Los Osos Oaks, #2

Cover up the triangle of sky in the upper left and see how it dramatically changes the image. All of a sudden the viewers' eyes are allowed to dive deep into the image. This is true for both of the oak images.

It is easier to do this with LF cameras, but one should take the time to see all the image before one snaps the shutter. The corners help to define what is going on in the rest of the image. It appears you were enthralled by the oaks and forgot to pay attention to the corners (although the other 3 are solid.) The upper right corner is particularly nice and the lower right gives a feeling of depth, with the help of the wide angle lens.

I will be passing by this area in November...perhaps I'll have time to check it out. Vaughn

Vaughn said:

Cover up the triangle of sky in the upper left and see how it dramatically changes the image. All of a sudden the viewers' eyes are allowed to dive deep into the image. This is true for both of the oak images.

It is easier to do this with LF cameras, but one should take the time to see all the image before one snaps the shutter. The corners help to define what is going on in the rest of the image. It appears you were enthralled by the oaks and forgot to pay attention to the corners (although the other 3 are solid.) The upper right corner is particularly nice and the lower right gives a feeling of depth, with the help of the wide angle lens.

I will be passing by this area in November...perhaps I'll have time to check it out. Vaughn

Click to expand...

Thanks Vaughn for your input. I appreciate the time you took to critique it. It does make sense what you say because actually I did think about it at the time, pretty close to what you were saying but here I was trying to get the full sideways low lying branch on the tree on the left and the full tree on the right and I couldn't get closer and get it all in the frame and moving to the right was out of the question and so was the left. But now hearing you mention what you did I see this was something I should have figured out another way to get past. Perhaps maybe wearing long pants instead of shorts and boots instead of sneakers so I can venture into the poison oak to get a better shot may be preferred next time.

I think I recall either you or Per Volquartz mention Los Osos Oaks before in a post on upcoming workshop in February. Since you mention November though, if you do have the time and it lines up with my time as well, I'd sure enjoy spending some time shooting these great woods with you. I've added a Cambo 4x5 to my accoutrement recently and have been thinking of going back there. I'm only 10 minutes from these woods.

Since I use 8x10, I do a lot of editing before I set the camera up and while looking at the ground glass. Not just because of the cost of the film, but my limited time to develop film. So in the case of the image above, I would have either found a way to work around the sky issue, or just moved on to another image -- there are always more images!LOL!

But by cropping your image so that the patch of sky is gone, and then some of the bottom to form a 1:2 ratio (height:width), I think you might get close to what attracted you to the image....that would have been one of my possible "work-arounds" -- making an 4x10 negative.

I will probably be passing by on my way back home from visiting my parents (San Clemente) for Thanksgiving. I will have my three 12 year old boys with me, so I would not have very much time to photograph -- perhaps one or two images, depending on the light and the wind. I think the boys could be kept occupied long enough for a couple images -- though we'll have to watch out for the poison oak -- I have way too much experience with that stuff!

But if it could work out to meet up, that would be fun -- I have never met one sharp monkey! I have a good friend in Paso Robles I would also like to see and perhaps stay over-night with. If it happens, the day I would be at the Los Osos Oaks would be Saturday, November 28th, in the afternoon (I am assuming the oaks are just west of San Luis Obispo).

So as time gets closer and my plans firm up, we can see what happens!

Vaughn