A chilly morning in Georgia, temperatures had dipped overnight to 8 degrees F, our coldest night this winter. This is a tributary stream in the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
I was drawn to this scene by the interplay between the rocky shoal in the foreground, the backdrop of icicles, and their reflections in the water.
Technical Details
Nikon Z7, 24-120mm f/4 S lens, 87mm, ISO 100, f/20, 0.6 sec
A couple of thoughts on your image. I found the ice at the top of the image to be a distraction to the rocks unter the water and the ice skim forming in the center of the image, hence, I cropped your image and burned the reflection. Maybe a bit more of a crop to below the reflection would allow the eye to be focused.
The other thought would be how would this image look in a desaturated color, emphasizing the cold with a blue tone. Just one man’s thoughts.
Thanks for your ideas and suggestions, much appreciated. I concede the icicles and their reflections draw attention toward the top of the image, that was my intent, but my hope was that the reflections would then draw attention downward toward the rocks. If not for the icicles, I would not have made the image - we don’t have scenes like this very often around here. However, I can see how cropping the top of the frame to just below the below the edge of the bank could reduce some distraction. Good idea about cooling it down a bit!
Ironic, after I cropped your background distraction, someone told me to eliminate the same on another image of mine, which was blurred. Made me laugh. Different strokes for different folks. …
Gary, here’s my rework based on your thoughtful suggestions. I left in the icicles to stay true to my vision but I think the crop along the top improves things. Also tried a blue filter for a colder feel.
This is the image two photographers said I should cut out the blurred background.
“this is a very nice intimate scene, with a beautiful soft light.
When I open your photo my eyes were immediately attracted to the background. My suggestion is to crop all the trees on that background. In my mind will be a very quiet and subtle picture.”
I agree with this statement. The usage of a short DOF works very well here. I can see the appeal of including the trees as it gives a sense of context but still feel that a simpler comp would be stronger."
Gary, I would just say that in your image the subject is the seedling, so cropping the out-of-focus background places greater emphasis on your subject, which BTW is a really nice image with the soft shadows in the surrounding snow. In my image, the background icicles are intended to be part of the subject/feeling I’m trying to convey. I guess it all just depends!
Steve, I understand that the icicles or frozen water at the top drew you to making this image. I would not crop it out. I wonder if lightening the foreground rocks would help to draw the viewers eye to the icicles and provide more balance. I tinkered a bit with the image, but think more could be done in lightening the foreground. My rendition is just food for thought.
Steve, this is a very cool image. You’ve gotten lots of ideas and suggestions. I’ll side with @Larry_Greenbaum and say that I like his minor change to the foreground works quite nicely. Other than that, I like your image as is. Well done. And the original B&W works best in my opinion (you’ll see we have lots of opinions here ).
What appeals to me here – strongly – is the lovely soft shapes, curves and tonalities in the FG rocks, and from that standpoint the icicles in the BG are a distraction. I’d crop them and their reflections and leave the very lovely water and rocks to be appreciated.
I think I can understand why the scene as you presented it appealed to you, but I think you missed the best part by seeing the more visually obvious part. The icicles are a jumble of vertical shapes confined in a horizontal container.
I have exactly the same felling about @gDan52’s sapling. It and the shapes in the snow are all I want to see.
Thanks @Larry_Greenbaum, @David_Bostock, and @Diane_Miller for your thoughtful feedback and suggestions! That’s a great idea about lightening the FG for more balance. I appreciate your observation, Diane, about the FG rocks being visually appealing in their own right - I agree - but the icicles were integral to the cold feeling I was trying to create, which would’ve been lost without them.
I was drawn to this because of the icicles. I think a little crop at the top of a slight darkening of the top edges could help keep the focus in the frame. But I like the relationship between the calm water and the icy backdrop. I like how the stone lines in the water curve up to the bank of ice and the reflections. It is interesting to see how different we see images. I like the bnw choice here too.
This is wonderfully seen, framed and crafted. Some good discussions about the top of the frame, but also the relationship between the icycles and the rocks and water. I think actually this is one of those scenes where these two elements work together and are needed for successful image. Said another way, they are stronger together and would not stand as well apart; for the icycles you would certainly need to be in tighter. The “rocky shoal” might stand on it’s own nicely - and maybe the color version would hold up without the icycles.
Together, I really like your modified version. Just that little bit of crop to remove the brighter knobs works well and still retains the presence of the ice. Also, the adjusted/added cooler tones work beautifully too.
I also really like Larry’s idea and edits in brightening the rocks and water a bit on the bottom; I think it helps bring the two main elements closer together.
Clearly an image worth tweaking and making it the best it can be. Well done!
I hope you don’t mind this type of response to this image, but it got me thinking in a different direction than a specific critique. That of novelty and a photographer’s response to it. In your area, this kind of phenomenon is rare and it was no doubt delightful and fun to encounter it. I mused how differently a person who is very used to ice and freezing temperatures would shoot this. You can take a look at Mark Seaver’s and John’s Snell’s portfolios for part of that answer - they shoot the details. They are by no means the only cold weather shooters that do ice details, but they have been posting them often and lately so I pick them out.
When we encounter a new thing to us, I think we are so enchanted by it that we want to capture the whole scene - to immerse others in our experience by showing them all of it. For me when something verges on the mundane, I try to pick out the smaller bits that could be extraordinary. Very different approaches. Neither is right or wrong, but I wonder if those two opposites are directly due to a subject’s newness to us. I know that when I get into the desert, I have a similar mode - to show it all, the grandeur and the strangeness. Folks who live there see it all the time often try to carve out something you can miss in the big picture.
And it extends to processing - witness the varied edits and suggestions. I’m used to looking at ice - right now my whole “backyard”, which is the Wisconsin River, is basically frozen. I often hear it crack, groan and boom. I walk on it, slide on it, use spikes to avoid that last one - but I’m really familiar with ice and many of its forms. So when I process it, I have different presentation ideas than I would had I been raised in Florida. So interesting and an intriguing rabbit hole of thought. Thanks for shooting this, sharing it and giving me the opportunity to contemplate novelty and the photographer. I feel a blog post coming on!
Thanks, Lon, for your helpful comments and suggestions. I appreciate that the image and critiques have generated such interesting discussion and differing opinions. They have helped me understand more fully and affirm what I was responding to in making this image. I will definitely put several of these suggestions to use for improving the image!
@Kris_Smith, I’m glad you find the image, critiques, and discussion thought provoking. We all respond differently. My response in this scene was to make an intimate landscape of a stream with a narrow margin of ice, far from capturing the whole scene or all of the ice. I took other shots of ice close-ups that day but those were not what interested me about this scene. Besides, I couldn’t easily get to the ice on the other side and didn’t have long enough of a lens! Thanks for your comments!
Hi Steve, I like this image a lot. It is rendered very good in B&W, you have a great FG, middle ground and BG as well as a nice leading line. It is a matter of personal taste, but for me the FB and BG compete a little bit regarding the attention. I guess that to delete completely the icicles would be to deviate to much from your original idea, but how about to crop out the uppermost part of the image? Below is a quick example, with also the midtone contrast increased a tad.
Ola, yes, thanks for your comments, I agree with your suggestion for the crop and contrast increase. Following the suggestions of @Larry_Greenbaum, @David_Bostock , and @Lon_Overacker, I’ll also be lightening up the FG a bit. Thanks for working with my image!
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