This image shot was within a short distance of the previous image. This image was not an immediately apparent subject. I was looking rather absentmindedly at the area in general when it became apparent to me that this subject had something to say. It’s one of those situations where out of nothing there is something. I immediately saw it as a high tone subject and shot it as such with the camera settings. Similarly, I did not try to process it to have a full spectrum of tones.
Let me know what you think. As always I will reserve judgment during the post so as to not sway your opinion in any way.
GFX50R, 32-64mm, focus stacked
Dick’s rework:
Bonnie’s rework:
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I quite like it. Who knew cracked, baked mud could be so interesting. You have a unique way of making the most mundane subjects interesting. I can enjoy this image two ways. I can look at it from a distance and just enjoy the soft tones and color palette or I can inspect closer up and wander around in it.
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The detail is phenomenal Igor. I too am enjoying the soft earth tones and puzzle like qualities of the dark lines.
Eva. If you have the time and the inclination please tell me which of the last two you prefer. I know they’re very different and such a comparison is difficult. It might be pointless.
This is beautiful.
I love those subtle pastel colors and the simple (not simplistic) composition.
This one deserve to be printed big, it will have a lot of detail.
Really nice one.
Dry Lake Design #1 has more of a 3D appearance because of the higher contrast while #2 is more subtle and soothing. They both have their merits but if I had to choose between the two, #1 is my choice.
It is not that I dislike sublet scenes with quiet color and light, but for abstracts I like contrasts and exaggerated patterns if that makes sense but I still like #2.
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Thank you for your honesty. My son agrees with you. It helps me because sometimes you get too invested in an image and lose perspective.
Greetings, Igor. Your eyes and heart were wide open to find this scene. I enjoy this moderately toned image over the earlier one, for its quiet uniqueness. Reminds me of the feeling of your Good and Evil.
The dark area on the right seemed to draw the eye, which is fine, as it is repeated elsewhere. But being so close to the edge, and then drawing back into the lower center, it acts to me like the central subject – the active part of a quiet scene. I found myself wondering if the top 10% of the image could be cropped, as it is less interesting but fairly bright.
That was my initial crop as well but I didn’t like it. You can try it and see. The image is one of peacefulness and that extra negative space I felt added to to it. That’s just my point of view though.
I agree that the room at the top provides extra space and peacefulness, as does the muted palette.
To me, the contrast of darker areas of dried mud detract a bit from that mood, so one might mess with saturation and luminosity a bit.
I tried …
Thank you, Dick!
I think it’s definitely an improvement. I copied it to the main post to compare side by side.
This image looks great on-screen, but I think would get old if it were actually hanging on my wall. I guess that means I think you did a fine job with this picture, but it doesn’t hold my interest for long. I think it would work very well, though, ins a series of cracked mud images if the series had variety of different hues. So just a thought on where this might go to better showcase this concept.
You might be right Tony. I’m going to test your theory by hanging it on my wall.
That brings up the subject of what does last on a wall. I’ve often wondered what are those qualities. I know that different people have different expectations of what they want to see. Edward Weston writes that he measures the quality of his image by how long it stays on his wall. Most people I suspect want something uplifting on their wall that raises their spirits. That’s an important criteria for them. Others I suppose want a connection to an experience they had or felt. But for me it’s a question of boredom. I want an image that says more than it shows and one which I can look at repeatedly with interest. I have a few images that were not that well received here that fall into such a category. There is no simple explanation as to why I find them intriguing but I’m always searching for such images and am proudest of them. Hopefully this will be one such image and it well might be. Thank you for your advice. Here is one of my favorites from a couple years back that I never seem to get tired of. I’m one of the few that likes it and I think it’s because they try to understand it literally. The above image is about mud and it’s also not about mud. Those who see it as a picture about mud, I agree, will get tired.
I definitely find that image more visually engaging than the cracked mud. Once I enlarged it on my monitor, I could see details and compositional characteristics that make it potentially more intriguing long-term. However, I still think a cracked-mud series in different hues would make a statement wall piece, but on a totally different level than this image.
I have done cracked mud with greater color in the past. In fact that’s how it’s usually interpreted by photographers. They’re usually shot at low directional light with cool shadows to offset the warm sunny outlines. In the end I found that to be more eye candy with little meaning for me personally. It’s just not what I’m after. Thank you for your perspective though.
This is lovely mud, Igor. I do like the high-key look, but perhaps one could keep the high-key features, while still bringing out a touch more of the details. I can see some nice sinuous darker lines that could be brought out to move the viewer through the frame. The darker area on frame right makes it a bit unbalanced to me, which some tonal adjustments could balance out.
Keeping in mind your idea that this is a peaceful scene, I did some dodging/burning to bring out more tonal variations and accentuate the darker flow lines. I also added a vignette around the top, left, and bottom, to balance out the darker right side. I’m with Dick on the crop. I think a 4:5 crop does not change the peaceful feel, and maybe makes it more pronounced (with the idea that a taller 2:3 ratio is less “stable” than a shorter 4:5 ratio). See what you think.
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I absolutely love your rework, Bonnie. It’s really a different interpretation but each ‘plate’ now stands out more distinctly and the cracks are more prominent. There is a greater sense of texture to it as well. You ‘feel’ those plates curling up and rising from the plane. I added a white border for a fairer comparison and placed it above. I’m not sold on the less elongated presentation for the reasons I already mentioned although I agree that a wider image gives a greater sense of calm. I actually think the original is a calmer image than this one. This has more visual energy.
Thanks a million.
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@Eva_McDermott, @joaoquintela, @Michael_Lowe, @Dick_Knudson, @Bonnie_Lampley, @Tony_Kuyper
Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. I have now printed this and I can honestly say that for me the printed version has the same magic as the one posted here. In my opinion this is my best image of 2021.
I wrote this to a friend of mine and it pretty much expresses how I feel about this image: “What I like about it is that it’s so subtle. It sneaks up on you. The longer you look and the more intensely you look the more you find and the better you feel.”
@Bonnie_Lampley , I printed both your and the the original version. By all rules of photography your rework is a better image. Yet it doesn’t feel like what I’m after. The crop of the top changes that feeling of the fissures getting smaller and smaller off into the distance. This is an important element of the image as it needs to have that sense of trailing off. In addition, by adding contrast the brown patches have become too dark for my taste. The idea here is to have an even toned image that are punctuated by well delineated cracks. It’s both dreamy and sharp at the same time but it’s mostly a high toned image. The cracks are there for the viewer to explore and discover. So I’m going with the original for now.
What I also like about this image is how both the ‘plates’ and the ‘gullies’ each have their own compositions. One flows from left to right and the other from right to left. They permeate one one and embrace each other. It’s all so subtle and takes a lot of looking. Was I aware of all this richness when this image was shot? Not consciously. But I believe that at some level I was.
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