An Epoch on Saturn

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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An Epoch on Saturn
An Epoch on Saturn2000×1500 1.59 MB

Rather than go through my enormous close up and macro catalog for this week’s challenge, I’m starting with one I took in Badlands NP last week. We didn’t have a lot of time for this kind of thing, a bit of a disappointment, but I did my best. This odd little scene in the dried mud caught my attention. It reminded me of fossilized dinosaur eggs (or maybe aliens!) and I liked the abstract nature of the arrangement. Especially the curve of the dead plant which I think is balanced by the rocks in the LLC.

Specific Feedback Requested

Thoughts, impressions…ideas are welcome.

Technical Details

Tripod pointed straight down

image

Lr for basic RAW work and a very slight crop - it’s a very pastel and light colored scene and I wanted to preserve some of that, but also bring up some texture and tonality so I went into Photoshop for a lot of masking combined with dodging and burning. Also some distraction removal.

2 Likes
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Kris, nice abstract and great colors.

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Wonderful abstract quality, Kris. Lighting is perfect, allowing for enough definition and the twig is a nice flowing element. Nicely seen and captured.

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A great small scene, Kris. You sure have the eye for things like this. Wish you had more time to have captured more of scenes like it. Lots of lines, shapes and textures.

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Thanks @Shirley_Freeman, @linda_mellor & @David_Bostock - yeah, I wish there had been more time, but I tried. Glad this isn’t too weird.

2 Likes
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Outstanding abstract image with wonderful color and texture.

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Really beautiful. Clearly you worked the right levers to get things to be just right.

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thanks @JohnSnell & @David_Schoen - I wish I had more time for this kind of thing out there. The landscape is so otherworldly, which I know we say about a lot of places, but it fits. I’d love to have found a fossil, the place is apparently dirty with them, but no luck.

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I like this, Kris. In a small view it could almost look like an aerial drone shot. It looks like big mountains and cliffs broken up over time and the dried up plant with the cracks looks like a river with its different tributaries winding around. Nicely seen!

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I hadn’t thought about the drone shot aspect - thanks @Vanessa_Hill - just another reason the folks here are so valuable - we all see things so differently.

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This is wonderful!! The subtle side-lighting makes it pop. The soft pastel colors are the perfect foil to the dry, rugged subject.

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Thanks @Diane_Miller - the light in the canyon was bright, but not direct and the rock is so light that it bounced all over making for a really nice place to shoot.