topic Re: Beauty in Share Your Photos

Beauty

SignifDigits — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 01:04:46 GMT

Perhaps Majesty might be better but thought it would be fun to play off LeeP's "Beauty" post and a recent thread talking about "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Just snagged this off the back porch - saw it, grabbed the camera off the table, stepped outside and shot - 70mm seemed about right and the view didn't last long. The wife and I had just watched TV and I looked outside and noticed "golden hour" type light and was mentioning to her, and looked out to see the reason for the great light during a break between storms.

I'd appreciate if if you let me know which one you vote for as far as composition. SOOC except for WB = "Shady" (which it was) and style= "Faithful". Looking at it on a large calibrated screen I think it needs nothing else, and most especially as a large print.

Re: Beauty

stevet1 — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 02:27:19 GMT

SignifDigits,

As far a composition goes, there is not enough of a difference to make a decision. Both pictures contain the same elements. I can see where you shifted the camera slightly (ever so slightly) upwards in your second shot, but not enough to make any appreciable difference. They are both good shots.

Steve Thomas

Re: Beauty

LeeP — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:18:19 GMT

I like these. The picture I posted was out of creative boredom and sarcasm about the juxtaposition of a beauty parlor next to a vacant lot with scattered tires, thus ironic. Your pictures are lovely. Those kind of atmospheric gems don't happen in Kern County during summer. You are rather fortunate. I enjoyed your post. Thank you.

Re: Beauty

LeeP — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:56:48 GMT

PS: The "calibrated screen" mention was a hoot. As a working photographer I of course have a calibrated screen, so I see things as they are. Your images would sell as a diptych because they are spot on tonally.

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:15:11 GMT

Thanks Steve. I am having a bit of trouble in my mind whether I prefer the bit of tree helping complete the framing at the bottom versus having a small gap at the bottom and having a bit more cloud at the top. Yes, I just did a quick shift of the lens.

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:26:21 GMT

I very much enjoyed your sarcasm which is why I thought it whimsical to title mine the same. Thank Lee. I am blessed to live where I live. Wildlife, fireflies, amazing scenes in the sky, and even rainbows in my back yard (twice). I didn't quite catch it on film this week when I saw it a second time, but was lucky enough to do so in 2020. Color saturation and luminance on all but green is enhanced in these to highlight the rainbow.

Re: Beauty

stevet1 — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 11:58:36 GMT

So, did you find your pot of gold at the end of that rainbow?

Steve Thomas

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 12:21:50 GMT

Yes!

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 12:58:19 GMT

Red filter and sharpened a bit for a B&W version just for Lee and Ramsden. Sometime soon I'll have to make the difficult decision which one to print!

Re: Beauty

LeeP — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:18:31 GMT

Green is a color we see in Kern County in spring when the weeds grow, but of course by the end of April it is summer until often the end of October, so the green turns to gold as all the weeds die and dry up. Then the gold changes to black with the inevitable brush fires. We also have a lot of grey in the winter from fog. Such a picturesque land I live in.

It's annoying when you can see the rainbow but it doesn't photograph like you see it.

Your cloud pictures would be fun as a diptych with the second one given a horizontal flip.

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:33:08 GMT

Yes. Eyes ≠ camera. Maybe the biggest challenge in photography. Color, depth of field, sharpness and depth perception are all not the same there. I know the mountain always seem closer to my eye than in photos. Same with the moon. I wonder if someone will ever endow cameras with a variable zone depth perception/zoom that our brains employ.

Re: Beauty

LeeP — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:53:45 GMT

I'm sure Canon is deep into AI engineering and could do that.

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 18:48:13 GMT

Can't yet put enough processing into a camera to match our brain - maybe someday.

There are some pretty great deserts not too far from you and you are a LOT closer to Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite that I am! I saw a great grass grass burn area contrast driving near there and just couldn't quite make a decent photo out of it. And the oil derricks make great subjects!

And the derelict jet yard isn't that far is it? We didn't have time to do more than pull off and get a phone pic.

But yeah, I am blessed with green and lush and lots of grass to mow 🙂

Re: Beauty

stevet1 — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 20:38:08 GMT

This is the only rainbow I've been able to catch in the last couple of years.

From back in 2024 Somebody came along and kicked over a paint can.

Steve Thomas

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 23:59:41 GMT

There was a super bright double rainbow against dark clouds in my rear view mirror a couple months ago. Pulled into the gas station worked to get to a place to take it, and.... gone. But I have some decent ones - see them a lot. This one was the same day as the one in my backyard. It was just a sunshine and rainbows kind of day!

Re: Beauty

stevet1 — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:25:24 GMT

The haybales are a nice touch of a land blessed with bounty.

The skies are smiling.

Steve Thomas

Re: Beauty

Ramsden — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 10:01:40 GMT

You've got my vote.

Thanks for the mention in the same sentence as Lee!

I'm currently experimenting with Spot AF to see how it alters the settings on B&W. Your photo would be challenge given the juxtaposition of black, grey and white.

Ramsden

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:15:49 GMT

The good news that spot focus at infinity is the same as a gazillion spot focus at infinity. At 70mm and f/11 infinity is about 15 meters, so everything in that photo is at infinity.

I'm still waiting on most of my Ansel Adams books, but got "Examples" yesterday. 40 prints and 40 stories. On the cover is "Moonrise". I read the intro and skipped ahead to read the story of "Moonrise" and it blows my mind how even though he couldn't find his light meter he mentally calculated the exposure.

Then, I'm even more gobsmacked (GREAT word - need it used here more across the pond) at how he processed the print. When we were on our tour with the Ansel Adam Gallery they showed a "contact sheet" type print from the negative (still full print, but with no dark lab "magic"). That photo is just ok, really - nothing special. The difference between that print and what Ansel produced is mind-boggling. In the book he says that no two prints from that negative are really identical. Reading what is involved I can see why.

It's definitely humbling to read. I am way too lazy and unskilled to ever make one single great photograph, and likely always doomed to make snapshots. That said, I do plan to continue to put SOME effort forth regardless.

Re: Beauty

Ramsden — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 12:53:35 GMT

I'm currently reading the chapter on Zones in The Negative book. He has the unique way of combining art and science. Best still, I can understand his charts and diagrams. I just love pictures diagrams that explain technical concepts. I don’t know if people still use the Right / Left brain model, where the right is big picture thinking, while the left is detailed scientific stuff. And some folks span both spheres, which I Ansel must have been in that category.

I enjoyed your take on Lee's Beauty photo. It took me a while to see it on my small screen. My eyes were drawn to the industrial waste and telegraph poles, which I have a liking for.

Ramsden

Re: Beauty

SignifDigits — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:07:18 GMT

I like that pic! I have a huge thing for sky and clouds - have ever since I was a kid. I recall living in the big sky of Texas and watching clouds grow into thunderstorms with the classic anvil on top, watching the weather roll in via the clouds and of laying on the grass with a friend and talking about what we saw in the clouds (pareidolia).