Back Country Roads

[Nicks Pics]

Just for fun, these are more from the Pere Marquette State Forest area. I thought it was funny that there was a stop sign for the intersection of these little back country roads because they aren't even paved with gravel and probably don't see more than five vehicles a week. To add to that, the sign was crooked.

There are three angles/compositions, because I'm not sure which one works best, or if the idea works for a picture at all, so let me know if you have an opinion! Thanks

1


2


3

[Shadowman]

At first glance I would only pay attention to the treeline and not see the significance of a stop sign in this particular area. I think the second has a more dynamic presentation, especially after your explanation of the low traffic area, overall I think the first image works best because the sign does not distract from the middle ground subject.

[TonyW]

I prefer the first image. The greater width means that the sign doe not dominate too much and gives a better idea of the area. The sky in the third does not add enough interest to be worth it. It is ironic that the stop sign seems to have been knocked over by someone who did not stop.

[IzzieK]

I like #2 -- the Stop sign actually points to the interest of the shot...but that is just me...maybe my poor eye is looking at it...

[Nicks Pics]

Jhon, Tony, Izzie,
Thanks for sharing your perspectives on them. Just the kind of thing I was looking for. I really don't know why the stop sign was knocked over, it hasn't even been blasted by shot gun yet. Some people seem to get extra careless when out in the woods. Perhaps it was not set in the ground firmly.

Anyway, thanks again

[bnnrcn]

I prefer #1 as it shows the intersection of roads better and the sign doesn't distract

[Dave Humphries]

Now there's a subject begging to be given a good work over with a 10-24mm (or similar) lens (on DX/AP-C)

The first for me too, the second feels too centred, as does the third.

Is there a reason (e.g. bad background) why you only shot from that angle of view of the subject?
I assume it wasn't for fear of getting run over if you stepped off 'the side walk'

As said initially, I'd have been all over it; shooting up the post/down the post, etc.

[ShaneS]

First for me but like Dave I would probably go back and play some more

I think that the second would have worked better if you had the post running parallel to the upper road that recedes into the background. Also, I think the post looks a bit chopped of but I like it's prominence in the shot so I may have stepped back and/or possible gotten lower to see how different compositions would work. I will add that it is so easy to say this after the fact and so hard for most of us to to on site

[Nicks Pics]

Thanks Binnur, Thanks Dave

I guess #1 is winning the vote for composition. I don't have any strong feelings to the contrary.

Now there's a subject begging to be given a good work over with a 10-24mm (or similar) lens (on DX/AP-C)

The first for me too, the second feels too centred, as does the third.

Is there a reason (e.g. bad background) why you only shot from that angle of view of the subject?
I assume it wasn't for fear of getting run over if you stepped off 'the side walk'

As said initially, I'd have been all over it; shooting up the post/down the post, etc.

Thanks Dave, I'm sure you would have done justice to the opportunity had it been yours. I suppose I just thought that it was the angle that the sign was facing, and then I moved over to the side angle so that you could see it was crooked. But I really didn't think too hard about it. Background would have been similar from any direction. I shot these with my handy Fuji Superzoom, which has a 35 mm equivalent of 24-1200.

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks Dave, I'm sure you would have done justice to the opportunity had it been yours.

May be ...

I will add that it is so easy to say this after the fact and so hard for most of us to to on site

Absolutely - "can I be bovvered?" (when en-route somewhere else) often takes precedence

[Nicks Pics]

Hi Dave, Shane,
Thanks for your ideas, I think the they're good ones.

First for me but like Dave I would probably go back and play some more

I could try to go back and try to find that crooked sign by those little roads in the middle of nowhere and play around some more... but if I did, my folks would think I was cuckoo

[Brownbear]

Hi Nick,

I like the 1st image and I'm especially fond of it cropped just below the top of the tree line (eliminate the bright clouds and tree tops) and just outside of the green fir tree. I'm especially fond of the image this way because it brings more attention to the toppled stop sign being in the middle of nowhere and the beautiful colours. ie; more of a story and beautiful fall colours

I tried to copy the image so I could show you the crop but alas for some reason I can't copy the image.

[Nicks Pics]

Hi Christina,
I think you're right that the image (#1) could use a top crop, and I'm debating your suggestion about the crop from the side as well. I'm not very practiced on my landscape images.

I tried to copy the image so I could show you the crop but alas for some reason I can't copy the image.

I'm not sure what method you use to copy, but I usually have to download an image to do an experiment with it.

[Brownbear]

Hi Nick,

Just an idea, and something that I see that I like, you may or may not like.

I right click on the image and save as Nicks image... When I try to open in Photoshop it says the files jpeg marker is short or truncated. When I try to open it in Windows it states the file is either corrupt or too large. I've tried it here with a couple of other images, rare but I have managed it before.

Hi Christina,
I think you're right that the image (#1) could use a top crop, and I'm debating your suggestion about the crop from the side as well. I'm not very practiced on my landscape images.


I'm not sure what method you use to copy, but I usually have to download an image to do an experiment with it.

[Nicks Pics]

I right click on the image and save as Nicks image... When I try to open in Photoshop it says the files jpeg marker is short or truncated. When I try to open it in Windows it states the file is either corrupt or too large. I've tried it here with a couple of other images, rare but I have managed it before.

That had me laughing. I tried downloading the image and it worked. At least I didn't corrupt the file to my own computer. It is only 922 kb. One thing that might have affected it (though I don't know how it would), I might have had Lightroom set to remove some of the metadata during export, but all that I noticed is not there that usually is when I go to properties is some camera settings info such as SS, ISO, etc.

[Brownbear]

Hi Nick,

I just tried to download one of Mike's images to check if it is my system or your pics and I received the same message with Mike's image. So it seems it is my system and nothing to do with your pics. I'm thoroughly puzzled.

Please accept my sincere apologies for any confusion, and I'm sorry that I'm unable to demonstrate an edit.

[Nicks Pics]

No confusion on my part, hope you get your system figured out though. Anyway, I'm sure people are getting tired of "Back Country Roads" popping to the top of the forum tonight, so I'll let it go...