The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is another shot that was taken on our flight over Iceland. Seeing from above what nature has created in shapes and colors was an impressive experience.
Because I was shooting in burst mode the whole time, I took almost 1000 pictures in the two hours.
It’s a challenge to choose the images you want to develop. Whenever I browse through the folders again, different shots speak to me.
Specific Feedback
Is there anything that could be improved in post-processing regarding colors, contrast, cropping, etc?
As always, any feedback is welcome.
Technical Details
Basic adjustments in LR, noise reduction with Topaz Denoise AI, and quite some contrast work in PS.
Intriguing and gorgeous! Aerial views can be amazing. You have some excellent detail from ripples in the water – or is it ice? It looks very 3D as though it is flowing down a considerable slope. I can’t think of anything that might be improved.
Were you shooting through the window or was it opened? Avoiding vibration and wind buffet are major problems.
I’m just going through a bunch of aerials I shot last week and finding a few that might be interesting, but nothing like Iceland could yield.
Jens, I love the colors and the shapes in this image. If I were asked to ID it, I wouldn’t be able to, so that makes it even more interesting. Nice abstract!
Hi Jens,
This is a magnificent image! Looking at it fills me with wonder and curiosity, it is an electric image that is great fun to explore. The image has considerable depth and your contrast work seems to have done a great job at defining all of the geometry in the image while retaining that depth.
The only thing I would consider changing is reducing the brightness of the region in the top left of the image, where it seems like there are some bright reflections that can be slightly distracting.
One other thing I would consider, although it I think it is up to personal preference, would be to slightly crop the image in from the left and right, removing the small blue knife-shaped section of water in the middle of the river at the left edge of the frame. For the right side of the image, the very small s-shaped curve in the bottom shore/riverbank does tend to distract my eye sometimes and I feel the image could work better with it cropped out, although it is a very very minor thing.
This is an example of the crop I suggested which I feel removes some minor distracting elements from the image, although it is very hard to beat the crop you chose as it gives the viewer so much to explore!
Overall, this is a unique and beautiful image with great colors and perspective. There is very little that I would change as the image already works great with your adjustments.
The pilot was a photographer himself. So he knew how to fly to satisfy photographers’ needs. When we saw interesting subjects, we told the pilot to slow the airplane down. Then we opened the window and held out the camera.
And yes, vibration and the wind were an issue. That’s why we bumped up the ISO to get to the fast shutter speed. The pilot’s crucial tip was also to remove the lens hood because it significantly increases wind resistance.
I really regret not taking my Polarizer on the flight. Who would have thought that undesirable reflections can occur on water surfaces?
That sounds promising. I can’t wait to see your aerials.
Do you mean those little light spots?
Thank you for pointing that out. That shape was much brighter in the original image and I burned it quite a bit. But maybe I should get rid of it completely.
Thank you for your suggestion. I will work a little more on the cropping.
Yes, while they are only small they do sometimes pull my eye away from the rest of the image, although it is very minor so I might be being a bit too critical .
Very cool! The texture of the rippled water is so interesting, as is the color of the water. Your framing is lovely.
The original looked fine to me. That brighter area frame left that you burned felt like it balanced the lightest swoop of water on frame right. The slight burning you did wasn’t overdone, though, so that balance is still there. The burning, however, looks like it changed the hue of that area, making it warmer. Flipping between the two it looks odd. Perhaps cooling it back to the original hue would work.
The contrast of the original is more dramatic. Did you raise the exposure? Seems like the original contrast fits the scene better. Well, now you have 2 opposite opinions - ha.
Hi Bonnie,
thank you very much for your feedback.
When I made the adjustments for the repost, I also changed something here and there. Probably I have overdone it.
Thank you for pointing that out. I understand what you mean. I’ll have to do some more work on that.
Your image really caught my eye!
I love the post processing in the repost. To my eye contrast seems spot-on. The ripples in the water are wonderful! from this height, they remind me of the patterns we see on sand dunes.
I think that whirl in the middle of the image - combined with the light on the river banks and the brown/cyan color contrast - do a wonderful job of catching the eye and leading it into the flow of the river.
Something I wondered when opening the image - the ground part seemed just a bit blurry. I thought there might be some motion blur (?), but it’s also possible that the smaller image size and the smooth surface in some areas cause this impression.
Regarding distractions etc. - I do agree that there are some distractions in the image, as previous commenters mentioned, so I too might play a bit with cropping / image ratios - just to check if there’s some other crop that feels better. But overall, I feel that the crop you chose has good relations between the river and the space around it, as well as between the shadowed parts and the lighter parts. So as it is - I think it works very well, and personally I thought that the additional details do add some interest once the eye finished exploring the river.
Well done Jens! The landscape looks so dramatic from the aerial perspective. I do prefer the contrast in the original. Awesome colors and composition. The way the water carved around the landscape is impressive to me. Thanks for posting this Jens.
@mist_surfer, @Alfredo_Mora
Thank you very much for your feedback.
I’m still a little torn about which contrast I like better. I’m going to work on that a little bit more.
Thank you for your eagle eye. The areas at the very top and the very bottom are a bit blurry. I think that was introduced by the noise reduction. I’m going to take a look at that, too.
The cool/warm contrast in the repost, together with the added brightness, feels more immersive to me. I particularly like how a subtle light seems to be seeping in from the bottom left and right corners. In fact, this was my first reaction to your beautiful image: “I wish I could explore the landscape surrounding the water.” In the repost, I get a sense of vast plateaus, lit up ridges, etc… my imagination is more prompted to building up the whole of the landscape, resulting in a wider and more vivid sense of things.
I also really like the golden glow in the the repost. I think it works particularly well with the cooler blue of the water, whilst also spreading beautifully in the bottom of the image and above the swirl from left to right. Altogether, the upper left quadrant of the image retains my attention a lot better and the golden hues there are very pleasing to look at. The image of a finely wrought piece of jewelry comes to my mind.
One area of loss is the dark cliffs and the crisply defined coast line of the right, which is a particularly interesting area in the original post. However, I am only speaking in comparison (the infinite maze of comparisons… the artist’s siren call to the shipwreck of uncertainty…). Had I not seen the original, I might not feel that contrast has been lost. It is not an easy trade-off, to be sure. However, considering how the repost engages me more within the whole landscape (water+land), I’d probably lean towards it. Additionally, it may be easier to print as you may have to lighten up the dark cliffs a bit for printing.
Whatever you decide to do with it, it’s a gorgeous image!
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