A Perilous Journey

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
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Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction

Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.

Questions to guide your feedback

How does this grab you? Emphasis on ‘grab’.

Other Information

Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.

Image Description

This is the inner world of one of those dried out desert shrubs. They’re becoming a bit cliche now but I hope this one is just a tad different.

Technical Details

GFX50R, 45-100mm, f/11, focus stacked.

Specific Feedback

All of the above but particularly conceptual and emotional.

Critique Template

Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.

  • Vision and Purpose:
  • Conceptual:
  • Emotional Impact and Mood:
  • Composition:
  • Balance and Visual Weight:
  • Depth and Dimension:
  • Color:
  • Lighting:
  • Processing:
  • Technical:
2 Likes
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This was another image from a Death Valley workshop with @Michael_E_Gordon and @Guy_Tal.

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Igor,

Initial reaction - Don’t go in there…Its dark!

Talk about a haunted forest. This is such an evocative composition. Really does look like a daunting and dangerous place to go into. the only thing I could ask for is more of the thinner lighter “thorny” bits in the LRC to somewhat balance it out, but then at the same time not having anything there gives the view an invitation to go in, if one was foolish enough to do so. Nice work as always.

Aha, after reading your comment - now I know where I saw work like this, Michael Gordon.

1 Like
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First Reaction : OOOOH cool! A place I can hide out and read with a flashlight!
Second reaction: A perfect home for a wood nymph!

Doesn’t evoke trepidation in me, at all. (I never said I was normal!)

Igor, another amazing find…don’t know how you do it…
The shades of wood and the swirling lines are just enchanting.
Truly exceptional.

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Hi @Igor_Doncov , What a stunning image you have shared with us! I really love the twisted branches and spiky twigs. It is the sort of flowing image that gives the eye plenty of opportunity to keep finding delights. I really like the B&W treatment. So well seen and processed.

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The Lines the Tone !!! Its all there… Great image !!!

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My initial reaction was “what a terrific photograph.” It’s a wonderful composition.

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Hi Igor,
My first reaction is moody and mysterious! I absolutely love the graceful twists and turns of the branches as they take my eye around the image letting me savor all the amazing details. The B&W conversion looks perfect with the wide range of tones. Beautifully done.

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I like this a lot, Igor! It’s a very elegant photograph and I have nothing negative to say about it.

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The twists and turns and texture are glorious. I concur with all the accolades!

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Another marvellous image - what I imagine to be the beginning of “The Hero’s Journey”, a living forest that takes courage to enter and resilience to exit.

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My IR is that this looks like the entrance to a dark fairy tale, easy to slip in to, but who knows how easy to get out?

This one works very well for me Igor. You’ve captured chaos in a way that really flows with the twists and turns of those main branches. I really like the tones and use of dark; it carries a feel of forbidding and danger, the opposite of warm and inviting.

1 Like