The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical
About This Image
Here’s another from the Utah workshop. This is the view from Hell’s Backbone, near Boulder. Breaks in the clouds made for lovely light on the landscape.
Feedback Requested
Any comments welcome. I wanted the window of light on the hills to be the main subject, with the sky playing a secondary role.
Technical Details
Camera: SONY ILCE-7RM3
Lens: FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS
Focal length: 63mm
Shutter speed: 1/250s
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 400
The overall grandeur you’ve captured is stunning, and really speaks to how wide and open the American West can be. For me, the distant hills on the right are integral, because they give such a wonderful perspective as to just how big the scene is. Black and white works wonderfully here.
Unfortunately ( ), that’s just a fantastic sky! In fact, when I opened this it was the sky that really spoke to me. The clouds are awesome in their varied tones and texture; the virga is perfect. Although I hear you on it playing a secondary role, I’d be tempted to drop the luminosity of the light on the foreground just a tad let the entire image be the star. The clouds are just too good IMHO.
This image certainly caught my attention as I am working with a similar image but just on a very small scale as opposed to th grandeur of your image. I agree with John that dropping the luminosity of the light on the land, it will better balance the two areas of interest and have them working in a cohesive way. Its certainly worth a try but really nice image!
I love the drama here, Bonnie. The sky is certainly the star of the show, and this works for me as is. I can see dropping luminosity in the foreground light on the hills, but I can also see another crop that makes this feel more balanced as a grand scene in which the land itself is the star.
This is a quickie 16:9 crop, and I think it is more balanced, and more about the vast land and play of light. It keeps plenty of drama and virga from the clouds. Just another possibility.
What a dramatic landscape and awesome sky. Yeah, I’m gonna have to fall in line and agree that I think the sky dominates - if anything, it’s also the source of the dramatic spotlight on the landscape, which is what you wanted to emphasize.
Not mentioned yet, but the sky is the show - if anything simply because of the “weight” and how much of the space in the frame it occupies; one can’t help but to feel that.
You chose B&W, which of course works very well for the contrast, drama, etc. For me anyway, the B&W also forces this in to the basic light/dark/shadows/highlights and just simple tonal range. Thus, the spotlight area is just a brighter toned area. And actually the central portion of it comes across a little hot. But this all makes me wonder if the color version doesn’t provide some warm/cool contrasts between that spotlight and the cooler blues in the sky? Color contrast rather than tonal contrast - maybe that spotlight would be emphasized the way you intented?
Not sure if any of that made sense. The great news, you’ve got a great and dynamic landscape to work with!
Hi Bonnie,
This is simply spectacular! I know you mentioned that you wanted the light on the landscape to be the star of the show, but IMO I think that drama laden sky has to share equal billing. I also quite like the light on that section of the BG hills toward the right side of the frame. My only suggestion would be to tone down the center part of that main section of light as it looks just a little hot. I hope you have a few more from your trip to share as this is very nicely done.
I think you have co-stars in this show, Bonnie. That sky is simply stellar. The spot light created by those amazing clouds is definitely incredible but I would try and work this image to showcase both the sky and the spotlight. They are both sensational. I too would love to see a color version of this because I don’t think the sky and landscape would be competing so much with each other. Black and white is all about tones and you have such dramatic tones in both the sky and the landscape and I think they’re fighting each other. In color I think it would play out quite differently. That is being quite nit picky though and by no means is suggesting that I don’t like the image. Quite the contrary, there is almost too much to like about this image. It’s incredibly dramatic, and a visual feast of light. Sensational.
The consensus is clear about the spotlight vs. the sky. When I was standing there, I found the patterns of light on the hills to be so lovely. Even so, you’re all correct that the sky is so dramatic it overwhelms the spotlight so much and processing can’t change that relationship. So - back to the drawing (processing) board.
I tried putting it back to color, but it really wasn’t working for me, so I kept the b&w. For the revision, I tried to better balance the land vs. sky by dialing back the light on the land and bringing out more detail in the sky. Thanks again for the input!
It’s important to point out that although your impression being there may not have carried through to the image as you intended, this is a wonderful image. The fact that the light on the trees is a part of, instead of the star of, the image does not reduce its impact at all for me.
), that’s just a fantastic sky! In fact, when I opened this it was the sky that really spoke to me. The clouds are awesome in their varied tones and texture; the virga is perfect. Although I hear you on it playing a secondary role, I’d be tempted to drop the luminosity of the light on the foreground just a tad let the entire image be the star. The clouds are just too good IMHO.