This arrangement of basalt rocks in the still water of a shallow lake appealed to me. I liked their rough texture, with the lichens and moss against the glassy water. There’s a bit of the subsurface plants showing, along with the dried plant on the left rock, which I suspect that some would find untidy and distracting. Nature isn’t perfect, however, and I like to leave in these little bits of imperfection.
And thank you for doing these critiques, Alex. We appreciate your taking time to do this - it takes a lot of effort.
Specific Feedback Requested
To what extent do the imperfect bits “detract” from this scene, in your opinion?
Technical Details
a7r3, 42mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 100.
Hey Bonnie, I totally agree with your statement that nature isn’t perfect, and I’ve certainly been guilty of over-sanitizing my own images by removing imperfections! I don’t mind the plants in the scene at all, in fact the one on that leftmost rock is a really nice detail.
The biggest issue for me here is the distractions in and around the large, dark reflection of the most prominent rock. I think cleaning those up would go a long way. My other thought is that the two rocks on the edges of the frame are a bit distracting, in that all of the floating ones feel very serene to me, but those feel “cut off” and make me wish the composition was either wider or tighter. I think if there were more rocks evenly distributed along the edges this wouldn’t be an issue, but with those two they’re kind of distracting.
I’ve attached 2 samples of various levels of cloning/cleaning that I think could tighten up the image, depending on your “ethics” and how far you’re willing to take an image in post.
2 Likes
Thanks, @Alex_Noriega. I’ll admit your “clean up” looks nice, but I’m not one to do that much cloning out. Little bits are ok, but I’d rather just go for a different composition in the field. I’m glad you like that one plant. 
Thanks!
1 Like
