Just looking for constructive feedback. Honest option good or bad please, trying to improve. Please see below for self critique.
Thank you!
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
This image I came across while going to shoot another image . It was just an after thought but liked the fall colors mixed in amongst the pine trees. I was inspired by other photos that are similar. I’m attempting to add separation between the trees further back and the ones up front. I like the dark woods and mysterious look. I wanted the fall colors to be the focus. I like the rocks at the bottom which kind of frame the bottom of the scene. I tried to crop the water out but I didn’t like it. For me it almost lets the viewer know this is at the waters edge. One thing that I ended up really liking is the painterly look to the trees especially when you look closer. This wasn’t my initial intention but with the loss of fine detail with the focal length I liked the effect. It was a little windy this day. Also I thought this may look cool as a print since it almost looks like a painting up close.
A potential issue is the empty space at the top? As I said I want separation but it seems like too much? The issue is trying to fit the scene into a standard crop especially because I was going to attempt a print . By trying to fit a standard crop size it cuts out the sides of the rocks which I didn’t like and then I also lose the dark background separation. Thoughts?
I’m looking for Aesthetics, color, crop, composition feedback.
Technical Details
Shot at 281mm, processed with ACR, Photoshop, Lumenzia, Topaz Photo.
Color work, dodging and Burning, crop, slight warping
Hi Brett - the fall colors against the evergreens is striking. And I love a nice, mysterious, dark woods scene. What really grabs my eye first are the colorful trees, of course, but also the white rocks at the edges of the frame. The combination of those things leaves a big “hole” in the middle of the frame, though, that takes up most of the real estate in the frame and makes my eye rest on the rocks at the bottom.
I thought perhaps lightening up the central part of the woods (but not too much - don’t want to lose the mystery) to better connect the colorful trees might help. I’m not sure what you mean by the rocks “flaming” the bottom, but to my eye they aren’t part of the story of the contrast between the cheery fall colors vs. the mysterious, dark woods. I took a crack at showing what I mean.
The fall colours in this image are really striking and I like how they stand against the rest of the dark forest. I also wanted to thank you for the in depth self critique that you wrote because it really does help us understand what you are thinking and where you want to go with this image!
I like that you chose to include/retain the water and the rocks at the bottom of the image; it nicely grounds the scene and adds a sense of space. Additionally, the darker areas near the top are a plus in my opinion because they add a layer of depth to the image. If I imagine those darker area filled with the texture and colour of the rest of the forest, I think the image would loose some of its complexity and appeal.
Lastly, I like Bonnie’s suggestion to lighten the middle of the image a bit. I think that helps to nicely bring the two main colourful areas of the image together.
Very nice forest scene. I too, love the dark greens against the colorful fall colors. I see what you’re talking about a little too much space at the top. I like @Bonnie_Lampley idea of lightening the center. It also looks likes she darkened down the stones. I think this helps keep the eye from getting stuck on them. You could also add a vignette around the edges to bring the eye more to the center. That would darken down the trees at the top and make that extra space more invisible.
I think you’re on to something here, Brett. If this were mine I’d be tempted to process it with lots of contrast, increased saturation (without cranking it to 11), and I’d crop out the water at the bottom to simplify the composition. I have no issue with the extra room at top. I actually enjoy it. Really good eye to find and photograph this lovely scene.
@Tom_Nevesely@Igor_Doncov@Bret_Edge@Bonnie_Lampley@Donna_Callais Thank you everyone for all the great feedback. It gave me some good ideas. Not sure if others can relate, I have a really tough time “finishing” an image. Just when I think I can move on I see something else. And then later after I actually moved on or post it then I see more. It’s like a spiral with no end hahaha.
Hope I’m not to late to chime in. I really like what you’ve visualized and captured. The two primary trees of color compliment each other nicely and show well against the slightly muted evergreens. Speaking of which, were the pines desaturated at all? I know you mentioned you liked the effect from the long lens, and I agree when you mentioned the painterly effect. But I’m just wondering about the trees and the lack of green. Maybe it’s me.
I think the composition works well as presented. I don’t think it’s been mentioned, but if anything, I’m looking for a bit more room both left and right. I like the given space up top (not dead) and also agree the water and rocks at the bottom anchor the scene nicely. In fact, I think it was important that there are rocks on both sides to balance out, or give each side equal weight.
The only other minor thing for me are the autumn bushes in the lower left. Now I wasn’t there and I’m not sure from where this was taken (region,) but to me the color in that autumn vegetation seems off? A dark fucia? Regardless if that’s the way the color was or not, I was reduce the saturation a little; it’s competing a little bit with the trees, although the size/area it takes up is small enough that it’s not a big deal. But thought I would mention.
After painstaking debate “in my head” this is where I landed. I took all the great suggestions into consideration. I ended squeezing the center together to bring the focus points to be more balanced in the frame with warping and liquifying. I did more targeted dodging and burning to make a vignette effect rather than just doing a standard oval. This brought more emphasis to the center. With that said there was a suggestion about certain trees being a distraction near the edge so I darkened them down. I worked the color more with saturation bring more life to the image which included the greens. I added mid-tone contrast, sharpening, and topping it off with some Highpass filtering. I experimented with different crops but kept it the same just because I really like the rocks /water which I think anchor the image and give it a Maine look.
I have a tendency to process my images with subtle adjustments which is why it almost seems like the same image I posted to begin with. hahaha. Just going off of feeling.
