Critique Style Requested: In-depth
The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
I like the painterly look and the choice in exposure for the water flow.
The 2 rocks in the bottom corners are very annoying that I didn’t get them in focus.
I’m looking forward to it potentially getting positive / negative feedback, for the sake of learning.
Creative direction
- Improving my colour seperation in scenes.
- Always improving my composition choices.
- Dodging and burning the water in a way that remains natural looking.
Specific Feedback
I’m looking for any feedback. Tear it to shreds if you feel that in your heart.
Technical Details
5 image focus stack and some blending for the water.
Lightroom, Photoshop w/ TK9
Description
This was on the last day of 5 days in the Victorian Alps. I went down to this spot to get intimate compositions of the waterfall and foliage, but this shot at 70mm ended up being the one that jumped out the most. I’ve been doing quite a few processing tutorials from various landscape photographers and I edited this alongside one that was based around trees and effective colour separation.
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Oooohh – I like this! And welcome to NPN – I think you’ll find it a great place to hang out! The FG rocks being slightly OOF doesn’t bother me at all – it helps keep the eye where it belongs. The rest of the scene is wonderful, with soft light, a perfect shutter speed and wonderful vegetation!
I hope to see a lot more of your work and look forward to your participation!
I had another look at this lovely image and felt a slight boost in exposure might be good, so I just added a Curve adjustment layer and brought up the middle a little. Also wondered about the tree in the UL, so did a Perspective correction to remove it. (Pulling out that corner with a distortion left the lovely euc in the middle leaning.) Then I wondered about removing the rock in the LL corner, as it’s an easy clone job. I can’t decide if the water flowing freely out of the corner is good or bad. Does it pull my eye out of the image, or does the rock feel like it is crowding the lovely water flow? I think I like it without the rock but maybe should do a slight burn in the corner. And maybe would lighten the rock in the LR corner a bit.
And of course I don’t know your ethics about modifying images. For me, something like the distortion is the same as a view camera move and has been accepted and even prized forever. But if adherence to contest rules is a consideration, only the brightening would be allowed.
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Welcome, James. This is a nice inviting scene. I quite like the low contrast painterly look, but I think I would brighten the water a little. It’s a little too flat. Also IMHO, the rocks on the bottom corners are a little distracting. You should either include more of them or leave them out of the composition altogether. As is is, it looks like a mistake.
Welcome to NPN James. I like your version in terms of exposure but I do like Diane’s removal of rock and tree(ulc). Overall I like the glowing light in this image. The big boulders glow as does the tree.
Welcome to NPN, James! This is a lovely scene. I love the mood. I do agree with Diane on her points, although I don’t think I would have brightened it as much as she did (you will find a variety of opinions here, for sure, and it’s always interesting to consider the options others put forth).
You mentioned color separation, so I thought a bit about that, specifically between the the forest and the water/rocks. That may not have been what you meant, but it occurred to me. I thought perhaps warming the forest a bit and cooling the rocks/water would add just a bit more depth. Here’s my idea. I also cropped it to 5x7 ratio, but that’s a strictly personal preference. Anyway, it’s a lovely photo, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Hey Diane, thank you very much for your thoughts and effort. I really like / understand all of your points and think when I rework this image I’ll brighten the water with a mask, to protect the highlights.
As far as my ethics go, I historically would do very small removals or clones, to fix mistakes. But lately I’ve been trying to not do that and to really work on removing distractions in the field, as a new practice for the sake of improving. If I end up with a composition that has a distracting element, then I need to go back or just do better next time I’m out.
Thank you Michael! I was for sure pretty annoyed with those two rocks when I was processing this image. I’ll have a deeper look at it, when I work it again. Really appreciate your time and thoughts.
@Igor_Doncov Thank you Igor!
@Bonnie_Lampley thank you very much. I appreciate the input on crop and colour of the more foreground elements. Most of my colour work went into the trees in the back, so that’s great.
Hi James,
Welcome to NPN! I like your composition in this image. There is nice flow and energy to the water. I think your shutter speed works well to show the motion of the water while also retaining detail and texture. I also like how the branch above the frame connects the left and right hand side of the frame. For my taste, the water looks tonally flat and lacks contrast. The scene looks like it is shaded, but I think it would help to add some contrast to the water. I could see adding a touch of saturation to the image as well
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Thank you for your thoughts Brian!
