Welcome to NPN Bill!
I like what you’ve seen here and kudos for recognizing the potential and then capturing this. The light and shadow on the same subject with some selective focus works quite well.
My critique/suggestions are mostly technical, processing. I know it’s your first post and there’s a bit of a learning curve on posting and making your way around the site and things. It’s helpful to know a little bit about your image including what you were attempting to do as well as any tech info like shutter speed, aperture, lens so that we may have a better basis for offering critique and suggestions. For example, I’m pretty sure with the shallow depth of field you used a fairly wide aperture - but most all the grasses aren’t quite sharp, which is ok, if that’s the intention.
For me the grass has a cyan cast to it and a little flat contrast. The light/dark contrast between the front and back works well, with a few of the stalks in the back a little blown out.
Also, I’m assuming you didn’t really re-size this for the upload as the large view is some 6,000x4,000 px, which is revealing some grain or noise issues. So not sure what, if any processing you did.
As far as the composition goes, I’m torn as to whether the dark areas up top are adding or taking away. I do think the dark areas help a bit in the framing of the grasses.
Apologies for being a bit hard on your first post! I and others would very much like to offer some suggestions. Feel free to offer up any info, what feedback are you looking for etc.?
Thanks for posting and we hope to hear and see more from you.
Lon
Not hard at all, and it is in fact my second post! I’d like to know what you think of my first, if you can find it! I posted in the critique section to get clear feedback on how others see the image, so I have no problem hearing honest thoughts and feelings. I really am learning what others can see here, how large each image is, etc. I am using the cheapest gear I think is able to do what I want to do, because it is what I can buy. I rely on software and skill to make the best image I can, so some noise is expected, but whether it is a problem or not, and if there is anything I can do about it, I need to know. I make pictures for fun and the love of the skills. So, this is an experiment with a disappointing capture. It is late June, before the thunderstorms that make this the wettest and coldest part of New Mexico, as well as one of the most wonderful. I tried for the impression of late afternoon, reading novels and journals by the sound of moving water. So, did I succeed? Not sure yet. This is a split toned Lightroom adjustment of a raw file. I agree, the highlights on the grass are blown out, but the histogram says there is tone, so maybe I can try to recover something more interesting than the blank regions, except, it is out of focus. Maybe try blurring it more, some Gaussian blur? Maybe use some luminosity mask… I will post a jpg of the plain raw file to see what others can think of! 1/50, f/5.6 (wide open), 250mm on APS-C, ISO 100 , Canon Rebel SL2 Grass%2C%20Rio%20Pueblo%2C%20Tres%20Ritos%2C%20New%20Mexico%20no%20adjustments|690x460