The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This image is from Wilsons Promontory, a largely coastal national park in Victoria, Australia. The park has countless granite boulders lining the coast, where I found this scene of a small granite boulder submerged in sand between three boulders that were about 5 or 6 meters tall. I found the shape of the boulder in the center of the frame intriguing and tried to use two of the larger boulders to frame it, making sure to include plenty of the colorful orange lichen on the boulders.
Specific Feedback
I am unsure about the composition and image as a whole. I like the subject matter and I feel that I had a strong vision for the image I was trying to create from this scene, but I would appreciate some other opinions on the image, regarding if the subject matter is interesting and if it is aesthetically pleasing. All other feedback is welcome as well , Thank you!
Technical Details
ISO 400
50mm
f/22
Shutter speed: 1/20, on a tripod
Only minor global edits were made in lightroom, and the image was cropped to 4:5.
It’s interesting, but not immersive to me. The sand sets off the rock well and it feels so grounded and immovable. No sense of scale jumps out at me so it’s rather unsettling and bit vague. You probably had to be there.
Hi Kristen, thank you for the honest feedback! I understand your point about the sense of scale, I probably could have included more in the frame for that. I am hopeful that it is a scene I will be able to revisit in the not too distant future.
Oh, very cool! The shapes, textures, and light are all very interesting. I find the subject matter interesting!
I does have a bit of an unbalanced feeling, some tension. I think it’s because of the light area of foam heading out the LRC. Flipping it horizontally would make that light area a leading line into the frame vs. out of the frame. There are also very cool textures in the foam, especially in that lower section, which could act as lines to draw the eye if the image were flipped. I gave it a whirl, to see how that would work. Hope you don’t mind.
My edits:
In ACR, increased clarity & texture on lower part of foam, brightened center rock.
In PS, burned darker bits in foam to bring out linear features, some odd light bits in the side rocks, darks in the middle rock; dodged lights in center rock (dodge/burn on center rock to increase contrast only there), dodged foam a tad; decreased orange saturation in what is now the left-hand rock because the orange was too vivid - it took away from the center rock.
Hi Bonnie, thank you for the detailed feedback! First of all, I love your edit, flipping the image makes a lot of sense and using the foam as a leading line is a great idea. I also like how you burned the foam, the more prominent textures make the foreground a lot more interesting. Good idea as well to desaturate the orange.
Thanks once again for your edit, It is really striking and it fits really well with what I had in mind for this image, in conceptual terms!
I definitely find @Bonnie_Lampley’s flip to be a noticeably stronger composition that the original - it’s curious how such a simple change can make such a impactful difference in our perception of an image. I generally like the idea you were working with, and while I wouldn’t go quite as far as @Kris_Smith here, I would like to see this composition perhaps in some different light, and perhaps even with some water in part (but not all of the sand). This looks like a great place to photograph, and am envious that you get to spend time there!
, Thank you!