Caddo Lake

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
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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.

Questions to guide your feedback

I spent a couple days in Caddo Lake State Park. It was my first time at this location and loved it. While most of the images I’ve seen were taken during the fall when the Spanish moss is a beautiful golden orange/brown, I found this time of the year has it’s own unique beauty.

Other Information

Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.

Image Description

The white/grey Spanish moss can be quite haunting and when hit by the sun, it creates a otherworldly landscape. The slight hues of orange and yellows in parts of the moss contrast nicely against the slivery blues of the shadows.

The end result almost has a infrared look to the image, when in fact I just made basic lightroom edits.

Technical Details

Nikon D850
Tamron 70-200 2.8 G2 @ 200mm

ISO 80
F11
1/13 second

Cropped to pano in post which removed a distracted branch near the top of the frame.

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It’s a brain fault for sure, but I find my initial reaction to images is often more technical than emotional. For this image, my first thought was “I wonder what that would look like if it were less high key?” (That may not be what you intended at all, but I played with that and I’ll post it below for comparison.) My second reaction is there is so much beauty in Spanish Moss, and I love the tapestry it adds to an image.

I think the oof left and right edges work to frame the more distant beauty, but I could see dampening the contrast of the brighter areas on that right edge. I also could see cloning or cropping out the small dark nub in the llc.

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Thanks for your feedback.

I kind of like the high key look to the original image, but can see your point about tuning it down a touch.

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Great midday image of the swamp, I like the high key as that is what midday feels like at Caddo.
My goal in life is to get folks who have not been to swamps to see the beauty and eco-importance of wetlands and not see them as scary diseased places to drain.
I love the feel of the image, as my first reaction is always emotional, which is why this is a great place to get feedback. More eyes, better photographs.
Thanks
Steve