Black Hills Blue

[Chunk]

I spotted these while riding in SD last week and turned around to get the shot. I'd like your opinions.

Also, does anyone know the name of the flowers? I can't spot them in my Audubon field guide to western wildflowets.

[Yoyo Szeto]

Hi Chunk,
The composition is very good. The texture of the concrete and the shadows are wonderful. I wish the light were a bit softer.
yoyo

[dbutler]

I'm with Yoyo. I love the soft flowers against the hard stones. I would have thought I would have liked the harsh lighting as well, because of the soft/hard disparity. But I would also have preferred a softer light. The comp works for me too.

[Don Schaeffer]

I love the way the backlight picks up the color. Good shot.

[julsoph]

Again, I'm in agreement with the others about the lighting...but I do have to say that I love the angle of the shadows behind the straighter flowers. Really beautiful.

Emily

[Chunk]

Yoyo, D, Don, and Emily, thank you all for taking the time to look and comment. There wasn't anything I could have done with the lighting. The flowers were several yards up the side of a roadcut and inaccessable to an old fat man.

The intense blue from the backlighting really stood out against the shadows and caught my attention as I rode by. I've been noticing and photographing the beautiful volunteer plants that find niches in which to grow in the roadcuts along our highways. I'm starting to think of them as an 'America's Hanging Gardens' project.

[GB1]

Yaoww, that contrast is extreme! It's tough to get these type shots in the west because of harsh lighting. Sunrise or sunset helps, but a hazy or cloudy day is needed otherwise.

Not sure what else you could have done under the circumstances,

GB

[Loupey]

Nice composition and love the angled background/shadows as well. I like the harsh lighting myself. It is how daylight looks most of the time.

My only suggestion would have been to make one or two side-steps to the left in order to place the flowers completely within the shadow area.

[Chunk]

Nice composition and love the angled background/shadows as well. I like the harsh lighting myself. It is how daylight looks most of the time.

My only suggestion would have been to make one or two side-steps to the left in order to place the flowers completely within the shadow area.

Thanks GB and Loupey. I've gone back and looked at the original and I think some of the harshness came while reducing and sharpening it for posting. Here's a shot of another clump of flowers in more shadow as Loupey suggests. I'm not sure the suggested angle was available (to an old fat man) for the first clump. A more nimble photographer would have had more options. I tried to minimize the harshness in processing this second shot, but it was still high,direct strong sunlight.

I like what Loupey suggests in that things can still be beautiful in strong light. In a flatter light this particular scene would probably not have caught my eye while riding by on a curvy road. I'm glad it did.

[ltilley]

I like the second much better. I love the diagonal lines...

[Chunk]

I like the second much better. I love the diagonal lines...

Thanks ltilley. I, too, like photos with a diagonal aspect. These are different than a lot because the diagonal element is not an element of the perspective of the shot.

I used an online wildflower identification program to determine that these ar Harebells. Does that seem right to everyone?

[Loupey]

Oh yeah baby! The second one is great in terms of the flower positioning. I still like the stark contrast of the original, however. This second one is "hazier" and seems to miss that blinding bright aspect of the day (like stepping out of the movie theater effect).

I might try boosting the sunlit rocks to the point that they almost start losing color/detail while bringing down the shaded rocks to the point they almost start losing detail. The flowers will surely pop out against that natural backdrop yet retain the feel of a hot/bright/clear summer day.