Hopeful Renewal

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
1

20160229 Hopeful Renewal npla copy.jpg
20160229 Hopeful Renewal npla copy.jpg1033×1550 747 KB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

Grass Widows bloom early in the Columbia River Gorge, and this is an image from 2016 taken about this time in February. In the spirit of NLPA, here are downsized sidecar jpgs of the images used in blending.

20160229_084459
20160229_084459602×900 29.3 KB

20160229_084459-1
20160229_084459-1602×900 23.3 KB

20160229_084544-1
20160229_084544-1602×900 82.9 KB

20160229_084558
20160229_084558602×900 120 KB

Specific Feedback

Do you think this image is a bit of a cliché (in your face foreground, heavy color, sunrise, sunstar, etc.) and would be discounted for its lack of creativity? Do you think there is a current trend toward intimate landscapes, and if so do you think that is here to stay or more of a pendulum swing?

Technical Details

Nikon D7100
Nikkor 12.0-24.0 mm at 12.0 mm (18.0 mm equivalent)
Blend of four photographs for DOF and DR
1/60, 1/30, 1/3, and 1.0 sec. at f/22.0 and ISO 100

Critique Template

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

  • Vision and Purpose:
  • Conceptual:
  • Emotional Impact and Mood:
  • Composition:
  • Balance and Visual Weight:
  • Depth and Dimension:
  • Color:
  • Lighting:
  • Processing:
  • Technical:
4 Likes
2

John: I suspected this was yours from the thumbnail. Cliche? Not for me. A beautiful scene superbly rendered never gets boring. Your depictions of the Columbia River valley are wonderful. My only suggestion for this image would be to crop the sky and bring it to 4x5 ratio. As for the trend to intimate landscapes, it may be a pendulum swing but I don’t think it’s a fad that will fade. Folks are seeing the value of non-grand wide angle views. This is a good one. >=))>

3

Hey John, Thanks for posting this one.

Before I answer your questions, let me first say that my initial reaction to this image was, “wow, that’s pretty!”

I think you did a great job in blending these, so kudos there - not as easy as it looks IMO.

I don’t necessarily think the image is a cliche, but on the web and in competitions these types of images are common, and so the real challenge is finding a way to execute on them in a way that makes them seem less common, as it relates to competitions specifically. Of course, most images from this particular area are later in the spring, so I personally find this to be a really interesting image already because of how different of a take it is vs. the normal lupine scenes we have grown accustomed to seeing from the Rowena area.

Other than that, if you are putting your photo up against thousands of other similarly composed images of similar subjects, it then becomes a process for judges to find things that could have been ‘better’ - such as the small flower creeping in from the left edge. I don’t mean to say that perfectionism is the key, but when it comes to evaluating heaps of similar images it is the natural progression of things, for better or worse.

I do think there is a trend towards intimate landscapes only because that particular genre allows for a more personal approach to creating work that looks different. I think this is what makes grand landscape photography particularly challenging as it relates to creativity and making the work stand out - so much has been seen already that looks similar and feels derivative from previous work, so in order for something to stand out it needs to be exceptional in many more ways. I hope that makes sense?

1 Like
4

There is nothing cliche about this image. It’s a stunner. Your blend is very natural, processing is spot on, and of course it’s a gorgeous scene. I don’t know if it was possible, but moving your tripod slightly to the left to put the bottom flower a little more toward the right corner would have filled up that dead space currently there. Might have also allowed you to eliminate that little flower poking in from the left. None of this is to say this isn’t an extraordinary image, because it is.

1 Like
5

I can’t imagine how challenging it must’ve been to make this blend. You are truly a wizard, a photoshop wizard. I think iPhone must have some algorithm to do this sort of thing automatically, but only up to a point.

