Scenes of Vermont Forums

Carol: I think that is what sometimes separates "taking pictures" from "making photographs." In my view, it is also one of the things that separates a serious photographer from a snapshooter or vacation shooter. We all have the "postcard images" and we all still make them. When I go, for instance, to one of the many iconic scenes I have researched in Vermont, I always make my own version of the "icon." But then I try to work the scene and find my own interpretation of the image. Altogether to often, that has been tried and the "icon" really is the image at the scene. But sometimes other do jump out at you.

Of course, familiarity and proximity to the scene helps. I know you are close enough to LW that you can spend a fair amount of time there and go at all times of the day. I encourage you to keep on looking for new pov's an lighting conditions of this scenic.

An example of my own different point of view is this shot of the church in Newfane, Vermont. The icon is from the front. This was found by wandering around behind the church on a couple of the back streets.

Now, for some more "technical" thougths. This image looks like it may be during the mid-day summer light. Very difficult time to capture photographic images. Where are you facing in this image? Where will the light be coming from during the "golden" light periods (early/late)? Did you use/consider using a polarizing filter? It seems like you could emphasize the contrast between the clouds and the blue sky. Depending on the angle of the light, the PZ filter would help.

I wonder, too, if there are more "dramatic" possibilities with the curves in the road. I like how it starts in the LL corner of the image and winds out of view. But I also wonder if there is a perspective where you could get even more "diagonal," i.e., the road not going right out of the middle of the image. Perhaps a different place to stand (although it looks like that might be in the water ). You might consider using a longer telephoto. That might accomplish 2 things. First, the telephoto has the optical effect of "compressing" distances, which might emphasize the curve. Also, it would give you a different crop which might allow a less "centered" place where the road "ends" in the image.

Last, did you try this as a vertical? You may remember that both Al and I have "L" brackets on our camera bodies. They are an expensive luxury, but really helpful because once you find the right setup for your tripod, you can switch between H and V and not change perspective at all.

Don't get me wrong. I think it is nicely composed images. This is just the thought process I have about "working" the scene. Something the my new good friend James Moore has been "mentoring" me on is how important it is to analyze and "see" the image (image possibilities) on site. So often, we don't have the luxury of going back to a scene until we "get it right" (99% of the time for me). And, even when we do, lighting conditions will never be the same twice. So if you are there in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you need to be able to "see." I plan to attend one of his workshops soon, and he has some very interesting approaches to this issue. I am excited about that.

Thanks for waking us all up here, Carol.

I did see your comment -- but couldn't tell exactly what that meant. Could have meant grey, for example . But it looked like mid day lighting to me and part of the reason I went into some detail on the forum was that there are probably others beside you and me reading this.

On the additional images, I think one of the items that I dislike (and I am sure there will be many who disagree) is that the road always seems to go out the middle of the photo. I would like to see a different camera position which would take it out the right background.

Of the additional ones, I like the middle one best, partly because the road doesn't go to the middle, but also because the far shoreline creates a strong diagonal that works against the line of the road. They come together in a strong triangle, which I think is more dynamic.