June Image - Steptoe Butte

How I did it -

Just to show you I can do landscapes, too. This is from a trip to the Palouse with Alan Caddey. Weather was heavy overcast with occasional thunderstorms most of the time but we got a few bright hours. Also, because of the cold spring there wasn't as much color contrast as expected. Nevertheless, Alan found us some good views.

Everyone shoots from Steptoe Butte but here I got what seems to be a nice view of it from below. I selected, darkened, and saturated the sky and also saturated the landscape. Otherwise just the usual edge darkening.

COMMENTS:
 

Jerry Appel	Very nicely handled landscape, expressed in a series of layers. If I had any question at all, it would have to do with the saturation (mainly the green) which is pretty but which seems a little unreal. Maybe that’s the screen on my Mac.
Bill Buchanan	This is an interesting scene which depicts the layered effect of the various shades of green. There are two items that I would work on. They are composition and the sky. I would prefer to see the butte closer to the right side of the scene. I think that would have created balance between the trees and the butte. I also would have attempted to work on the sky. It’s rather weak and I also see the layer of cloud bank at the top of the image that almost appears as a straight line. I had to look closer to see if this was a defect in the image. The lighting is somewhat flat and not very dramatic. I would have tried for a shot earlier or much later in the day
Guy Davies	The shape of this hill reminds me of one I can almost see from my bedroom window. The colours and flowing lines of the land are delightful and remind me that this is a part of the world I would like to visit. I commend you for deciding to do something different by shooting the butte instead of (or maybe as well as) shooting from it. I don’t get the feel of heavy skies and thundery weather from this picture, in fact it seems more like a pleasant summer’s day so you must have caught this in one of the bright spells. I think maybe the sky could be darkened just a spot more to hold the attention on the land, and maybe darken the right hand side of the hill a little too to add a bit of differential lighting to the scene.
Rex Morey	Your sky causes consternation and confusion; maybe crop just below the blue and cloud boundary. Otherwise based on your description you did the best you could with what you had. Your rendition seems a little flat and lacks contrast and “poop”.
Erik Rosengren	It appears that you did the best that could be done with this image Joe. From my perspective, there are centers of interest (trees) that bring one into this picture however the balance of this offering is benign in terms of impact. It appears that you did the best that could be done with this image Joe. From my perspective, there are centers of interest (trees) that bring one into this picture however the balance of this offering is benign in terms of impact.
Alex Lane	Nice color and composition in the foreground and middle areas. The upper 1/3 of this image seems to be very flat and add little to the rest of the Image.

Member Bio

Joe Hearst - Biography I've been a photographer for about 60 years, but until about ten years ago I was shooting mostly record shots. I gave slides shows of my travels to friends at work, and showed a slide program on the Sierra every two weeks at John Muir's home. Everyone told me how wonderful my pictures were. Then my wife persuaded me to join a camera club and I soon realized how mediocre they were. I submitted as many images as possible for critique by the judges, and also sent pictures to the PSA Print of the Month contest where I could get more critiques. I guess the critiques have improved my photography because my work has been doing well at the camera club level and at county fairs, I've had a few awards at POM, and I've qualified for three PSA stars in Small Prints and two in Electronic Imaging. I was given the APSA at the 2007 Conference in Tucson. Articles of mine have been published in the 3/01, 11/02, 10/03, 6/04, 5/05, 1/06, 7/06, 1/07, 5/07 and 3/08 issues of PSA Journal, and two portfolios in the British magazine Digital Photo Art. Judges have been kind enough to select three of my images as PPD Print of the Month. I'm a member of the Contra Costa and Livermore Valley Camera Clubs, and am past President of the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs. . I'm also Director of the PSA Picture of the Month competition. I can be reached at joe @ jhearst.com(remove gaps before using) and my web site is jhearst.typepad.com