commenting to my wife while exploring the area, how on the surface the scenery (toss in some haze..) is really so visually boring and downright almost ugly. I mean the drive down from Ellery Lake on Tioga Pass down to Lee Vining... is nothing more than a road cut out of giant rock slides; the view off to the east... unimpressive. At least to the casual traveler...

Everyone here knows, you need to stop, step out of the car, take a few steps and learn to smell the roses. The beauty isn't always in the grand mountain side of flaming fall color, but the small details of the sage brush and back lit rabbit brush, the trunk of an aging cottonwood, or tumbled granite in a clear mountain stream. These are the scenes that brings the beauty of the Eastern Sierra to life - at least for me.

And so I post this. Captured from the overflow parking lot of the South Tufa at Mono Lake (like, I literally stepped out of the car...), moments after the sun dipped behind the ridge. Perhaps one of my early favorites from this trip, but still have many to go through and process. Color/sat are maximized in post, but my goal is always to make an image the best it can be, while still maintaining a sense of real. I hope I've captured that here.

As always, would love your comments, critique and suggestions.

Thanks!

Lon

Info: a 3-image focus stack at f/13 iso 200 with Tamron 24-135mm at 120mm.

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by Mattia Oliviero on October 20, 2017 at 2:47 AM

Excellent image, Lon. Couldn't agree with you more about the beauty of the little things. Here, you show us your unique vision about an apparently boring place as you said. This kind of image is really appealing to me. Colors ans shapes are amazing and the composition really helps with this. I do not know if you use the burn and dodge tool but it seems that in the center of the image slightly on the right there is an unnatural shadow in the bush that maybe should be lighten a little. Maybe it is natural but it draws my attention. Hope I made myself clear. Great job in seeing this.

Registered on August 24, 2016, 43 Posts, 254 Comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on October 20, 2017 at 3:00 AM

Well hec, that's just a bunch of rabbit brush and sage and light and vision and appreciation for all that matters. Did that sentence just run together? Seriously, excellent Lon. It never ceases to amaze me what good vision really means till you see it. Well done, can't wait to see the rest from your trip.

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

Comment posted by Norma Tareila Matl on October 20, 2017 at 8:07 AM

Lon, you certainly took a mundane situation and brought beauty to it through your passion. You saw imagery where someone else saw brush. In your minds eye you turned it into a photograph of textures, colors, time and place in just that moment. I don't see this kind of imagery on the east coast so I do appreciate you stopping to share this beautiful scene.

Registered on October 27, 2016, 229 Posts, 393 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lowe on October 20, 2017 at 8:54 AM

Really nice, Lon. To me, this image is "Alive". It has a sense of motion to it with the rolling waves of brush and flower. Pleasing to my eye.

Registered on February 11, 2004, 777 Posts, 5252 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on October 20, 2017 at 9:44 AM

Lon, as a "high desert" environment photographer most all of my adult life these type of scenes are very normal, but at the same time quite gorgeous too. Many from around the world would struggle at times to see the raw beauty associated with such rough arid terrain. But for me it is this or do without photo ops. The point being is most all of our southwest territory is made up of these scenes and when the light is right they really come to life.

The golden Rabbit brush as we see here along with mixture of some blue sage is very impressive without any huge mountain or other objects as characters of support, IMO. The area around the South Tufa is a strong point to be made about the typical eastern sierra or high desert look overall. This image provides a wonderful slice of that terrain.

