This is little meadow falls, a lovely little spot in a slot canyon in Railroad Valley, Nevada. Just so happens I did it both with 150mm Super Symmar XL and a 12 inch Darlot Landscape Meniscus with no stops, wide open at f6 on the 5X12.
little meadow falls, 150 Symmar XL
little meadow falls, Darlot meniscus
The soft one works well for me. It transports me.
What say ye?
Last edited by Jim Galli; 17-Sep-2008 at 10:42.
Too soft for me personally.
The softness takes it into 'pinhole/zoneplate' territory - for me - a nice place to be.
But I like having more of the leading-in streamlet in the first composition,
gives a little more context... great. now I'm fence sitting...
I'd agree with Will on this one. Maybe a waterhouse to take it down to ~f/10 would have given enough definition to ground the image a little more as it's too soft for me as is. But if it works for you then you did great!
They are two different compositions. Why not crop the Symmar image accordingly, and then we can compare apples to apples ?
Its dependant on content for me, for this subject I prefer the sharp image. Alot of the stuff that you usually post, such as trucks, flowers etc I prefer soft.
Its dependant on content for me, for this subject I prefer the sharp image. Alot of the stuff that you usually post, such as trucks, flowers etc I prefer soft. I am getting a thing for sharp in the middle, fall off at the edges too. As I shoot mainly colour landscapes I tend to see em sharp, I am learning though!!
Gari
Thanks all. I've embedded a link to a larger .jpg in both of these. I think the small .jpg hurts the softer image. A little bigger and you can get a better idea of the detail that is actually there in the soft image. The bigger .jpg of the sharp image succeeded in making it look softCan't win with this digi stuff. Interesting answers all.
Ken's comment is good and the difference in the compositions was what caught my eye first. In looking again, I see that one lens is twice the focal length of the other. I like the top (sharp) composition better and feel that the wider lens works better in pulling me in to the photograph. It has nothing to do with sharp or soft! The lead-in from the bottom of the image with the stones is nice. But I find the bright white triangle at the top of the image very distracting.
Nice to see the Darlot in action since I have that lens. But mine didn't come with the "big bore kit" like Jim's.I'll be interested to see what it will do with the stops in place.
I like them both for different reasons. The Symmar shot has a good sense of place while the Darlot shot has the 'mythic' feeling that I look for in a softer image. They both have their place, just in different portfolios.
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