Frozen Medusae

[John_Williams]

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

The difference between an intimate landscape and an abstract isn’t always clear to me; I suspect there would be overlap on a Venn diagram. If this would be more appropriate in Abstract Critiques, please feel free to switch it there.

I live about 45 minutes from the west end of the Columbia River Gorge, and at times in winter very cold wind will pour through the gorge from the east. This often causes miserable road conditions and can make it hard to get to the gorge, but not always. In 2013 a friend and I went to check out the gorge waterfalls when they were frigid, and found that they had fascinating areas of ice around them. A couple of weekends ago we had similar conditions, and I decided to check them out again see if the ice formations were similar. (A lot of my portfolio was photographed with a 1.5 crop factor, and I’m not averse to returning and capturing similar images with the current full-frame.)

In 2013, the left (east) side of Horsetail Falls had interesting “jelly fish” shapes, and they were back again this year. I’m posting both a vertical and horizontal formats because they are similar; if I had to pick I’d choose based on where the print would hang. The final image is a wider view, so you can see them in relation to the base of the falls.

Capturing them was a pain, because the weather that typically creates them is usually accompanied by significant winds. (The day before I took these, the winds were gusting around 60 mph in the gorge.) It was quite cold, and the wind would drive spray from the waterfall against my lens that would immediately freeze. What I really needed was one of those little chemical packets that get warm after you crush them, but without that I took to cupping my hand against the lens and breathing into it for a few breaths to melt the drops so I could wipe them off. I then would keep it covered until I was ready to press the shutter and try to snap an image before they reformed. It was tedious, but mostly effective.

Specific Feedback

There wasn’t a lot of color to begin with, so I’ve converted them. So far, I have found my favorite way to process these is to tint them slightly cool, and to sharpen them pretty aggressively. Any thoughts/recommendations for improvement are much appreciated.

Technical Details

All three images were taken with a NIKON Z 7II and a NIKKOR Z 24-200 f/4-6.3 VR lens.

Horizontal:
200 mm, 1/25 sec. at f/10.0 and ISO 64

Vertical:
200 mm, 1/60 sec. at f/11.0 and ISO 64

Wider view:
47 mm, 1/25 sec. at f/10.0 and ISO 64

(Both the close views have about 25% cropped off; I need a longer lens!)

[John_Williams]

Here’s the image from 2013 for comparison:

[Richard_Sandor]

John: thanks for posting a very interesting series of images and for providing a good narrative. I like them all but in particular like your vertical post given the verticality of the subject. Your title is spot on.

[Steve_Kennedy]

Hi John! These are very cool images. It sure looks like it would have been difficult to take these shots, both from the mist problem and the outright cold. Looking at it makes my fingers hurt!

I love the shapes of these ice structures, and the contrast in the image gives them depth. From the larger view, it looks like you had to be wading in the frigid water. Cold! I really like the images and the abstract nature of the ice formations. My only suggestion - the large glob (is that a technical term?) in the URC pulls the eye a bit. I would be tempted to crop that out.

I hope you had something hot to drink when you were done!

[Diane_Miller]

What wonderful shapes!! And a heroic effort to get the shots! I love them both – no preference and no nits. The vertical has the interest of seeing the ends of some of the icicles and the horizontal pulls me into the frame more. It’s great to see the 2013 version and the similarity of the wider scene.

[Igor_Doncov]

What an interesting subject. The intimates remind me of teeth somehow. I like the 1st and 3rd the most. Although I think the 2013 wide image was slightly better than this current wide view. I wonder if a faster SS could have provided the water a different look. But maybe it would just have made it busy. I agree that a small crop off the right could eliminate the white in the URC of the first image.

@John_Williams

The difference between an intimate landscape and an abstract isn’t always clear to me;

I agree. Somewhere I read an Ansel Adams quote (or was it a video) where he states that technically there are no abstracts in photography. He called them extracts. All I know is that my rocks are clearly recognizable as rocks so they go into Landscape. They’re usually metaphors, but that’s different than abstracts.

Are those ‘teeth’ actually basalt columns with snow piled on top? It sort of looks that way. There’s a nice amphitheater look to the wide version. I’m wondering if darkening the darks in the stream at the bottom would add some punch.

PS. They also look like air balloons. Triumphantly rising upwards. Yes, I sense a movement from down to up. I like that about it.

[Tomas_Frydrych]

They are wonderful ice formations, and I rather like the bigger image as well. Of the details I prefer the lanscape, the vertical image feels cut of at the bottom, I’d have liked to see the tips of the icicles and some space below. The landscape fits better with the title.

[Jim_Gavin]

I like all of them. Having been there several years ago during similar conditions, I know how difficult it is to get such wonderful images. They blobs look like jellyfish to me.

[Saundie (Don Saunderson)]

John, the image beautifully reflects your thought of a sea of jellyfish (was my first thought). The cool tones and the vertical crop enhance that tranquil, underwater feel, and the sharpness you’ve achieved makes every detail pop. It’s a fantastic capture that stands out for its unique perspective and attention to the intricate beauty of nature’s art. Your effort and technique have truly paid off, giving a frozen moment to admire. Great work!

[John_Pedersen]

Very nice John! I was out there in 2013 and captured those same formations. I was mesmerized by them. I’m glad you got back out there again this year. I would have but we were displaced from our home and I didn’t want to tempt fate traveling the gorge. Well seen and shot!

[John_Williams]

Thanks @John_Pedersen! I poked around your website and found a few of your photos of the frozen conditions. Very nice! I saw a couple of images from Latourell, and was jealous. I wanted to stop and photograph Latourell on this trip, but it was closed due to construction.