The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This photo was influenced by the Native American origin story of this canyon. It tells of the heroic efforts of coyotes, eagles, wild horses, and a great medicine man who summoned the North God, who froze in ice an army of demonic beasts trying to invade the earth from the underworld. After the ice melted, the demons remained, turned to stone. This is at the foot of a canyon filled with fantastic, eroded sandstone formations. As I was walking around, I saw the larger rock in the foreground and thought it looked like it could be a horned demonās skull and composed this image around it. The cloud remnants of an all night thunderstorm and the resulting lack of good light made this a good candidate for B&W.
Specific Feedback
Comments on any aspect of the image are welcome. Specifically, I would appreciate opinions on the composition. I had at one point considered cropping off some of the top the whole monolith on the right side. Also thoughts on the tonal range of the image would be great. Itās a bit hard sometimes when everything in the image is more or less the same material/color.
Technical Details
Canon 5DII, 16-35L @ 26mm, f16, 2/5 sec, ISO 200. B&W processed in Silver Efex Pro.
Scott, this is an amazing landscape. The sculpted rock formation have so many sharp edges and points. The rock near the bottom middle looks like an ancient bison skullā¦a bit degraded with time. I do feel like the land along the left border is a bit too dark. The overcast does a great job of letting all the fine details show well.
There are some really wild formations in that landscape, Scott. I agree that B&W was the way to go with this image. It really brings out the forms whereas if itās a brightly colored rock it would be about the larger patterns.
Hi Scott,
This is a really cool scene, and that rock definitely has a monstrous character to it. I have a tendency to look at folksā images and want to crop them, so please take this as a sign of my own compulsion, not a weakness in your composition.
I feel like the skull should have more prominence and the left edge (aside from the fantastic cloud) is not as critical to the image. If it was possible to move a tiny bit to the right (getting less of the big castle rock and more of the cloud but also less of the left side background), the skull would have more prominence. Iām not not even sure perspective would have allowed that.
Hereās a quickie screenshot of your image cropped to emphasize what I am describing. With a bit of edge patrol, removing some small rocks near the edges, this could work.
Thanks for your comments Marylynne. I reposted with a crop version that I had thought of originally. As you suggested I got rid of a little on the left (not as much as your suggestion) and some on the right and some off the top. This brings the foreground rock into more prominence as you mentioned. I would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this.
Hi Scott,
I like yours better! You lost more sky, which I was trying to preserve, but the sky in the middle isnāt as captivating as that cloud on the left. The repost is fantastic!
ML
I really like the crop version, Scott. Giving that rock in the foreground more emphasis worked really well and I also like the added presence of the formation in the background, which is to my taste more interesting that the cliffs on the right were in the original.
The repost is marvelous. Fits your origin story perfectly. The composition in the repost is more balanced than the original. Less is so much more in this case, and the b&w gives it the proper āend of daysā drama . The highlights in the sky light up the waste land ridges and rocks. Wonderful image, Scott.
I agree. This is a marvelous image that full of emotion. The sky complements the land so perfectly. They go hand in hand to make the statement. I also agree that the repost is far superior. I think thatās because the āspikinessā of all those rocks is more emphatic and that feature is what this is all about. The skull is wonderful but whatās beyond is more interesting in my opinion. The citadel with the scattered rocks around it. And of course the sky.
Hey there Scott. I really like this image as a black and white, and the composition improved greatly with the crop. Looks like you also darkened the sky and land and added detail, which looks good. It would have worked even better if you got lower down and closer to that one rock in the foreground with a wider focal length to make it look more prominent. Iām wondering where this is. Nice shot.
Hey Scott, I think I like the original shotās composition. The only thing I might have done would have been to slightly lighten the āDemonsā so they would stand out a little bit better. Bob Engle
Hi Scott,
First off that was a wonderful story. I absolutely love your cropped version as you have kept the best elements in the scene which I feel compliment and bring that story to life. That drama laden sky is dripping with mood and your decision to go B&W was the perfect call. I only have one other tiny suggestion. There is a darker spot right about in the middle of the sky that reminds me of a dust spot. I do not think it is, but it is close enough that I would remove it. This is beautifully done.
Hopefully Iām not beating a dead horse, but when I did the crop, I took out a good bit of sky/clouds, which I liked, so I tried a square crop that took out about the same on each side but left most of the sky/clouds in. Is this an improvement or not? I also dodged the main rock formation and the āskullā a little to make them pop a bit more per @robert21 suggestion.
Thanks Igor and John. John, I think part of the issue with the square crop when posted on this site is the square image loads smaller (in width) than the landscape version and the rock outcropping comes out looking smaller, and less prominent, when in fact they are the exact same size in width. After going back and looking at the square crop a couple times now, I do feel like the eye tends to go up to the sky and away from the formations, which isnāt great. I appreciate your thoughts!
