# Of a Subtle Nature



## abraxas (May 3, 2010)

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## Arch (May 4, 2010)

Very nice Abraxas, in fact the more i look at it the more i like it. Simple colour scheme, nice composition of textures and the bird is ideally placed. :thumbup:

What was this one shot with?


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## Big Mike (May 4, 2010)

I agree with Arch.  This image holds my eye and the longer I look, the more I like it.


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## abraxas (May 5, 2010)

Arch said:


> Very nice Abraxas, in fact the more i look at it the more i like it. Simple colour scheme, nice composition of textures and the bird is ideally placed. :thumbup:
> 
> What was this one shot with?



Thanks Arch - d300, 100 iso, 1 sec. @ f32 using cp on a 18-135mm nikkor at 90mm focal length.  I hope I got all that right, I try not to think about too much other than composition and stick with my usual formula of tiny aperture, low iso and however long it takes. The tricky part was waiting for the little bird who decided to get involved at the last moment. There wasn't anything else out there for it to perch on and was wary although I was 30-40 yards away.  There's a little motion blur/ghosting on a couple of the longer branches, so I took care of it with a light dodge.



Big Mike said:


> I agree with Arch.  This image holds my eye and the longer I look, the more I like it.



Thank you Mike.  Just before I took this I had been looking at some shots on the walls inside of the center's meeting rooms.  They'd been taken maybe 25 years ago and were faded in the frames having an inspiring effect on me. I just finished shooting some mineral displays at just the right time to wander out and catch the sun.  

Although this isn't much different than what came out of the box, I did a desaturated layer, did a curve adjustment and blended it in to help give it a bit of a faded look.  I tried to get a thing going with the lines in the steep canyons of the mountains beyond and the branches of the dead mesquite bush.  Within seconds after taking the photo the sun went below the mountain behind me getting rid of the bright light on the otherside of the dry lake at the bottom of the mountains.  I'm also trying to produce an image that becomes more interesting each time it is looked at.  That's the effect of the framed images I seen; I didn't care for them at first, but over the last 5-6 years of seeing them every few months, I become quite fond of them.

A few comments I've recieved on this image elsewhere have been that some think it's a strange color of water, while it's actually not water at all- It's salt all crusted up.


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## Big Mike (May 5, 2010)

> A few comments I've recieved on this image elsewhere have been that some think it's a strange color of water, while it's actually not water at all- It's salt all crusted up.


Wow...it really, really looks like water.  Ripples and all.


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## abraxas (May 6, 2010)

Big Mike said:


> > A few comments I've recieved on this image elsewhere have been that some think it's a strange color of water, while it's actually not water at all- It's salt all crusted up.
> 
> 
> Wow...it really, really looks like water.  Ripples and all.



It's really causing me to rethink how some of my photos are viewed, or what it is that people think they see.  I had heard similar comments about another shot taken down the trail from this one a few years ago. This one I can understand seeing 'water' a little better;


--see below--


In this shot, taken in the time between the two above, it shows what the crust looks like a little better.

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Those are narrow gauge railroad ties.

And just for grins, an early morning shot of the playa (dry lake) as the sun was trying to rise.

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## danir (May 11, 2010)

I really enjoyed the first image. Thought its from the red sea.

Dani


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## D-B-J (May 11, 2010)

you have some beautiful shots. nice job.


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## Raizels (May 11, 2010)

danir said:


> I really enjoyed the first image. Thought its from the red sea.
> 
> Dani



LOL so did I, but then I thought, no way....


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## abraxas (May 12, 2010)

danir said:


> I really enjoyed the first image. Thought its from the red sea.
> 
> Dani



Thanks Dani.  The others are a couple years old at least, and my emjoyment of the location has increased over the years I've been exploring it.



D-B-J said:


> you have some beautiful shots. nice job.



Thanks!



Raizels said:


> danir said:
> 
> 
> > I really enjoyed the first image. Thought its from the red sea.
> ...



I'm going to figure out how to use the effect.  I don't get out of the desert too much.

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## Hardrock (May 13, 2010)

I love the 2nd one its outstanding! As for the first I really like it but the sky seems blown out on my work computer maybe you were going for that effect , I dont know. It definitely looks like a lake in #1 , Great job!


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## abraxas (May 14, 2010)

Hardrock said:


> I love the 2nd one its outstanding! As for the first I really like it but the sky seems blown out on my work computer maybe you were going for that effect , I dont know. It definitely looks like a lake in #1 , Great job!



Thank you.  The first one has plenty of color in the sky, it's just subtle, like it was.  The second and fourth were part of an exhibit where I wrote little verses for each photo of the 25 pieces--I can't remember the one for the fourth, but the second (the dead mesquite bush) was;

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When my time has come to age and wither
may memory of me pass as beautiful weather.
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