Pamela Hoaglund  


Painted Hills by Pamela Hoaglund

June 2021 - Painted Hills

June 2021 - Pamela Hoaglund

Original

About the Image(s)

Several weeks ago my faithful companion, canine Goldie, and I got away for a few days to central Oregon. One of my goals was to revisit the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Painted Hills unit in the evening. The hills face the west so I wanted to capture the golden hour light on these beautiful hills. After taking the grand vista image I concentrated on the more intimate landscape of the ridges and valleys. I especially wanted to capture the yellow wildflowers growing in the creases. To protect the hills from disrespectful visitors the area is fenced so you have to shoot from a distance. This image was taken with my Sony 7RM3 with a Sony 70-300mm lens. Manual settings with auto ISO: f/11, 1/640 sec at ISO 1000. Post processing in ON1 2021, setting black and white points, cropping, adding dynamic contrast and probably a subtle vignette.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
9 comments posted




Judith Lesnaw   Judith Lesnaw
Interesting abstract. The diagonal ridges form strong compositional elements. What is the black object on the right? It looks like a piece of very black cloth or charred wood. Fascinating. The hues in the original are quite different from the processed version. In the original the rock looks more as though it were painted. The image appears to be soft, especially the flowers. Was there a wind blowing? The yellow color of those flowers is beautiful against the reddish rock. What a fantastic area.   Posted: 06/11/2021 20:42:23
Pamela Hoaglund   Pamela Hoaglund
The black on the right is the shadow caused by the setting sun. You have to photograph these hills from a distance and with the heat of the day you get atmospheric conditions that can cause some softness.   Posted: 06/11/2021 21:39:21



Pamela Hoaglund   Pamela Hoaglund
This is what the overall area looks like.   Posted: 06/11/2021 21:44:37
Comment Image
Judith Lesnaw   Judith Lesnaw
It is stunning, and I see that the color of the rocks matches your processed image. The detail you focused on created a great abstract. I have not seen this area. Perhaps someday I will. You have given me an idea. I did not think about the effect of radiating heat on images. I have seen heat swirls from hot pavement, but never thought to photograph them. It could be interesting.   Posted: 06/12/2021 08:30:24



Sharon Prislipsky   Sharon Prislipsky
This image makes me immediately think of the work of Guy Tal. He has some fascinating intimiate landscapes made in the SW and in Death Valley. I think you have captured the texture and the striata very well and the color seems true to me (I have spent quite a bit of time photographing red rocks over the years). I believe the John Day Fossil Beds are in eastern Oregon? We were there in 2013 but the area had many wildfires at the time so travel was limited. The vegetation in the crevasses is so minimal that I do not think there is an issue with focus there. The shadowed area on the right provides some contrast, but I think you might consider darkening the edge of the image on the left to balance that. Try it and see what you think.   Posted: 06/13/2021 11:35:39



 
I find the image quite interesting. I've not seen this area. The flowers help give scale to the image. And cropped in tight, part of it could be an interesting abstract image. What is actually growing on the hills? Is vegetation or rock? Your treatment draws my interest into the scene, and I want to know more.   Posted: 06/13/2021 14:26:17
Pamela Hoaglund   Pamela Hoaglund
There is nothing growing on the hills, it's just the texture of the ground. It's not solid rock but almost like a volcanic gravel. You can see where wildlife has walked across the hills because you can see their tracks. There were some tracks in this image which I took out. The flowers are wildflowers.   Posted: 06/13/2021 14:50:41



Ally Green   Ally Green
That is a stunning capture and love how you chose to focus in on the intimate detail of the landscape. I have never been there so it was intriguing for me to see the full vista photo you also shared. The colours and the light are wonderful and you did a good job in post. Capturing the yellow flowers also adds another layer of interest. To me i might have cropped further in from the right to cut out the dark area.   Posted: 06/14/2021 14:38:19



LC Boros   LC Boros
(Group 90)
Lovely image: I like the post work you did to bring more of the colours out, but I actually prefer the uncropped framing as there is more of a sense of scale as this variant feels cramped to me. I'm on the fence about removing the animal trails: would be interesting to see the trails with the contrast changes in the variant.   Posted: 06/15/2021 01:09:56