# Davis Mountains, Big Bend region



## Shaky (May 21, 2004)

I posted some of these in the last friday pics, but wanted to re post them here to hopefully get some critique on them. 

I used my Canon 7d, with a 16-35/2.8 L for the most part and just about all of them were handheld except for the night shot (first attempt at stars, had a full moon which made it difficult to say the least!)


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## Court (Jul 16, 2011)

Hard to believe that's in Texas-Very nice & thanks for posting.


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

OK Shaky...here we go.

My impressions are my own and when I get home from a shoot I'm no different than the rest. There's always a ton of shouldas, wouldas and couldas.

1) First thing that jumps out at me is the angle of the fence. As a viewer its initially unclear what it is and as shot it would probably be better cloned out. Change the angle to make it clear what it is and possibly create a leading line towards the mountain. Second nit is the horizon line near dead center in the frame. There's lots of dead space with no clouds. You could tilt down to move the horzon 1/3 from the top to reduce the dead space and provide forground detail. Maybe the subject becomes the fence and with a large dof the mountain becomes a secondary subject although its size in the frame doesn't change. This is in a way what you did with the yucca.

2) I have a hundred shots like this myself all that need a subject. With a full moon maybe you could open up the lens or increase exposure time for some more forground detail. I can make out Sirius and Rigel quite clearly so I know where in the sky you were looking.

3) Nice Bridge shot. Note the reduction of the dead space and the use of foreground interest.Great color and the curve of the water and the foreground rocks break up all the straight horizontals. Well done.

4) Really nice. The water seems to flow to the opening in the sky and the dog gives a great sense of scale. Two small nits 1) you did the best you could with this one to place the dog dead center - ideally he'd be to the right and 2) I'd crop the left side margin abit - I don't like the way the mountain line almost meets the corner there.

5) I like this. I really do but if reshot I'd try to get tthe unique rock formation to the 2/3 left vertical 1/3 from the top horzontal to balance the yucca and come out a bit to not cut off the yucca's spears. I love the creative control of DOF but this could have another winner by it all being in focus as well...probably not as good but with this great composition come other opportunities.

6) Sky not as big a deal here because theres some detail. Place rock 1/3 from left and 1/3 from top in a crop - might be a small improvement.

7) My kind of shot, but handheld without a grad the scene requires more exposure latitude than your camera allows. Based on what I've said do you see a crop that might improve the image?

8) Really nice light here - again maybe a little less sky.

There you have it. Hope it helps.


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Like that pic of old Sawtooth Mtn!


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## The Machine (Jun 4, 2007)

nice shots


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## Shaky (May 21, 2004)

Thanks so much for taking the time to look at my pics Rusty, you brought to light a lot of things I always tend to do wrong in retrospect. A filter set is top of my "need to get list" and as soon as I make up my mind between the Lee or Cokin it'll be on order. Until this trip I've always managed to get by, but with this type of landscape and shooting in midday for the most part it definately would've made a huge difference.
I made a few tweaks to some of the images given the limitations of the composition using your critique as a guide, made a huge difference to my eye!

I constantly need to remind to myself to slow down when I'm shooting and look at everything, I just always tend to rush.


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

Always glad to help anytime I can as are most of the regulars here. Nice to see the end result.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Rustys input is spot on so I have nothing to add.
As for the filters, its a must have for Landscapes and the such.
Get a quality CPL (I use a screw on type), and a filter holder kit (mine is a Lee with a 77mm ring). The 4 most important filters to have are
1. 3 stop soft and hard gard.
2. 2 stop soft grad 
3 .6 ND 
The one I use quite a bit is a Singh Ray 3 stop reverse grad. They are kinda expensive but well worth it.
Also remember that the cheaper filters will have a color cast, so get the better quality, (Lee Singh Ray)
Heres are places to look at filters

http://www.2filter.com/

http://www.leefilters.com/

http://www.singh-ray.com/


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## Law Dog (Jul 27, 2010)

Great Pics!


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## Seeker (Jul 6, 2009)

Nice shooting Shaky. Throw the last one up in black and white. Bet it's cool looking that way as well.


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## Shaky (May 21, 2004)

Seeker said:


> Nice shooting Shaky. Throw the last one up in black and white. Bet it's cool looking that way as well.


I did a few in black and white of some close up rocky cliffs that came out pretty interesting. Ive never really played around with black and white so it was kinda surprising, but the big bend area does lend itself to a good b&w image, especially just before the real cusp of spring and especially in mid day!


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