Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction
Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
Are you familiar with this viewpoint?
Other Information
Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.
Image Description
I often pass this landmark in my travels, always intending to make my own rendition—one that is notably different. The most common perspective photographed is from the southeast. The west-facing wall seems to be somewhat unpopular. Not until my most recent trip to the Southwest were the atmospheric conditions promising for an attempt to capture a unique image—or two.
This was a cool, cloudy April day. There was a chance for a sun break at the horizon formed by the Carrizo Mountains. Because I had earlier crossed from Arizona to New Mexico on Highway 13, I knew the Carrizos were in the 9000 foot range. I scouted Navajo Nation Road 5020, which parallels the western exposure of Shiprock. I located a vantage point that would provide an unobstructed view with good angular light for shadows when the sun broke through.
There are no guarantees in outdoor photography so it is crucial to be patient and make images while the light changes, to have the best chance of capturing the best of that light. As Mitch Dobrowner said “It might be five minutes or 20 minutes or three minutes. But the thing is, you always have to think that you’re only going to be out there for three minutes. Right now, or five seconds from now, or 20 seconds from now might be the best you’re going to get.”
Technical Details
Canon EOS 5D II; Canon EF 70-200mm @ 200mm; f/16 @ 1/13 sec, -1 EV, ISO 100; Gitzo tripod, RRS BH 55; remote trigger
Specific Feedback
Whatever you wish, positive or otherwise.
I think so. You drive to the end of this dirt road on the reservation. I didn’t have the lens for it though. I was surprised to see several other such outcrops also in the area. The purplish sky makes an interesting contrast to the yellow.
No, I think I was on the other side of it.
Thank you @Igor_Doncov for your response. I will post an image tomorrow from the next morning, of the east-facing side, the one most people are familiar with, likely what you are referring to. I was tempted to post it here using the multiple-image variant but my most recent attempt to use it raised the ire of the administrators advising me I was mis-using the option.
Great shot Bob. I really like how you framed up the monolith where it’s large enough to fill the frame, yet there is enough space around it so it can breathe. The golden light and the purple-ish sky is a fantastic color combination. The perspective on it is a great one too. Nice work!
I went to the “Landscape Critique” page and your image here jumped right of of the screen and grabbed my attention. I really like the tones in this one. The sky, the light and shadows on the rock, it’s all very nice.
Thank you @John_Pedersen for your kind remarks. That was a special evening for me. I will post an image tomorrow from the next morning, of the east-facing side, the one most people are familiar with. I trust you will enjoy it also.
Thank you @Paul_Holdorf for your exuberant response. I will post an image tomorrow from the next morning, of the east-facing side, the one most people are familiar with. I trust you will enjoy it also.
Initial reaction is - Very warm light.
Second, I like the dark BG as it really makes Shiprock stand out.
Love this view of Shiprock! The absolutely beautiful golden glow on the rock, and purplish sky behind it. Also the sun angle that helps to bring out the details so well. So nice to have gotten this shot! The only time I was there, it was cloudy and rainy and I only have a silhouette shot since we were just passing through, so I’m incredibly envious of this. The area does have a number of other outcrops (fun fact, I learned the word ‘monadnock’ because of Shiprock). Beautiful!
@Youssef_Ismail, good observation, but I’d say it’s more very warm WB rather than the light. The sky is a bit surreal.
Thank you @Youssef_Ismail for your kind response. As noted in the “Image Description” it was cool and cloudy, hence the dark sky. A gap between the clouds and Carrizo Mountains allowed the golden twilight to strike the rock face. Indeed warm light.
Thank you @Diane_Miller for your opinion. White balance is the adjustment of a digital photograph in post-processing to make its colors appear different than what is captured, i.e. to eliminate an unwanted color cast at capture. It’s a way to set a photograph to neutral, by sampling something that you know is neutral and applying that “correction.” If you want something to appear white, it will serve that purpose. I did not make a WB change. As noted in the “Image Description” it was cool and cloudy, hence the dark sky. A gap between the clouds and Carrizo Mountains allowed the golden light to strike the rock face. Indeed warm light. Not warm WB.
Thank you @Denise_Dethlefsen for your generous comments. Monadnock is a bit dated in usage. I last used it in 1962. Geologists are serious wordsmiths because their field is growing exponentially and they want to avoid confusion. All professions share the same desire, each having its own argot/jargon. Unfortunately the same term can be interpreted differently by different professions.
I am well-aware what WB is, having done high-end color correction work from the advent of digital photography. WB adjustment is not offered for an image in order “to make its colors appear different than what is captured”.
Accurate colors are not inherent in a digital capture.
WB is one of the parameters that must be applied when a raw file is debayered, to convert a string of 0s and 1s to a visible image, but it is not inherently an accurate representation of the light. It is good in many cases but it becomes less accurate, and skewed toward a color cast, the more an image is dominated by a small range of colors, as this one is.
Proper WB involves much more than simply setting a neutral value. Many images don’t have an area that should be assigned to neutral. The Temp and Tint sliders are present in a raw converter so WB can be fine-tuned, and there are preset choices, which tend to vary from bad to worse. Evaluating color and tonal appearance depends on the quality of a monitor’s color gamut, calibration and profile, and on our ability to recognize and ignore the inherent color corrections our brains make.
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Thanks for the clarification - I’m trying to learn correct terminology for things I photograph, and didn’t actually know that about Shiprock. Since I’m curious, what is the correct term for the type of outcropping?
Thank you @Denise_Dethlefsen for asking. I believe the best term today is “volcanic neck.”
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