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Searching the Superstition Mountains
3rd PlaceSearching the Superstition Mountains
cutlassdude70


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Where In The World Is stdavidson? (Advanced Editing IV*)
Camera: Canon EOS-20D
Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Location: Siphon's Draw Trail - Superstition Mountains, AZ
Date: Aug 19, 2006
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/40 sec
Galleries: Sky, Landscape
Date Uploaded: Aug 21, 2006

 * Edit: Thanks for all the awesome comments, everyone! :D I'm stoked to have finally ribboned. :)

I ended up putting more effort into getting this shot than any other photo I have ever taken. Hopefully the shot "set up" will pay off and this will score halfway decent. As soon as the Steve Davidson challenge was announced, I knew I wanted to drive out to the Superstition Moutains (where Steve was lost). I wanted to see the actual terrain and thought it would be the perfect place to take a shot for this challenge.

So my good friend Danny (Pander on DPC) and I decided to take an Arizona road trip all weekend. We left Friday night, drove out to Sedona, and got there just before sunrise. After taking some photos there, we headed to Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction. We took the Siphon's Draw hiking trail up into the Superstition Mountains before sunset Saturday evening. This shot was taken near the beginning of the trail (relatively - the first part of the trail DOES have a 1000 ft elevation gain). Danny stood on a group of rocks next to a cactus and pointed the binoculars out towards the mountains.

Whether this shot scores decent or not, I had a GREAT time driving out to see the Superstiton Mountains and so many of the places that stdavidson likes to shoot - now I see why he does! :) Yes - a 1000 mile road trip for a damn challenge entry. Now I know I've lost it... ;) BTW, most importantly - Welcome Back Steve!

Post-Processing
---------------
* Reduced exposure in RAW
* Ran Noise Ninja twice
* Levels
* Hue/Saturation
* Cloned out imperfections in sky
* Cloned out the needles on the cactus, which were causing it to look out-of-focus
* Crop, resize, add border, Save For Web

Statistics
Place: 3 out of 107
Avg (all users): 7.0848
Avg (commenters): 8.3750
Avg (participants): 6.5614
Avg (non-participants): 7.3611
Views since voting: 8198
Views during voting: 332
Votes: 165
Comments: 37
Favorites: 5 (view)

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AuthorThread
 09/04/2006 07:13:44 PM
Hey there from the Critique Club

After a slight hiatus from critiquing (new house, big RN cert test, new job, blah, blah, blah), I have decided to pull a few from the queue. Yours is first, and just happens to be a ribbon winner. So with that, congrats on your first ribbon and your highest scoring image to date.

Camera Work/Technical: This is a terrific choice of settings to keep the terrific color of the sky while keeping the profiles of the photographer and the cactus solid.

Lighting: Again, near perfection. I can also see why Steve likes to shoot this area.

Composition/Content: I find this area to be my only viable area of critique for this image. It feels just a bit tight on the composition with the photographer shooting toward the outside of the frame. It almost leaves me longing to see what he's looking at. Perhaps just a bit more empty space on his right would have loosened it up a bit, but there really was no good reason to change anything. The voters were very pleased with your choice of composition. You did a fine job meeting the challenge, and did so with the types of images I had in mind for this challenge.

My Opinion: While I did not enjoy the challenge, nor many of its entries, I am glad to see that this one did as well as it did. Looking at it in voting, I would have guessed that it was also fit for a basic editing challenge. It wasn't far off. Again, congrats on a very fine image, and one well worthy of its final placement, especially considering the miles that you put on stepping out of the house to get it. Great work!

Eric
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 05:39:41 PM
Excellent picture, congrats.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 04:59:30 PM
Beautiful picture and deserved ribbon. Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 01:48:16 PM
Congrats on your first ribbon. Excellent shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 09:19:28 AM
Beautiful shot. Congrats on your first ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 09:01:43 AM
Congratulations on your first ribbon with this beautiful entry so well suited for the challenge
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 05:36:37 AM
Yay! First ribbon! Congratulations - beautiful sharp image. I'm glad your effort paid off.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 04:56:11 AM
Awesome Sean and congrats on that first ribbon, very well deserved especially for all that effort you put in!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 01:11:07 AM
Wow! Congratulations on your first ribbon and first 7+ score!!!!!

What an amazing story! I can't believe you drove all the way from Riverside to the Supertitions. Sounds like you had a great time. Wished I could have shared it with you. While "missing" one of the trails I hiked on was the Siphon's Draw trail!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 12:43:30 AM
Nice colours. Congrats on your RIBBON.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2006 12:21:06 AM
Melts the gaze away! Congratulations on your Yellow.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
08/29/2006 09:19:05 PM
An all around perfect shot. Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2006 01:33:08 PM
I love the colors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2006 10:53:02 AM
A very interesting silhouette and fantastic sky colors. Great job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/28/2006 09:06:24 PM
Wonderful photo. Fabulous colors and great silhouette shot !

Awesome.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/28/2006 07:44:53 PM
nice colors
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/27/2006 05:43:40 PM
Good silhouette and the blue and gold colors are spectacular. This is my kind of imagery.
This picture is very revealing. You can plainly see that I was so lost that I did not even know which way to point a camera anymore, even if I'd had one. One of the unfortunate aspects of the whole experience is I did not even get a single picture to show from it. It is good there were no pictures of me, though. I looked frightful, probably 30 years older and felt like an old weatherworn prospector. - Steve
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/27/2006 11:01:35 AM
Awewsome..........
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/27/2006 10:20:20 AM
Great colors and lovely sharp silhouettes. Bumping to 8.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2006 12:27:27 PM
Great colors on the sky. Very nice silhouettes
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2006 05:50:49 AM
Love those blues and silhouette.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/26/2006 04:29:57 AM
awesome, just his style, 10! this better ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/25/2006 11:13:03 PM
not only fits the challenge perfectly but is a beautiful image as well. my only problem is the way the photographer is facing, I fell it would be better to be facing into the photo rather than out to the right. Still I'm picking this for a top ten.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/25/2006 01:28:28 PM
Right on target, even semi-tribute to his soft focus cactus silhouette at sunset
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/25/2006 11:57:45 AM
wow. phenomenal!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2006 09:59:36 PM
classic DPC ribbon attempt though cutting off the man's legs will knock this down a point...nice gradient sunset
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2006 09:33:25 PM
Well done, nice colors. It seems the photo may be over sharpened just a tad, not sure. The boarder here does nothing for me, just my opinion. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2006 07:26:21 PM
A most engaging silhoutte against a killer sky. Bump.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2006 03:47:46 PM
this would have been a great one for "silhouettes III"
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/24/2006 01:51:37 PM
Nice clean image that fits the challenge without resorting to pp manipulations. Well done, and good luck in the challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2006 11:08:48 PM
Perfect shot for the challenge-- good luck -- 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2006 08:52:18 PM
Another great silhouette of Steve
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2006 05:21:23 PM
Beatiful capture. Perfect lighting.great comp and colors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2006 10:28:30 AM
Great shot, this should finish close to the top.

BTW, it would have been a great shot for the new challenge "Silhouettes III"
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2006 09:17:02 AM
Looks like the cactus is happy to see him :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2006 07:46:59 AM
Beautiful silhouette and great image fir this challenge!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/23/2006 03:51:30 AM
Now, I really love this one, as it certainly suits this challenge.....
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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