Golden Pond - Redo

Image Critiques Wildlife Critiques
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Golden_Redo_MET8753-20240420-NPN-16x9.jpg
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Golden_Pond_MET8753-20240413-16x9.jpg
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Golden Pond - Original

Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction

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

Hi folks,

My thanks to everyone who critiqued my original post of this image. It was a happy surprise to have it chosen as an Editor’s pick!

In this revision, I’ve cropped some of the top and some of the left side off of the photo. It makes for a cleaner composition, but do you think the image has lost something? Perhaps I’m just struggling with the difference between what I originally envisioned and what makes for a better photo? I’ve also cloned out one particular silhouette of a clump on the shoreline, just “inside” the hippo’s mouth. Was that successful? Any further suggestions for the image? Thanks again everyone. – MET

Critique Template

Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.

  • Emotional Impact:
  • Mood Creation:
  • Composition:
  • Balance and Visual Weight:
  • Depth and Dimension:
  • Textures and Patterns:
  • Use of Color:
  • Lighting:
  • Subject and Genre:
  • Post-processing:
  • Technical Aspects:
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I think I saw this in another post? Am I dreaming? Either way, I think the re-work is effective at isolating the hippos and keeping the brightest areas of the photo on and near them. Your clone job looks good to me and I could see doing some more dodging to bring up the rim light on the bodies of the hippos, especially that yawning one. It would really emphasize the time of day without going for an oversaturated sunset look.

Insofar as intent/reality goes, that’s a tough one to let go of and don’t I know it. It really depends on how much you want an audience for your work and how much you want to preserve your original intent and just enjoy your photos for what they represent of your experiences. That’s what can make critique here so important - we who weren’t there and have no idea what you wanted from the photo can assess it without all that. It becomes purely an exercise in aesthetics and the power of photography to catch a moment, which I think you did very well here.

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Thank you Kristen, this is valuable advice. I’ll dodge the rim light a bit and see how that improves the image. I’ve already found a better crop that I think satisfies both my original intent and the improved composition that comes from cropping this shot. Best regards – Michael