What changed: I balanced out the lighting a little bit - made the right side of the sky a bit darker and the grasses in the lower left a tiny bit brighter. I think it feels a bit more balanced now.
Added after receiving feedback from the community.
The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
I recently took a week off work and spent a few of those days out in the mountains hiking, exploring, and doing a little bit of photography. This image was taken on a weekday, so there weren’t too many people around, which made for a wonderfully calm and quiet day.
The sunset that evening seemed to reflect the feeling of the day perfectly: calm, serene, and restful. All in all, it was exactly the kind of day I enjoy most, and the sort of day that leaves me feeling recharged and refreshed.
Feedback Requested
I tried to process the image in a way that reflected the mood I felt while I was there shooting it: calm, serene, and restful. The light had an almost quiet quality to it, and I hope that comes across in the image. I realize that some might find it a little boring or perhaps not particularly exciting, but that’s not really what I was going for. I wanted to capture the feeling of that moment.
Technical Details
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: TS-E24mm f/3.5L II
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/15s
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
Tom, this has a quiet beauty that creates an almost pastoral mood. The light is fabulous and your processing is spot-on. I am a little on the fence with the stumps in the lake, but they are certainly not a deal breaker. You might also consider burning down the cloud in the URC just a bit–it grabs my eye a bit.
You certainly met your goal here. Nicely done, sir!
-P
Tom, it’s hard to find too much to criticize, so I guess I’ll talk about what I like.
I love the grass in the LLC, which is then continued in front of the trees on the far side of the water. The trees of the LC slope down gently leading into the mountains. It has nice balance both horizontally and vertically.
The colors of the grass and the trees contrast nicely.
I think the only people that would find this boring are people lucky enough to spend a lot of time in places like this.
Definitely captured the mood here Jim. I’m zipping up my jacket looking at it, anticipating evening. That light on the mountain is wonderful . For me, the lower half of the image is so subtle that I keep wanting to tweak it. But the water is important as a large, neutral element to set off the mountain and sky. If you lightened the triangle of foreground reeds it would create something of a frame to balance the image, which is very strong up top, arguably not strong enough below.
Beautiful light on the mountains, Tom, and I like the composition a lot. After reading the other critiques, I think I’d play with the exposure on the foreground reeds as suggested by @james7 just to see what it does to the image, but I like it a lot as posted.
I’ve uploaded a revised image based on your comments where I tried to balance out the brightness in the sky and the grasses. I think it definitely improved the image!
Revised version on NPN looks great Tom !
I have a somewhat similar image from the Sierra Nevada which has been both criticized for its dark foreground and praised for its true representation of the moment, attached. I still remember being out there in the cold and getting ready to depart when these last rays happened. I like the dark version!
