What changed: I cloned out the tree limbs and big rocks on the land, then darkened it, hoping to attract less attention…did it work or is it too dark now?
Added after receiving feedback from the community.
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The colors in YNP’s Porcelain Basin had this long swirling feeling so I made this as a 3 shot pano, cropped to more like 2.5 wide. I did take a number of closer looks that look good.
Specific Feedback
There was no way to exclude the bit of solid ground in the lrc without loosing important parts of the view in the lower left. Single shot views, also look good, but don’t capture the side-to-side eye movement nearly as well.
Technical Details
R5, 100-500 @ 100, 1/500 s, f/13, iso 800, tripod.
This is wonderful and fantastic. Aside from the great variety of colors, shapes, patterns, etc., what is most striking to me is the lack of scale! This could very easily be an aerial view of some uninhabitable landscape - or even of another National Park like Lassen. I actually view this as a larger landscape and just find it fascinating!
Great job with the pano as there is a distinct flow. And I see your point about losing the bottom middle, “marbling” I call it. I’m what your take is on transforming a scene like this. I agree, cropping is not an option. Perhaps to big of an area for CA-cloning. But I opened it and was able transform using skew and warp to effectively move that LRC and stretch it out of the way. A little bit of the ribbon was lost, but not like if it were cropped. I won’t post as I was just experimenting. And ultimately it may not be something your comfortable with. But it’s an option.
And regardless of any transforming, this is an outstanding capture and presentation.
Wonderful abstract, Mark. I love the colors and the lack of scale. It reminds me of an area of the Icelandic highlands, in which case this would represent a scale of about 5 square miles. I’m guessing this is closer to 10 feet or less?
I see your point about the lower right corner. It would be interesting to see Lon’s experiment, but I also like your use of the area for a signature or watermark. Brilliant use of space there .
Very nicely done, and it’s fun to see your “out west” work again after your winter in the Mid-Atlantic.
Marylynne, the east-to-west (and visa versa) change is alway fun and a good way to challenge my vision, since the available subject matter changes so dramatically.
I don’t know exactly why some abstracts work and others don’t. This one definitely works. I think many abstracts are based on design and design alone is not good enough. A good abstract is also suggestive. But here’s the kicker. What it suggests should not be clear. It should suggest many things. Nothing should be obvious. That’s what makes this image so good.
As for the lrc - why not select it and drop its clarity way down? I would try to make it match somewhat the ulc in color and tonality.
Igor, my opinion is that a “good” abstract either moves the viewer’s eyes in a particular pattern (like this one) and/or it keeps the viewer’s eyes moving throughout the frame. When we lose clearly recognizable elements, the eyes go to things like light, dark, contrast, color and shape.
I think we’re in agreement but I’m not sure. I’m less about how the eye moves and more about what moves you inside. Although narratives ( like Napoleon on a rearing horse) do move people it’s the more ambiguous image that holds interest longer. I used to think that’s because the viewer is confused and ambiguous art was just baiting him. But I no longer think that’s the case. Ambiguity is the foundation of perception. It’s how we perceive the world.
The revision works for me even the lower right feels more integrated . it seems too like we have more to the left, slight shift of crop.
I like the additional space on the left but the two whitish spots upper left catch my eye more than I like. I’m sure that’s just me though. Both original and revised are fantastic, of course!
Love this Mark. The only comment I have to add to the great ones above is that my personal preference is for the saturation of the original. Otherwise the revision is a keeper.
The darkened version is perfect as presented. The abstraction as others have said works well and it reminds me of a textured acrylic abstract that hangs on a wall in a museum for modern art. The colors consisting of warm oranges and yellows with browns and grays swirled around white areas atre a feast for the eyes. This is awesome…Jim
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