The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Fotheringate is a western beach on Flinders Island in Bass Straight. This shot is one of hundreds I took on a landscape photography workshop I recently attended. Cold and windy but very few visitors to the island (due to lack of flights and accommodation) and few locals (farmers mostly).
Specific Feedback
Looking for any and all C&C but specifically the lighting, colour palette and composition.
I would also like feedback on the quality and resolution of the image as posted for C&C purposes.
Technical Details
5Ds, EF 16-35mm f/4 L at 16mm, f11, 2s, ISO 50.
Filters were a 6 stop ND, 3 stop GND for the sky and a CPL.
I tend to do 90% of processing in ACR and used PS for cropping and sharpening.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
When I first saw this photo, I thought of “Bay of Fires”, Tassie, as the red lichens are similar (I did not know where Fotheringate was located). I found the size and dominance of the blue / white rock in the foreground a question as I did not know whether to look at the rock, the reflection of the sun on the water or the fraction of sun above the mountain line in the background. The dominance of the foreground blue / white rock seemed to throw me. I also tried white balance on the mid rhs sand, but then the photo was far too red so I reduced the Cyan saturation and lightness to remove the blue cast on the foreground rocks. I also took the liberty of cropping the photo to 16 by 9, so emphasizing the leading lines from the bottom left and right corners that construct triangles, while also reducing the white foreground rock dominance.
In my opinion, it is a great photo that I could spend hours playing with.
The blue temperature is common theme throughout my portfolio for this trip. Most sunrises were very cold and blue before sunrise. Ditto sunsets after the sun went down. Colour temp is something I always struggle with where I’m torn between what was, what looks good in PP and what PS suggests.
Mark, what a wonderful place to be on a photo workshop. The richness of the colors in the compostion are a photographer’s dream I do like what @Rob_Sykes did with the crop. I find my eye overwhelmed by the amount and value of the reds. The golden grass seems to be the foreground subject but it commpetes with the golden tones in the rocks on the right of the scene. My eye keeps going back and forth between those two points and the rest of the scene dosn’t pull me into it.
I took the liberty of working with what @Rob_Sykes did to explain what I mean about the color value and the play of light. First, I used color grading to darken the mid-tones and shadows just a bit. Then, I masked the foreground rocks and used the hue and saturation sliders to tone down the red. After that, I reversed the mask and lightened the water and mountains, warming them up just a bit. I then used a luminosity mask to mask just the reds. Finally, I went in and painted back in areas of brighter red where the sunlight would fall on the rocks. That was the fun part of painting in the light. I also added back more color to the clump of grasses. I do depend on luminosity masking to make edits. I may have darkened the reds too much to do justice to the scene.
Mark, In reply to your “colour balance” point, I took your original photo and applied 3 eyedropper white colour balances. The foreground was balanced on the sand of your triangular rock, the mid ground on the bright area of the mid rock rhs and the background on the far rhs corner of the photo.
I then created 3 linear gradients. The background being at the waterline of the hills and the mid ground being just above the red rocks. I then used a soft brush at about 40% (can be much less if needed) and painted the middle balance on the red rocks and grass tuft.
This was not intended to “improve” your photo, just to show how mixed lighting creates colour balance problems and a method of fixing this problem.
This is a very wonderful landscape image, Mark. I love it!! The colours, light, composition, the tussock of grass that adds interest, it all comes together.
No criticism from me; I just wanted to let you know that I love this image!
Beautiful shot with some fine light and a complex composition which seems very coherent. I prefer your original composition but i still find myself wishing for just a little more space attributed to that sky which although not filled with interesting cloud detail does have a pleasing hue and a smooth and gentle colour gradient, that might merit more inclusion.