6

This is such an eye catching image! It must have been a hell of a job, and one I usually try to avoid because of all the work, blending these images. You did a fabulous job with it so kudos! You should have told those flowers in the foreground to cooperate and face you. Flowers and animals, they never cooperate! JK

7

First, let me just say that this is a gorgeous image and the processing is remarkable. Did you do a manual blend or just have PS take care of it for you?
The inside glow on those flowers is incredible and to me it looks like the there is a pathway leading the eye right through that empty pocket of flowers into the river. Great flow. The colors are sensational and perfectly rendered. I might be tempted to burn the river exiting the left side of the image as it’s a tiny bit bright and disrupts the eye from flowing through that pathway I just mentioned. I might also burn the edges in the lower half of the image just a bit to emphasize that pathway a little bit more. These are all very tiny suggestions, not even nits, but rather a way to try and make a nearly perfect image even better. Pretty difficult with this one and not really sure I accomplished anything with a slight rework but here goes. Wish I was there with you to shoot this one.

20160229-20160229 Hopeful Renewal npla copy
20160229-20160229 Hopeful Renewal npla copy1033×1550 1.13 MB

8

Hi John,
I thought this might be yours and definitely not cliche for me. The light is quite lovely and I love the way the flowers seem to have this glow as it gives them more of a presence in the scene. I also am enjoying the diagonals of the placement of the flowers as they direct the viewer towards the Columbia River. This has your usual impeccable processing and sounds like a lot of work. My only suggestion would be to clone out that lone flower on the left edge that is creeping into the river. Beautifully done!

9

That bottom red flower adds so much to the comp. Take it away and the image is still good but weaker.

10

John,

This is just simply gorgeous. It’s like one of those instances that I don’t care about the difficulty or the extent of processing to achieve the result. I say that because the resulting image just looks completely natural, like what one would have seen had they been standing there.

I can’t add to any comments and suggestions. I’m just enjoying the beauty and serenity.

Lon

11

My apologies for the delayed reply. I had last week off and was able to spend some time in the Columbia River Gorge and then three days snowshoeing and backpacking on Mt. Hood.

Thank you @Bill_Fach , @Matt_Payne , @Bret_Edge, @Igor_Doncov , @Martha_Montiel , @David_Haynes @Ed_Lowe , and @Lon_Overacker ! I more than appreciate the thoughts and feedback. This one was a bit of a trick to blend, but fortunately all came together in the end.

I’ve been trending towards shorter verticals; thanks for the suggestion. I’ll play with that.

It does, and thank you for your thoughts on my questions. I really appreciate the overview of photography you have, and your insight is very helpful.

Yeah, those points have bugged me from the beginning too. I wasn’t able to get to this location prior to this sunrise, so literally was composing on the fly as light began to break, and just didn’t nail the comp. I have a version where I’ve puppet warped that flower to the right, but didn’t use that version for this critique.

You’re too kind! Fortunately I enjoy processing since it does take some time. Now I just need to keep working on my photography skills! (I was backpacking on Mt. Hood this week, and you would have gone nuts with the shapes and shadow play. You’re such a master of that; I would love to see what you would have come back with from the plethora of options. I’ll be posting some of my feeble attempts.)

Too true; it drives me nuts when trying to include them in a sunrise or sunset. Balsamroot are really bad about that.

I did manual for this one.

Love the ideas; thanks for the edits!

Seems a common theme, so I’ll take an axe to that guy :grinning:

12

This is a stunning image. Love the deep color in the flowers and the beautiful tones throughout.

13

Actually my goal is to use shapes and shadows to reveal the subconscious. I no longer do it to create attractive designs within a frame. That was the goal behind the Initial Reaction critique. What is your gut feeling. Not ‘what story does it tell’. To me that’s not art. I agree that photography doesn’t have to be art but art is what I’m pursuing with the camera. Of course the subconscious is always involved when an individual looks at a photograph. Even a literal image. But art took a turn in the late 19th century and specifically targeted the subconscious mind with little regard to reality because that’s what was valuable. The outside world is significant to an engineer but not to an artist. The perception of it is what interests the artist. And most of perception comes from the subconscious. Art is a visual reflection of the mind.

1 Like
14

You’ve received so much fantastic critique on this one and I don’t have much to add except to say that I don’t find it cliche. I personally am starting to enjoy the pendulum swinging back from intimate and abstract towards beautiful and fresh grand(er) landscapes.