Frosty Smoky Mountains

[Suzan J]

Here are a few shots taken on a frosty morning in the Smoky Mountains. In the second image, I was trying to capture how the white icy tree tops sparkled against the very blue sky. This was the best I could do. Based on earlier advice in my other post, I tried to crop out some of the foreground elements in that shot. There was a road under the bridge and I do think it is better to leave it out. Again, any advice would be appreciated.


f 9 18mm SS 640 ISO 200

DSC_9771 by Soo J, on Flickr


f 9 23mm SS 1/50 ISO 200

DSC_9785 by Soo J, on Flickr


f 9 18mm SS 200 ISO 200

DSC_9760 by Soo J, on Flickr

[FrankMi]

Hi Susan, usually a diagonal that exits the frame on the side tends to take the eye out of the image. One way that can be sometimes minimized is to have the diagonal exit the frame in a corner. It doesn't always help as it is image and personal viewpoint specific, but you might want to try a crop where the bridge exits the image close to or in the right hand corner and see if you like it better?, or maybe not.

[Suzan J]

Hi Frank: I tried a different crop with the diagonal exiting on the right lower side and I do think it helps with emphasizing the frosty tree tops. The crop turns out to be more of a panorama, which is fine by me. I tried to post it below. Hope it comes out as it is somewhat "long". What do you think?

DSC_9785 by Soo J, on Flickr

[NorthernFocus]

You did good recognizing the opportunities, Suzan. I like the first shot best. Both the first and last have a patch of ground that introduces a distracting splash of color. As much as I hate to say it both images may benefit by converting to B/W.

[Wavelength]

Fine images

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts.

[marlunn]

Suzan, nice, I particulaly like the first - it was a wow shot when I opened the thread, for me the splash of colour on the bottom left makes me look again at the frosted trees and I find it is a great counter point to the rest of the picture keeping me looking back and forth

[Downrigger]

How best to take advantage of an occurrence like this is a fine problem to have, and you have done a nice job of it. I too, particularly like the first - dramatic almost to the extent of surreal.

[Suzan J]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Dan, I actually thought about that green patch in the first shot for quite some time and didn't know if it belonged or not. On one hand, I liked the contrast, but on the other, it seemed out of place. I guess it's a matter of taste. I never thought about a B and W treatment, so once again, this forum's help proves most valuable.

[FrankMi]

Hi Frank: I tried a different crop with the diagonal exiting on the right lower side and I do think it helps with emphasizing the frosty tree tops. The crop turns out to be more of a panorama, which is fine by me. I tried to post it below. Hope it comes out as it is somewhat "long". What do you think?

DSC_9785 by Soo J, on Flickr

I don't think the wider aspect ratio hurts at all and it brings the three groups of trees more attention. Nice!