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
On a hot morning at Uluru in Australia’s Northern Territory, I found this cool, relaxing respite that spoke to me as an intimate landscape.
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
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Technical Details
Specific Feedback
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I really like the mix of warm and cool tones. Also I like there is no sense of scale which enables the imagination to wonder.
My first impression is to admire the curves and flow. Then my eye got stuck on the bright top and bounced to the dark discoloration in the small fall. The pool and foreground seem disconnected.
So , when I downloaded it and started to tinker, I came to appreciate the combination of warm and cool colors, and its suggestion of warm and cool temperature. Also appreciated the small striations in the stained rock at the lip of the fall. My tinkering turned out to bring out a little detail in the pool, shift color and contrast a little in the foreground and add a vignette to that corner, a try at dodge/burn to distinguish the overlapping parts of the canyon curves, and a bit of toning down the bright top. But all in all, the tinkering did not add much to the incredibly intriguing scene that you gave us.
Larry, my first impression is the contrast between the comforting warmth in the distance that sems unattainable to me, and the coldness I feel surrounding me as the viewer. Your bottom to top composition is consistent with this impression and accentuates it for me.
@Dick_Knudson, thanks for your close look at the image and your tinkering. It is appears that you slightly darkened the foreground, possibly adding a linear gradient. Nice idea.
@Michael_Lowe , your comment about there not being any scale in the image is interesting and appreciated. This is meaningful as Uluru, the setting is immense.
@Peter_Richter , actually there are great variations of cool and warm settings at Uluru. The warmth in the distance is an unshaded area that has full sun. I considered leaving out the warm area, but feel that including both matches my vision and the personal feeling of respite getting out of the heat for a few minutes. I appreciate your comment.
My initial thought was that the top 1/2 to 2/3, or so, makes a really cool abstract.
Thanks, John. I often see how an image could be made into two or even three other images. Perhaps, I’ll try your idea; the image was made as part of a travel experience, so I kept it pretty straight forward.
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