I read Alex Noriega’s article on intimate landscapes and I went out to try a few myself.
Pentax K20D Tamron 75-300 f/3.5-5.6 most at f/8 ISO 100
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Timothy, this is a nice series of small scenes. I’m going to give you some brief comments on the images, numbering them from #1 thru #7, going from top to bottom.
Images #1, #2 and #4 are the reflection shots. I like image #1 the best, there are some interesting patterns, ripples and colors in the water. Image #4 is similar, but to me it’s not as strong because the patch of yellow is dead center. To me this creates a static image, your eye goes to the center and stays there, unlike image #1 where there is more of interest to see across the entire image.
Image# 2 has some interesting ripples, but I find the bright patches of sky in the reflection keep pulling my eye away from the center of the image.
I think all 3 of these reflection images are slightly underexposed, and could benefit from adding some more contrast. As an example here is image #2 simply reworked with a simple levels adjustment in PS to use more of the tonal range. To me this rework has more vitality.
Image #3 is good, it tells a nice story, and has a very clear main subject. The complementary colors of red and green work well together here. Images #5 and #6 are similar, my preference is for #5, it has nice color and light, but I would crop away the patch of empty sky in the upper left, it is a distraction. It is also leaning slightly clockwise, and the waterline should be leveled. Image #6 has nice light, but the tree trunks on the right aren’t working for me, maybe because they nearly merge together. Image #7 doesn’t really work for me at all, the branch is just not appealing enough to me to qualify as an interesting subject.
Timothy,
Thanks for sharing. The first is my favorite and IMHO is the best both technically and pictorially. Very cool reflections and I like how the horizontal ripples contrast with the vertical reflection of the trees. With this one, I think a slight rotation and/or transformation to get the verticals going up and down would help a little.
As Ed mentions, I think the other reflections are a little flat and could use some contrast and even sharpening - These are a little on the soft side as well.
I think #7 could be interesting, but there’s little separation between the primary subject of the leaves and forward branch - and the background. The bg has most of the same coloration and the sharper leaves are blending in a bit with the bg. I know this is backseat, after the fact… but perhaps moving your point of view a little bit to place the sharp leaves against a less cluttered bg? Hope that makes sense.
In all fairness, it’s a lot to provide detailed critique on so many posted images. The reflection ones can kinda be grouped together though. In general, I think you did well on your mission of capturing more “intimate” scenes.
Lon
Thank you, I had lot of fun taking these, I am going out to get more this weekend
Thank you, your comments are well received and I am going to do more this weekend.
