The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
We were flying across SW Washington and I had been shooting some of the interesting rolling terrain when I saw this road.
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome! This isn’t my usual sort of image but the possibilities appealed to me.
Technical Details
I did quite a lot of cloning to eliminate some vehicle tracks and minor grading, to emphasize the terrain and the road. There was a subtle artistic filter look from shooting through the plexiglas side window to start with, stronger toward the corners. Into PS for a B/W adjustment layer.
I find this to be an interesting photograph. Very simple and yet tells a story. No words needed !!! Great tone and the contrast of the long road is really nice.
First off, congratulations on the moderator role. I somehow missed the announcement. Great addition to the team.
Second, I really like this image, and of course B&W is my favorite medium (if you can call it that)…
I love the winding road and the dark hills in the foreground. My eye keeps getting pulled into the brightness at the top. I tried a crop to slight pano and for me this is the essence of the scene…I shy away from tweaking other’s images these days, so I hope you don’t mind this one.
Thanks, @Gill_Vanderlip and @David_Bostock! I guess it’s largely because the original had the brighter light in the distance (although I did darken the FG a lot), but somehow it worked for me to show something about where the road was going. Could a slight crop from the top work as a compromise?
Yeah, I like the far horizon being included since it is a natural end point and gives some continuity. Cropping has a different feel and intention that isn’t bad, but just doesn’t speak to me quite as much. Maybe if you were aiming more or less straight down, but that’s hard to do. Whenever I spot these roads from a plane I immediately want to beam down in one of my German automobiles and let 'er rip!
Thanks, @Gill_Vanderlip and @Kris_Smith! Yeah, for me it’s the OP version, too. But crops are always worth trying and it’s so often that there are several versions in an image.
Kris, I was thinking of our car-crazy son in law when I shot it. You’d love Panoramic Highway from Stinson Beach to Mill Valley! It’s the “convenient” route between their place in Sausalito and his parents’ place in Bolinas. He has a pretty heady BMW sports car, but I can’t remember the model. Several years ago he was directing a movie with a lot of car chase scenes with a Porsche and the stunt driver couldn’t do the fancy clutch work for a scene, so Jeremy put on his shoes and did it himself. Almost the whole thing was filmed from inside the car, including the footwork, live action.
I like the original version best I think. The way that it almost forces me to follow the road to who knows where is appealing, the mystery is the allure.
I also like the tractor roads that sprout off the main road.
The processing treatment adds to it, It lacks detail (in a good way), or maybe I should say that the details are subdued and that makes it more of a wonderful impressionistic style image in my view.
I definitely see where @David_Bostock is coming from though, that one makes it more about the hills and the road and less about the mystery of where the road goes. I like that one as well!
To me, this is one of those images that I want to explore everything in it more than once.