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

Comment posted by Reno DiTullio on October 20, 2017 at 10:26 AM

A beauty, Lon. This is what I love about the east side; there's so much more to see if one just stops, takes a breath, and really look at the beauty up close. Excellent! So much to take in here, my eye just wanders through the scene trying to absorb the colors, textures and different vegetation, love it.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 130 Posts, 1644 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on October 20, 2017 at 2:09 PM

Lon, this is a wonderfully presented and processed image. I'm really liking the coolish palette combined with a pleasing mix of warm colors. Your focus stack worked nicely for this scene. That darker area upper middle height must have worked in your favor.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on October 20, 2017 at 2:31 PM

Fall grasses and shrubs definitely have their own beauty, Lon. It's great to see you enjoy that also as well as your ability to share it with the rest of us. The scattering of yellows and browns throughout this view works very well. I do wonder if the light was as streaked as the image shows. If you burned-in the area just behind the gap, I'd like to see some glow there as well.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Lowe on October 20, 2017 at 3:10 PM

This is a beautifully balanced scene as my eye wanders about through the brush and savors all the wonderful small details, Lon. Sometimes it is a good thing to slow down and look for these intimate scenes as they are just as gorgeous as the grand landscape IMO. Your processing looks spot on.

Ed

Registered on February 7, 2004, 414 Posts, 7115 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on October 20, 2017 at 4:48 PM

This is real nice, Lon! Great color (yep, the cyan looks just right sad

) and depth with the stacking the plant lines. No nits here. I like it.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on October 20, 2017 at 6:36 PM

Thanks for your comments folks! I think we all have like minds in that we all do appreciate these often forgotten, mundane things.... who would think sage and rabbit brush could be "beautiful." But to me, and many of you, it just is.

Several of you mentioned the darker area on the right above center line. So, no I didn't burn it, although overall the image is darker than the raw. the exposure was dropped some as a result of a LAB color layer set to a blend mode of multiply (first time I used that blend mode) and also a TK MT-3 Levels layer to increase contrast a little (squeezed both ends of the histogram, if that makes sense.)

Considering both Mattia's and Marks comments about perhaps improving that area, I think I'll play with this some more. It does appear to be a bit darker in that area, not just the little gap with little vegetation. As far ask any streaking of light, the sun had just dipped behind the ridge, so no direct light, but I can see what you mean Mark. Perhaps some artful dodging and buring are in order here. Thanks all for the suggestions!

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on October 20, 2017 at 10:24 PM

I played around with this a bit. The changes I think are subtle and will wonder if even noticable. One thing I discovered is that the LAB/Multiply layer I used darkened the darker areas much like an Orton effect does. Rather than ADD a new layer to adress the darker area right of center, I simply added a layer mask and painted that area with a low opacity brush, essentially removing the effects, thus bringing back some lightness to that specific area.

Also, Mark's comment about "streaking light" got me thinking about some dodging and burning. I dodged the tips of a number of plants that would, say be touched by low glancing light and then also burned down some areas that are naturally in shadow. the touches were also at very low opacity on the burn/dodge at 5% on the brush.

I'm curious if the changes will be noticeable once I post.

Thank you again for your response and comments on this one. The feedback we get on images is extremely helpful!

Lon

edit: Ok, hard to see the changes. I can see them, but more because I know what and where I applied them! So not sure if this is enough of a change to make a difference to the viewer.

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on October 20, 2017 at 11:12 PM

Lon, I like these high desert shots of sage and rabbit brush. Other adjustments to try would be darkening the midpoint in levels, and a slight bump of saturation in luminosity mode.

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

Comment posted by Dave Dillemuth on October 21, 2017 at 4:23 PM

Gorgeous, Lon. Nicely composed arrangement of sages and rabbit brush. Really love the subtle colors. Beauty and wonder all around all we have to do is open our eyes and see.
Not seeing much difference from the original in the repost. Only thought I would have is too do some light dodging of the back layers of sages. I think this would enhance the images depth.

Registered on December 10, 2015, 104 Posts, 1112 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on October 21, 2017 at 5:55 PM

You have a great eye for composing these kind of scenes. Honestly, I would probably walk past this scene. You have presented it in a way that directs my attention to a scene that I might otherwise overlook. I do find myself drawn to more colorful and vibrant scenes. I suppose that is because I lived most of my life in the Texas Panhandle where brown / yellow is the dominant color in such an arid landscape.

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