Death by Salt

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
1

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Critique Style Requested: In-depth

The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.

Self Critique

I feel the triangular composition of the group of trees with the dead trees in the foreground works well, also the light. Improvement could be in the left foreground, but I did not want to clone it out. Also the upper central area may be distracting

Creative direction

I wanted to contrast the trees that are still alive with the already dead trees, a contrast between the green and the almost skeletal white. Even though the trees in the foreground died of flooding with saltwater, the trees in the backround are mostly ash, who will die enventually, but for different reasons. A hint of that is seen in the whiteness of the trunks in the background.

I felt melancholic when coming across the scene and yet there was something strong and life-affirming in the trees of the background.

Ash dieback is one of the issues I want to show and here I was offered an unusual scene.

Specific Feedback

cropping and light
does it convey the emotions I had

Technical Details

Nikon Z6, Nikkor 24-200mm @200mm, f6.3, 1/200sec, ISO 320, handheld
Processing in Lightroom classic: contrast and exposure increased, shadow lightened, whites enhanced, colour temperature increased. Masks: radial, linear

Description

A severe storm in February 2014 destroyed a seawall protecting a pasture south of Llandimore Marsh. It was too expensive to repair and the situation also offered the oportunity to let naure extend the saltmarshes of the Loughor Estuary that have a rich biodiversity. Allowing the area to be flooded at particular high tides has raised the salt content of the soil and trees that had been growing in the affected area began to die. Over the last 10 years I also could notice the ash trees in the surrounding area beginning to suffer from ash dieback. A fast moving circle of life and death in this area.

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2

Hi @ludwig, this is a wonderful image. I quite like the contrast between the lush green trees in the background and the bright white dead trees in the foreground. Regarding the dark branch in the foreground, maybe you could try brightening and desaturating it a bit, so that the contrast is not so hard anymore. Regarding the bright triangle on the upper edge of the frame, maybe this could either be darkened down a bit, so that it does not pull the eye towards this bright patch or maybe a slightly different crop would leave this section out an at the same time put more emphasis on the bright trees in the foreground. Just some ideas. It is a very beautiful picture as it is, thank you for sharing it with us.

3

Hi @ludwig - nice to see you back here!
This image is quite nice - there’s a lot to like here!
For me, this feels like an example wanting to fit in all the awesome bits of a scene into the photo which can introduce distraction. I think perhaps a more focused crop on those amazing trees at center with or without the grass and fence would make for a more powerful image. The dead dark tree at bottom left and the super bright trees bottom right are distracting, as is that area of bareness at top center. Wonderful scene!

4

Thank you @Ronja, I appreciate your critique. This gives me some ideas to work on.

1 Like
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Thank you @Matt_Payne, your critique is very welcome and I’ll give it a go.

6

Hi Ludwig,

Firstly I love this sort of subject where the range of textures and light gives so much for the eye to see.

Given you’ve wanted to convey a message/feeling with your work (Ash Dieback/Flooding) I’ll talk about it as if it’s part of a project.

The key thing of a project is that each separate image conveys an idea or aspect of the goal. In this case I presume the scene is trying to convey the different ‘stages’ of dieback etc. It does this well but I think the most impactful parts of this image are on the right side of the image. The changes in texture and shape of the skeletal trees and the structure in the light at the top of the frame conveys a great journey and contrast. THere’s also lots of diagonal structure (top left to bottom right). However, the left hand quarter of the image doesn’t really add a lot to the image and it has some odd shading at the bottom left too (and the black trunks in the marshy area in the foreground).

I would lose the left hand 1/6 (so include the left most and brightest tree) and perhaps crop the right hand two vertical branches. This would tighten the composition, remove a few distractions and include the range of types of trunk.

This also has the advantage of not having too many distractions on the green marshy area in the foreground. I’d also lose the vignette on that green marshy area and make it all a little darker (so all of it is similar darkness to the corners).

As part of a project it would work really well and I think conveys the story from rich and lush top story to dying banks of the water influx!!

Here’s the crop suggestion

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1 Like
7

Ludwig,

A lovely image in it’s own right - with or without the back story. Of course knowing the back story gives this image more meaning. And to that point, I’m kinda thinking along the lines of Tim and the idea of a project. This would be a terrific supporting document in telling the story of the salt intrusion and “ash die off”.

Without the back story, I really like the idea that the forest is on the edge - of a meadow, clearing. So I do think as presented the green grass/meadow at the bottom is important in not only anchoring/framing, but also in helping to tell the story.

Yeah, there are a few distractions, but I’m hard pressed to crop/clone anything that wouldn’t really improve anything because something else would get impacted. The only suggestion, thought I have would be to burn down the cluster of leaves/tree in the ULC. That corner is slightly heavy. But again, cropping from the left, gets too close the cluster of branches in the lower left, which is problematic unless you did a significant clone (which you said you wouldn’t and I don’t think I would either.)

Cropping from the top to remove that small patch look more doable as you wouldn’t lose much along the top, other than changing the format a litte bit.

Even with a few small distractions, I still think this is a wonderful landscape image. Thanks for sharing

8

The trees seem animated somehow. In fact there is a sense of movement even when everything is still. It’s similar to the sense you get from puffy clouds. They dance and sway. The topmost bright area is it because it both adds and detracts from the image. If you remove it the image loses some of its spirit. Maybe more of that light would be beneficial. But I don’t know what was further up.

P.S. There is a perceived slight clockwise tilt to the image.