In this place we intend to display an image from one of our contributors or readers each issue, so this is an invitation to contact us about the specifications (and learn a bit about our prejudices). We'd like to use ones we think are pretty successful, but we have no hesitation using a photograph that has a problem, or which might be improved.

Comments from our editors:

A forest, as seen by photographers, geologists and botanists, is a busy place.  This chaos is a particular challenge to photographers seeking to isolate a subject and simplify a scene in order to communicate its essence.  This photographer has done a good job of placing the 3-trunk cluster in the left vertical third of the composition and of eliminating the potential distraction of a sky.  The surprise of that light rock ridge contrasted against a dark river bank is well worth capturing.  There are ways, however, to add more strength to this photographic ode to geology’s wonders.

If returning to the forest is not an option, the photographer could use PhotoShop or other photo management software to crop up from the bottom to eliminate the lighter brown clutter of fallen leaves; and to crop in from the right where the brighter rock doesn’t show. This would maintain the original image’s sensibility and vertical height/width ratio, but more clearly define the photographer’s interest.  A more dramatic crop, if the image has enough resolution for significant enlargement, is to crop down from the top about 1/3 of the way and crop up from the bottom as previously suggested, thus creating a horizontal image.  Then, the viewer would instantly connect with the photographer’s focus on the “river” of lighter rock.

If the photographer can return to the site, he/she could try several other points of view that would allow the unusual band of rocks to resonate with a more definitive focus.  Moving much closer to that band would result in a stronger definition of the subject’s texture, thus preventing a viewer from seeing it as ice or snow at first glance.  Placing those light rocks in the foreground with the added emphasis afforded by a wide angle lens would create a more dynamic representation of the contrast.  This would be especially effective if the bright line was a diagonal, perhaps possible if the photographer moved lower to the left and then in closer.

 Quite an alternate suggestion, if the photographer felt the background woods were an indispensable element of the image would be to hold the camera lower so the tree could be taller.  Thus those dark trunk lines would be a stronger counter-balance to the line of light stone.   All angles are worth considering and with a digital camera, it costs nothing more than time - and time in a forest is always well spent.  
                                                                                                                      -- AMJ

No. 2 June 2006

Just above a substantial waterfall on the VanCampen Brook in the Delaware Watergap National Recreation Area of New Jersey I came across what from a distance looked like an ice floe. That was nonsense, of course, since this was June, but it was too distinctive to be natural, unless it was some sort of a glacial anomaly. Upon closer examination I found it was simply a bare rock shelf of a very light gray color. The contrast with the dark wet rock face on the other side of the brook was startling, so I stepped back, braced the camera and took both horizontal and vertical shots at 1/15 second at f/22 (using a monopod).
                                       —FLG