Hillside choices

[Chunk]

This hillside with it's two clumps of trees has been catching my eye on my daily commute.
Today I finally went just to take some shots of it even though the sky was mostly overcast in the early morning. I didn't realize until downloading that I had the ISO set at 200 so they are a little noisy.

Please tell me which of these layouts you like best or any other suggestions.

Canon S30

[CTPhil]

I like the first one. I've never cared for the way wide angle seems to rob landscapes of their drama, and the last shot looks like it was purposely framed to make a statement with the parralel lines. (not that there's anything wrong with that, just my preference) I live high on a hillside with a 30 mile view and am always frustrated by the fact that I can't capture the breadth of the scene without losing the feeling of being on the edge, which is how you percieve it in person.

[opus]

I like the third one, just because I think the weeds in the foreground anchor it a bit more. The whole shot looks a little more solid and yet seems to vibrate with a little more "life" in my opinion. Just my opinion though.

It would be interesting to go back under several lighting conditions and take more shots. A series of shots where the only thing changing was the weather might be very interesting.

[Yoyo Szeto]

Hi,
I like Photo 3. It is more pleasing and the depth of field is very strong.
yoyo

[Irish]

The third image is my preference too. I like the contrast of the natural foreground and flowers against the more "manacured" lines of the field with the hill and trees in the distance.

The third image has lots of "layers" (to quote a favourite character of mine)

The first image comes in a close second in my view but the horizon is too central and the image lacks the depth of the third

Thanks for sharing.

[AVernon]

I also prefer the third image myself.

[bobbythebandit]

Yep, third is the winner for me to.
Bobby

[opus]

Another reason I like the third one is because your eye is "led" to the clumps of trees. So your intention of capturing the clumps of trees is realized, but it's not "in your face". It's a satisfying way for the eye to get there.

[Sebastian]

My favorite is the last one, with a slight crop. Thelines lead your eye into the frame, but in the bottom portion the lines fall apart, probably because the lines curved or soemthing. Getting closer to eliminate that area would have helped I think.

[gmen]

The last one does the job for me too. Leads the eye and all that jazz!

...and... the field in the foreground looks like super subject matter in itself...

[gahspidy]

Well, for me it's the third one ( flowers in the foreground) it has the field the layers of landscape, the lines, sky is the best, dof is sharp as it looks to me you focused on about a third of the way into the shot, and what really does it for me is the flowers in the foreground. They are such an important aspect as they add a sense of here and there and break up the otherwise "flat" lines and plane of the scene.

[Chunk]

This hillside with it's two clumps of trees has been catching my eye on my daily commute.
Today I finally went just to take some shots of it even though the sky was mostly overcast in the early morning. I didn't realize until downloading that I had the ISO set at 200 so they are a little noisy.

Please tell me which of these layouts you like best or any other suggestions.

Canon S30

Wow, thanks for all the great critiques. I've gotten to like that third shot quite a bit myself.
I think I'll take the suggestion to shoot this scene under different light, weather and crop conditions. The weeds/flowers are Queen Ann's Lace which have spread along our roadsides a LOT in the past several years. It's a pretty bloom and even the dry flower heads are kinda atractive. I think it's in the carrot family because if you pull up the root and break it, it smells like a carrot but is wood/stringy. Here's a closeup.
Seb, the corn at the end of the rows looks like that because they usally plant one swath on the end of the field going the other way so the field is fully utilized rather than having a kind of ragged edge where the planter stops and also gives an area to turn the planter and line up for the next path. When all the rows are planted they'll run across the ends of the field.