A few new photos to share

These shots are from my last 2 outings. I think these are the best of the bunch. Still not as sharp as I'd like but I think I'm improving. The 1st shot is my first effort at shooting railroad tracks.

Where at in Montana? I used to live in Havre.

The 1st one is just fantastic! I think 2nd one you should shoot from top of the hay bale..to get a wider view and diff perspective.

4huskers wrote in post #13419317
Where at in Montana? I used to live in Havre.

Close to East Helena off of 12 headed towards Townsend. Where do you live in Texas? I'm a native Texan.

Sunman wrote in post #13419375
The 1st one is just fantastic! I think 2nd one you should shoot from top of the hay bale..to get a wider view and diff perspective.

Thanks so much! Great suggestion for the hay bail but I would never make it to the top of a hay bail and the owner of the land might get a little pissed if they saw me doing that.

At the risk of offending some residents of Montana,... I've been following the series of pictures you have been posting for a number of months, and you are definitely improving. But,... the main thing lacking in most of them is a center of interest. The landscape seems to be mostly huge fields or meadows backed up by generally ordinary hills/mountains. This leaves the focus of the picture the sky/clouds.

It is difficult to create a good landscape photograph without some terrain elements that are interesting and varied. That gives you the opportunity to compose the picture in a way that leads the viewers eye around the scene to investigate each element. Without that interest you end up with an unemotional picture that is dominated by the cloud formation. Spectacular clouds can add greatly to a landscape photograph, but can rarely carry it on their own.

My suggestion would be to get closer to the mountains, look for streams, rivers and valleys that would form the main elements of the photograph. Find vantage points that allow you to compose pictures that will lead a viewer around the scene, and use the beautiful cloud formations as the 'icing on the cake'. When looking at scenes try to imagine the time of day when the sun would be in the best position to create dramatic shadows, generally early or late in the day.

Your photographs are getting better every month. Keep growing.

Jon C wrote in post #13421957
At the risk of offending some residents of Montana,... I've been following the series of pictures you have been posting for a number of months, and you are definitely improving. But,... the main thing lacking in most of them is a center of interest. The landscape seems to be mostly huge fields or meadows backed up by generally ordinary hills/mountains. This leaves the focus of the picture the sky/clouds.

It is difficult to create a good landscape photograph without some terrain elements that are interesting and varied. That gives you the opportunity to compose the picture in a way that leads the viewers eye around the scene to investigate each element. Without that interest you end up with an unemotional picture that is dominated by the cloud formation. Spectacular clouds can add greatly to a landscape photograph, but can rarely carry it on their own.

My suggestion would be to get closer to the mountains, look for streams, rivers and valleys that would form the main elements of the photograph. Find vantage points that allow you to compose pictures that will lead a viewer around the scene, and use the beautiful cloud formations as the 'icing on the cake'. When looking at scenes try to imagine the time of day when the sun would be in the best position to create dramatic shadows, generally early or late in the day.

Your photographs are getting better every month. Keep growing.

Thanks so much for taking the time to CC my photos. I will do my best to get out and try to find more interesting subjects. I'm still trying to find better locations that I can get to by car. I can't do long hikes due to bad knees. So, did the bale of hay provide any interest at all? Or is the bale of hay not interesting enough. I really want to show the beauty of the land where I live. I'm thinking of putting an add in the paper to try to get a photography club going. It would be great to get together with other photographers in the area to share ideas and tips.