Blam!

Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction

Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.

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Image Description

This was my 3rd time exploring the slot canyons of Zion and everything looked too familiar. I just wasn’t getting inspired to shoot at anything. So I started to look very closely. The rushing water had deposited it’s silt on the canyon walls which had dried and left patterns. I chose this pattern.

Technical Details

GFX50R, 45-100mm, f/11, focus stacked, long exposure.

Specific Feedback

Is this image engaging enough?

These colors are pretty natural. Should they be boosted?


Critique Template

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A crime scene photo from a drug bust? :open_mouth:

All kidding aside (and apologies for my warped sense of humor), it appears to be biological growth or a deposit on a wood surface - perhaps a wall, floor or even a boat hull. The wood itself has plenty of character (and is certainly photogenic) but I’m not sure what the growth/deposit adds to that.

I’m looking forward to learning what this is.


Edit - I read the image description and now it makes sense. The color really makes it look like wood IMO. Maybe a B&W conversion is worth a look?

I tried that and it didn’t seem to make it better. If I add a lot of contrast to the b&w it does change it but doesn’t speak to me neither. Thanks for the feedback though.

Igor,

The photo gives me an unsettled feeling, why I don’t know.

Hi Igor,
My first impression was some kind of growth starting on dried out wood; then I read your description and it makes sense as to what it is. The diagonal striations in the rock work very nicely in this scene. I think we all hit the wall at some point or another in our photography and we have to step back and proceed in another direction. I certainly know I have.

If I’m being honest the very first thing I see is a pile of sand on wood plank flooring.
But after careful examination this looks like the growths that you get in Zion and Bryce on the rocks there. I have no idea what they are but that’s what I see.
Just saw what this actually is and it’s petty much as I suspected. I did not know it was silt. I always thought it was some sort of bacteria growth. Good to know. I think it’s engaging in a way where the viewer really doesn’t know what it is and because of that, it makes the viewer think. I’m not sure it’s engaging beyond the fact that it’s a little mysterious and abstract. That might very well be enough though.

What about the tactile experience? Can you almost feel the crutstiness of the surface of the sediment?

Hi Igor,

Plaster spoilt on a wooden floor. ( Love the structures and patterns)

The image has terrific texture and grit. So I would definitely say that I can almost feel the sandpaper like texture in this one.

The 13-year old in me thought “Hey, Pterodactylus poo.”

This does have a three-dimensional quality that is intriguing, and I’m enamored of the subtle lines and textures of the background. I do prefer it with a little less saturation in the dark reds.

It looks like mud splattered on a wooden surface, or a fallen fragment of a bird/insect nest. I see splatters like this regularly where there’s lots of insect activity around old buildings. I wouldn’t have guessed stone.