It’s been a while since I was last active here. Life got in the way but I’ll honestly try to be more active in this awesome community from now on!
In late January, I spent an afternoon shooting some time-lapse sequences and images in the mountains in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. This is one image from that day.
Is this a composite: No
This looks like a lovely scene. A lot has been written recently about not following composition rules but here I would follow the rule. The 50/50 comp is I feel hurting this image.
Igor, I debated the 50/50 split for a while myself but in the end it didn’t bother me so I went with it. I was however curious what other people would say about it so really appreciate your feedback!
While I didn’t notice the 50/50 aspect, I did notice the dead centeredness and so kind pf passed this by as just another mountain shot. It is and it isn’t. I love the light on the peaks and on the foreground ice. Those both catch and hold the eye, but unfortunately the middle doesn’t. I know it’s in shadow and shouldn’t be amped up too much, but maybe a little in order to manage attention of the viewer in a more progressive way.
Thank you for the feedback Kristen! This image does have that duality with the bottom and the top and I will try your suggestion with the middle to try to bring it together a bit more.
In regards to what Kristen wrote. Maybe the brown trees by the shoreline could be lightened a bit with a proportionate amount of saturation. They’re not that dominant though so I don’t know how much change would come about. Actually each half separately looks great to me.
I tried to lighten the shrubs in the middle distance a bit. It’s subtle because I didn’t want to go too far as it seemed unnatural to me.
Tom, you have gotten some good comments so far. The combination of the bluebird sky and golden glow on the ice sheet led you into the 50/50 comp. For my taste a 50/50 comp can work when you have something really strong in the both the top and the bottom (which you do, with the mountain alpenglow and the golden ice), or when you get really nice symmetry, like in mirror image reflections (not the case here). What bothers me more than the 50/50 comp here is the blockage of the mountain by the trees. Dodging the trees helps, but they still leave me wanting to see more of the mountain. The trees also have high visual weight, and make this comp ULC heavy. If you had moved to the right, you reduce the impact of the trees, but would likely have lost the glowing ice sheet. So in the end you had to compromise. My only semi-constructive thought on reducing the impact of the trees is to have gone vertical. I did this quick, there may be another vertical crop that handles the ULC tree better.
Hi Ed, thanks for the insightful comments! You really hit a lot of points right on the head and I quite like your suggestion of going with a vertical crop! I should have thought of that myself and I’m a little ashamed that I didn’t. I often like to shoot verticals when I’m out in the mountains but in this case I was out mainly to shoot a time-lapse sequence (which of course needs to be horizontal) and my mind was so boxed in that it didn’t even occur to me.
I’d like to one day get another camera so that when I’m out shooting time-lapses I can also explore other compositions while the other camera is clicking away.
I’m late to the party here. I see a 16x9 composition here as well. There’s lots to work with here. Especially the peaks and the Allen glow
This is really beautiful, Tom. The 50/50 comp really isn’t bothering me at all. I appreciate the open shadows in the midground; so many times those trees would be too dark to see details but you opned them up nicely. I also like the contrast of the cool FG water against the beautiful warm light on the mountain. No nits from me.
