Hello all, I am new on NPN and this is the first image I am submitting for a photo critique as, quite frankly, Instagram is not very good for critiques! Anyway, I took this image on an early, cloudy, rainy morning in Iceland. I have seen so many images from this popular location and I decided to try something a little different. In most images I see the surf going out but I decided to try for a dynamic shot of the water crashing into the iceberg. I like the idea of the image, but something to me feels like it is missing. I’m not sure if it is with the composition, the edit (should I go full black and white?). Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any and all. (I tend to struggle during the edit process as I am slightly colorblind)
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any and all.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Sony a7ii with Sony Zeiss 16-35 f4
35mm
f10
1/6
ISO 100
Nisi polarizer
If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.
Instagram: williamsharber
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Welcome to NPN William, this is a great first post. I think you will find that NPN will provide constructive comments and suggestions for tweaks to your images, NPN is definitely a very different experience than Instagram. I look forward to seeing more of your work here.
I like the moodiness created by the strong contrast and cool colors in the sky that you have used here. I also like the idea to get a wave crashing into the iceberg, rather than streamers of water receding back into the ocean. I also like your placement of the berg in the upper right of the image. The image is very dramatic with some good dynamic wave action. I especially like the feathery tips of the waves on the black sand, they look awesome.
In terms of suggestions for improvement, I think the white streaking waves are a bit blown out, and have lost detail (although the exposure looks fine in the sky and berg). Maybe your raw file will allow you to recover some further highlight detail. I also think you could place more emphasis on the iceberg by darkening the blue water to the left and right of the berg. I would also clone away the black spot on the top of the iceberg, I find it to be a minor distraction. And finally, a much more subjective suggestion related to personal taste, I would crop a sliver from the bottom.
I hope you don’t mind but I downloaded your image and did a rework to illustrate my comments. You should be able to do even more highlight recovery in the wave working with a raw file than I could with a Jpeg here.
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Welcome to NPN William. I am sure you will enjoy NPN and the useful feedback you will receive. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
I love the ominous sky and dramatic water action. I think Ed’s critique hit and work on the image hit the nail on the head especially with the lack of detail in the foreground wave. I think you should be able to pullout more detail with work on the RAW file.
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Very dynamic. The colors seem fine to me. I think perhaps the iceberg is too large in the frame - it seems unbalanced. Going to b&w might work better. The sky and water would then not be dissimilar in color and the iceberg would effectively have more room in the frame (rather than the frame being split into sky and water). You also could darken parts of the iceberg, making it look smaller in the frame, giving the rushing water more prominence. It’s an interesting study, nonetheless.
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Hi William,
Welcome to the community! This image is very dynamic and you’ve captured a dramatic mood at the scene.
@Bonnie_Lampley suggested that the iceberg takes up too much space. I tend to agree, however there’s potentially another composition here where you crop more of the sky and make the image undoubtedly about the ice berg.
Hi William and welcome to NPN. This is really a good first post. I compared your original to Ed’s repost and I quite like Ed’s changes. The size and perspective of the iceberg work well for me as presented. No other suggestions here.
I am looking forward to seeing more of your images and reading your comments and input on the work of others! Welcome again.
@Bonnie_Lampley…this is a huge point I’ve never known nor heard about but it seems to make sense. Do components of differing color spaces in the image have the potential to compartmentalize the image into smaller spaces? It would seem so, but I’ve never heard of this. Would you be able to expound on this? Super interesting point!
@williamsharber - welcome to NPN! I’m a big fan and feel that short of Lr, Ps, and my camera equipment, NPN is where i get the most growth for my money.
Your shot is great and my interpretation is not so much that the iceberg takes up too much space in the frame, but the whole scene seems a bit cramped to me. I would be interested in a larger view of the scene and would wish for a landscape crop including more of the surrounding waves/ocean. The image as presented, while very powerful and complete to my eyes, is just lacking a little space.
William, I am really enjoying this dynamic scene. One minor nit that no one else has mentioned, maybe it’s just me, but I wonder a lower perspective was possible? It would shift the tip of the iceberg a little higher above the distant horizon. It is a bit close IMO.
Very nicely done!
@Jim_McGovern Don’t know that I can expound much, but I look to anything in the frame that defines overall shapes or geometries. That could be large areas of different colors, different textures, different luminosity, etc. One thing I learned is to reduce a photo to thumbnail size so that the general shapes are visible, but not the details, to help see whether the overall composition is what you want. That works better for me than flipping it or going to b&w, which are also techniques to analyze composition.
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Thanks Bonnie…this is helpful. Something about the way you describe your breakdown of the image is helpful for me…thanks for taking the time. 
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This is a fine image and Ed has greatly improved it. By adding texture to the wave you have compositional striations in the foam going one way and those in the ice going in the opposite direction. Those two elements add a lot to everything. The way the light breaks in a similar tent like shape to the ice is also really great in this comp. And finally last but not least the small ‘rock’ on the right is a nice addition rather than a distraction.
William, welcome to NPN! An excellent first post and kudos for seeking out a little bit of a different approach. The incoming wave works great and the dynamic created between the incoming and outgoing flow on the black sand works beautifully as well.
While I might agree there are some areas in the water that lack a little detail, I don’t think it’s all that much nor distracting. I really like that contrast of the receding wave and the black sand - which competes slightly with the iceberg; perhaps shaving a bit off the dark bottom would work, but not sure.
I can see where Bonnie is going with the b&w - and how that might actually affect the presence of the berg and the composition. I think there may be an alternate approach. The scene is already quite monochromatic. Yet there are some aqua blues in the iceberg which IMHO are begging to come out. An alternate suggestion might be to pull out some of that aqua blue in the berg just enough to make it really shine as the center piece of the composition - but not so much that it’s over done and obvious. Just a thought.
Also, wondering if you have a horizontal comp? The vertical actually works pretty well here. Perhaps a horizontal approach was too common?
Thanks for sharing and we look forward to more of you work and participation!
Lon
Nice first post, William. I like the aquas, and I think they could be brought out a bit more with the rest desaturated…not quite selective color, but going in that direction.
For me, the left side felt tight, but it had to do with an upturned curl of spray. I actually cropped the left a bit (and top and bottom in 8x10) and to me, it feels better. Here is my quickie crop in windows photoviewer.
I missed diamond beach on my recent Iceland trip (we were in the highlands and didn’t do the coast), so I’m looking forward to going back and hitting the coast some day.
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Thank you to everyone who responded here. I have been away and did not have phone service and could not respond earlier. Sorry! These are all wonderful comments and suggestions. I’m going to rework the image a bit and also thank you for the numerous tips on composing the image on location! I think I’m going to enjoy my time here on NPN.
