The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
It was getting dark, the wind was blowing, it was cold, then the clouds parted as the sun was setting, but not for long. Sometimes you get lucky. Made in the Kofa Mountains of Arizona earlier this year.
Specific Feedback
I didn’t have much time to make this image of a fleeting scene, and the processing was a challenge. So any input, suggestions, thoughts would be appreciated.
Technical Details
Sony a7R5
Sony 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 at 100mm
ISO1600, f/11, 1/400 second
Topaz DeNoise
Lots of dodging and burning in LR with enough masks to nearly choke my computer
Finished in PS for printing
Funny that I’ve had to rush to get a scene very similar to this one. I like the spacing and placement of the cactuses and the light is really nice as you obviously knew. It’s unfortunate that the brightest part of the photo is the sky - a narrower crop may help to keep eyes from going there repeatedly. You’ll lose the orangey bit in the top center, but it competes a lot with the landscape and I doubt that is your intention.
The luminosity feels unbalanced and I would see if deepening the shadows in the mountains brings it back to reality a bit. The light there and the light in the bushes looks incongruous.
Overall it’s a pleasant desert scene with good light and composition. I like that you didn’t saturate the colors because that would have been just weird.
Gorgeous light, especially on the cactus! But for me, I agree with @Kris_Smith that the top part of the sky is distracting.
For the mountains, I wonder if you pulled up the Shadows slider a lot? Maybe tweaking the Blacks down a bit might work, or maybe the TK triple play thing, to just make the very darkest tones darker.
Somewhere I read that he said there were better ways to do it now than the triple play, but he didn’t say what they were (or I didn’t find it if he did). I’d love to know!!
Thanks! Cropping the sky works! The file that I posted was the one I used for printing, which means I opened the shadows up. I use Lumenzia for luminosity masking, but less and less with the recent LR/Raw masking capability. I’ll try that in PS.
Basically I think a lot of what the triple plays were for is easier to do with the Color Grading tool - especially if you combine that with masking to isolate the tonal range/value you want to change. I’ve never used a TP at all since I started with the TK8 panel with so many new and easier ways to mask and adjust. If that makes any sense.
Mark, Yes, you captured the light. I understand you have cropped the sky. I would do so just under that orange cloud (top middle.) I’m fine with the mountains as is, but would recommend adding more of a vignette to the image. You could even try a spotlight (TK9) on the mountains to make them pop more with the vignette. Nice image.
I am loving the storm light along with those moody dramatic clouds, Mark. This is well worth the time you spent on your processing. As others have already mentioned the bright sky in the ULC does draw the eye a little. You could crop it off and make a pano which I think works just fine. I know this is rather radical, but I cropped that section off with a crop from the left making it more of a vertical. This is just a suggestion as it may not be your vision. Here is what I was thinking.
The photograph conveys a lot of excitement and wonder at being at that place at that moment, so certainly is a success. I also found the bright cloud at the top an eye-catcher, but it is such a splendid bit of light, it seems a shame to crop it out. Like Ed Lowe, I wondered if a re-crop might take better advantage of that cloud, but I cropped off the right. To me the result lets the mountain sweep up into that cloud. Also darkened the foreground a bit.
What a great fleeting scene you were bale to capture Mark. The light is gorgeous, the placement of the cacti is just about right with great and equal spacing but as others have echoed, that cloud in the ULC really grabs the eye. @Dick_Knudson, this is two straight images that I’ve seen you have made adjustments to that I just love. Where you’ve chosen to crop on the right side eliminates the off balance right side of the mountain. All in all, a great scene Mark. You did well to capture this before it faded away.
I studied the composition for a while and my first reaction was that it seemed a little heavy on the left but as I allowed my eye to wander through the frame more, I found that the sunlit saguaros on the left nicely balance the sunlit peaks on the right. Processing looks spot on - I see nothing I would do different. Heckuva image, Mark.
