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
What question or initial emotional response does the image evoke?
Other Information
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Image Description
I came upon this scattering of fresh feathers on the woodland floor. Only feathers. No other indications of violence.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
My very first reaction was - a nest! At least that’s what I thought when the feathers were dispersed with the sticks and pine needles. I also thought it was quite pretty. And honestly, I viewed the image before actually paying attention to your title! But very quickly I was reminded of a similar scene in my backyard; a concentrated set of feathers just like this in an asparagus fern, and so it didn’t take long to figure out the real story. So first, the beauty of nature… then very quickly, the reality of nature.
A very cool image regardless! Not so much abstract per se, but that’s not the story here anyway.
From a technical critique perspective, I’m not sure what’s going on with the shades of green on some of the feathers. It almost seems random. I have no idea if the green is inherent to the bird, or some processing anomaly? That’s kinda throwing me off a little.
I love the find and the combo of the fluffy white against the warmth of the pine straw is working very nicely.
My first reaction was that I was seeing last patches of snow. But on looking closer it became evident that these are feathers. I initially thought that feathers as a subject matter require a less contrasty approach due to their gentle nature. But I think part of the interest in this image is that it is contradictory in that sense. Contradictions make you pay notice. The only suggestion I have is to use the clarity slider to make the feathers look more soft (by blurring them a bit). Don’t know how that will work with the high contrast though.
Bill, the photo didn’t prompt a question for me. I felt a little sad about what I inferred had happened but that’s life. The photo tells a story, as Shirley mentioned. The contrasting textures are effective. There’s a little more tonal contrast than I might prefer but I can see why you wanted the contrast. It’s well done.
