As the Dawn Breaks

Image Critiques
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1

Original - TN2026-_MG_7849-Edit- NPN copy.jpg
Original - TN2026-_MG_7849-Edit- NPN copy.jpg2250×1500 1.33 MB

Critique Style: Standard

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

This image is from my short photography outing this past Sunday. I’ve not been shooting much this year though I hope to really get back into it.

I’d been to this area quite a few times before. There’s a hiking trail near this spot that gives you a somewhat similar view of these mountains, but unfortunately, there are some ugly power lines, quite a few trees blocking the view, and generally just a pretty messy composition.

In June 2025, after shooting another sunrise nearby, I had some free time to explore, so I decided to scout this area for a “better” spot. After a bit of bushwhacking, I found this little spot.

Ironically, I eventually found and followed a worn path through the bush, so it turned out that, as is often the case, I hadn’t really discovered anything new at all. I was just following in someone else’s footsteps.

I’m okay with that, though. :slight_smile:

Feedback Requested

I know that these type of wide angle, grand landscape images are not in vogue these days but I still love them. I also have a few images from this morning that I made with a slightly longer lens - a 45mm, that has a different feel and that I’ll post another day.

Technical Details

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: TS-E24mm f/3.5L II
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 8s
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100

Tripod/handheld: Tripod
Focus method: Manual focus
Filters: 3 stop ND grad and a 6 stop ND filter
Technique: Used the lens tilt to get everything from the foreground to the background in focus while using a middle aperture.
Conditions: It was a beautiful morning and I’m so happy I was able to be outside to enjoy it.

2

Outstanding image. The light, the reflections, are all wonderful. I can’t think of anything I would change.
Good use of diagonal elements. Good use of leading lines.

3

Hi Tom. Nice job on the bushwhack to a better vantage point. Funny how we bushwhack our way to trail. Been there, done that. I like this a lot. The colors (the blue in the sky and the water, the orange on the rock face) are fantastic. I see no need for it to be darker, lighter. Strikes me as just right.

FWIW, my favorite element in this is the fir trees in silhouette at the far end of the lake. I think it’s because they have the most detail, and they are furthest away. That’s an unusual combination (detail at a distance) and it creates a motivation forward within an otherwise quite calm scene.

Nicely done,
ML

4

Amazing to find this image of yours and @steve12 side by side today and looking almost like mirror images of one another despite coming from totally different locations and habitats, Tom. Being a morning person, I really love dawn images and this is a beauty with great leading lines. I also agree with @Marylynne_Diggs that the little line of trees at the far end of the lake is a big factor in making this image special as they just set there against the skyline pulling the viewer through the image in a very gentle way.

I’ll be very interested in seeing what the slightly longer lens did to the scene, but it’s going to have to be something special to beat this one.

5

Hi Tom,

I agree with you… grand landscapes are “grand” for a reason, in vogue or not (let’s just consider them classic and they can never go out of style:o)

This is a beautiful image! The richness of the colotrs, light and shadows are perfect and, like @Dennis_Plank and @Marylynne_Diggs have said, really lead the eye well to those exceptional trees at the end of the lake.

Love it!!

Holly