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
What are your first thoughts when you see the pattern?
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
The shallow part of a mountain river is always worth a visit after a few day of frost without snow. Then you can expect many different ice patterns.
Technical Details
f:11. 1/20s. ISO 320 , tripod
Specific Feedback
I like to get some feedback on emotional impact and artistic value.
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:
Armin: Great find and a fine comp. I love all the swirling lines and the hint of color in the center. I might be tempted to make those two spots of rust colored stuff go away as they have grabbed my attention and pulled my eye away from where the real action is. That’s a pretty small nit though and probably detracts <1% from this fine image.>=))>
A nicely balanced image with lots of interesting shapes and textures. Personally, I like the brown leaves although I might remove the one near the edge.
Fantastic ice image Armin. To answer your question, my first thought was wow, followed by analysis of the tighter swirls at the bottom and top left. To me, they are very organic looking, like trachea or something along those lines.
The two small spots didn’t bother me, but there’s nothing lost by cloning them out. I do feel like there are two different compositions here, either of which could be its own showpiece: One is the central, globular shapes with the little “bullet holes” I’m going to call them .
The other is the stuff mostly to the left where the swirls dominate. That’s not to say it doesn’t work as a single image, but in abstracts like this, I often find myself wanting to break things into two images with a clearer kind of design in mind. I’m kind of alone in that most of the time, however.
Armin, I can’t say that the pattern prompted any particular thoughts, but I like the image. It’s well composed and balanced. There’s a lot to look at.
The small areas of color almost immediately drew my eye, and I doubt that you want them to be the focus of attention. You might consider just making the whole image black and white.
Although it’s debatable, I’d consider lightening the darker areas in the lower right.
A wonderful find, Armin. The shapes remind me of ammonites in places. I do kind of wish that long curved line on the bottom didn’t quite touch the edge of the frame, but it’s so difficult to figure out where to frame something like this.
Dear Arnim,
First reaction: I have no particular thoughts when I look at the image. It is aesthetically fascinating, but it does not stimulate thoughts in me — the latter would probably require more context to a viewer like me. Great image.
My initial response is wow! I love the swirls, patterns and lines. The word trilobite jumped into my mind from the serrated patterns. I love it as-is, though I agree with Marylynne that you could easily make multiple compositions from this image. I second Don and Kathrin’s suggestion to try black and white to accentuate the patterns and eliminate distractions.
I like this one a lot, Armin. Ice structures are fascinating, and depending on your imagination, you can see completely different things in them. But once you’ve seen something in it, you can’t unsee it anymore. I love the colour version personally as it adds to the drama of what the image evokes for me, i.e. an eerie feeling that there’s someone under there, with the ice rings decorating this figure. And yes, I love watching crime movies
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