I've taken lots of slides while backpacking or trekking through the Rockies and Sierras, but this is one of my favorites. This scene struck me more after the print than before the exposure. I was taken by the patterns in the foreground and the orange color of the left contrasted against the blue sky on the right (pretty much true to the original slide). This was taken with an Olympus Stylus on Sensia II. (Scanned Ilfochrome print)

-- Ron Blachly (blach@insolwwb.net), July 05, 1999

Answers

Very interesting subject and very good Image.

I particularly like the three different hues on the ground. What is the ground made off ?

Wouldn't it be better to scan the film instead ?

-- Jan van Bodegraven (janvnbdg@mandic.com.br), July 06, 1999.

The ground is covered by thermophilic bacteria, living in the shallow runoff of the hot pool or thermal. The colors are from various pigments in the bacteria. I scanned an Ilfochrome test print as I haven't got a film scanner yet. But this is good enough for web use.

-- Ron Blachly (blach@insolwwb.net), July 06, 1999.

Good enough for web use? A sad but accurate comment, I'm afraid! But as our esteemed host Mr. Greenspun has written: "Images on the Web Can Look Better than on a Magazine Page". Of course if your just putting a picture of your cat on your web page, such perfection is neither necessary or desirable (plus it may drive you crazy).

The question is, is it better to have a technically perfect photograph of a rather uninteresting subject, or an absolute stunning subject where you blew the exposure or focus or forgot your tripod? The photographer's dilemma: no photo ever seems perfect.

Sorry to be rambling ...

-- George Bell (gibell@geocities.com), July 06, 1999.

I like it! Nice composition, wonderful subject. The only question I have relates to the time of day you took the photo.... Do you think that the light closer to sunrise or sunset would have improved the picture?

-- Mark Erickson (maericks@netcom.com), July 06, 1999.

I really like the way the hills are mirrored by the orange arc in the pool. Is this the Grand Pismatic?

The scan looks a little soft on my monitor. Could probably be fixed with a little sharpening post-scan. Really nice shot.

-- Scott (bliorg@yahoo.com), July 08, 1999.