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.
I like this image but is it too much like a calendar shot?
My first impressions: colors, light, clearness are excellent. I don’t think that it is a calender photo but if it should it is a beautiful calender. For me the image is too crowded, what do you think about a shorter format that excludes at least the second tree?
Carlsbad Caverns. Stalagmites and stalagtites. It’s almost operatic in the sense of drama it conveys. Just an excellent image. I also love the sense of depth you get from the dark foreground outlines to all the intricacies of the background. And then there’s that glum thing in the middle starting back at you. Just a well thought out composition with so many elements. I love it.
Thanks Igor
Your thoughts on the crop?
Boy, that’s a tough one. I like them both. The crop makes things simpler. But I liked the idea of looking through the trees at the swamp and that’s just a bit better conveyed in the original. Could go either way because simple is always good.
Steve, I like the crop and maybe more . Even up to the inner tree. I think you gotta go there again and again . To find so much more than one composition of this magic place
Yes Steve this is my idea and I like the new version of course.
Beautiful image, Steve. I like the original crop but if I cropped, it would be from the left side of the image to get rid of the the stuff creeping in from the edge particularly the very bottom Left corner and the middle of the left edge where there are some green leaves sticking into the scene. I love the little Yoda thing along the bottom middle of the frame. The calmness of the water water provides a beautiful reflection and the colors look just right. I’m really enjoying this and no, it doesn’t feel like a calendar image although I’m not exactly sure what you mean by a calendar image. It stands on it’s own quite nicely.
Steve: I’m coming to this after viewing your most recent post. I like the original comp and the crop but would be tempted to dodge the trunks of the big trees on the right and perhaps bring out a touch more shadow detail on the stump(?). Beautiful scene and a terrific color palette. I’ll take a calendar of these any day. >=))>
