The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I absolutely love sand dunes! Nothing beats a barefoot morning walk across the dunes as the sunrises. The cool sand between my toes, and the first rays of light combine for something magical.
I changed things up a bit on this visit - Rather than hike at sunrise, I flew my drone at sunset. I wanted to get a different perspective on my sand dune photography. As a bonus, the winds were about 40mph, creating some blowing sand…Part of the reason why I did not want to hike (and I wanted to play with my drone)!
Disclaimer: These images were created legally – I was not in a National Park, Wilderness Area, or other area in which drones are prohibited.
Specific Feedback
With the images taken from my DJI Air 3 instead of my mirrorless camera, I was not able to push the images as much. The colors and sharpness are nowhere near my Canon R5, but I just got the drone recently and am still learning how best to create the images and then edit the images.
Do you like the compositions?
Any suggestions for further edits to the images?
I love the first image. Reminds me of the curve of a woman back (left half of image). It also bring the feeling of ying and yang. I like the portrait capture. Thinking black and white would be interesting if the sand color could be pushed to contrast the black, but then if you did that, you would probably lose the observers recognition of sand. I think this image very much.
The second one is about texture. You have three tiers, the dune, the sand blowing and then the tiny background. Often contrast, two subjects is stronger than three. I would crop the tiny background out and show the contrast between the sand and the blowing sand. Less is more sometimes - this is subjective, only my thoughts, you are the creator so maybe the message is something else.
@lorretta, my plan for the 1st image was black and white; however, it just did not look as good as I thought. It is harder to identify it as a sand dune, and the left half was very, very bright in comparison to the right.
I tried both with/without the small background at the top. I ended up liking the version I posted because I thought the 3rd layer added a bit of depth. However, it is a bit bright, which I do not like. You have me reconsidering. Here’s what the crop looks like. Not sure if I like it.
The first image has really grown on me. There’s a certain elegance about it, like a well tailored black suit. I would experiment with cropping up from the bottom about 1/5th. It would still remain long after that.
Always nice to mix things up a bit. Compositions are great. The first one really stands out. The curve of the sand is just so perfect and that puff of sand in the wind really adds interest. On the second one i think it could benefit from some more contrast to bring out the details in the sand. I agree with @lorretta it seems like a stronger image if you edit out the top third.
Love the first image for the Yin Yang in blue and gold (normally black and white a possible mono version would very closely mirror that symbol and might be worth a try), as such I think the format needs to stay as symmetrical as that particular symbol, so I vote for it to stay exactly as is, uncropped. Whilst I love black and white sand dune images neither of the follow up images are in my opinion anything like as strong as your first image. Ironically they may even have benefiited from remaining in colour.
@Ian_Cameron, thank you for the insight! I agree. The more I look at the 2nd image & its variant, the more I realize it’s not doing much for me. I LOVE the 1st image, though!
Kyle, my name should be “Better late than never!” But here I am with my “two cents.”
I love the first image! It is elegant. A couple of picky thoughts are that 1) the upper area of the black (where it meets the sky?) loses the white edge in the area of the blowing sand. I’d like to see that continue to the top. Lighter, perhaps, but continuing; 2) the area at the bottom right, where I guess that sand is blowing (?), could be cleaned up a little so (again) the white line descends a little more sharply. I say this because it’s not obvious that it is blowing sand and just looks messy.
The second image does work better cropped. I agree that a little more contrast would define the elements better.
I love black & white, but oddly, I prefer the first image. It’s stronger in terms of composition and contrast (color contrast, mainly).
