Highlights + Rework

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
1

RRF_140909_0013.jpg
RRF_140909_0013.jpg1500×1000 275 KB

Rework

RRF_140909_0013_4x5
RRF_140909_0013_4x51500×1200 331 KB

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

Enough visible to be oriented?

Other Information

Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.

Image Description

Late afternoon light breaks through an opening in the clouds over Bryce Canyon, highlighting the twin mesas at the southwest end of Bryce Amphitheater.

Technical Details

Canon EOS 5D II; Canon EF 70-200mm @ 100mm; f/16 @ 1/250 sec, -2 EV, ISO 250; Gitzo tripod, RRS BH 55, remote trigger.

Specific Feedback

Whatever you wish, positive or otherwise.

2

My initial reaction is two-fold:
1 - I really like the subject, especially since I posted a similar type of image - low light on red sandstone mesas with darker formations surrounding. Fabulous lighting!
2 - I’d like to see the sunlit mesa get more attention, though not necessarily being the center. The image could perhaps be a bit more balanced by cropping out some of the sky above and darker area to the left?

3

Thank you @kevin_dobo for your suggestion. I made a 4x5 ratio crop and will post it as Rework, above.See if you like that more.

4

Yah… I like this crop better. The lighter tones on the mesa and the clouds are more balanced overall.