Labrador Tea

Image Critiques Flora Critiques
1

Kristen_SmithFebruary 20, 2025_1009608.jpg
Kristen_SmithFebruary 20, 2025_1009608.jpg2500×1729 1.81 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

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

Description

aka Rhododendron groenlandicum - often grows in bogs and I found a large swath of it while snowshoeing a couple weeks ago. I didn’t remember there was a little bog tucked into that part of the woods. Lots of this plant, Black spruce and Tamarack pine that I could see and probably lot of small carnivorous plants and other things buried in the snow.

I chose this little branch for its isolation and the way the sun was lighting up some of the leaves. It gives it a nice modeling effect as well as bringing up the texture. Come spring there will be white flowers at the tip and no doubt many bees and other pollinators buzzing all around.

Specific Feedback

Thoughts on the processing and cropping. I have some room to play with, but not much due to distracting stuff on the edges. How does the snow look? It isn’t actually white, but highly reflective and sparkly.

Technical Details

Handheld while trying not to destroy everything around me while I positioned in snowshoes. Try backing up in a pair of them while in bushes. Good times. LOL.

Screenshot 2025-03-04 at 7.42.11 AM
Screenshot 2025-03-04 at 7.42.11 AM600×320 60.3 KB

Lr for processing including wb adjustment, added texture, vibrance and getting the contrast right. HSL panel to bring up luminance in reds. A bit of a crop at the top and some debris removed from snow surface.

Critique Template

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  • Vision and Purpose:
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1 Like
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Beautiful, Kris. I think the snow is handled very well with lots of texture showing in the focal area. The degree of gray/white looks very good to me. When I first saw the small image, I was thinking Chocolate Lily, but that doesn’t come around early enough to poke out of the snow. Detail in the leaves and the lighting are wonderful. Any further work on this one would be trying to gild the lily.

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Kris: Oh what a marvelous find and an even better capture IMO. I’ll pretty much ditto Dennis’ comments and add that the undulations in the snow are also very appealing and give the image some dynamism that others like this may lack. The snow looks great and reconfirms that I would rather sweat than shiver but you’ve handled it superbly. Most excellent. >=))>

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Thanks @Dennis_Plank & @Bill_Fach - you know small things in snow is a weakness of mine and luckily after a few days of temps in the 40s and lots of melting, we are getting more snow now, maybe 6 inches or so. Enough to go play in again although I probably won’t need snowshoes.

Funny about those undulations, I was worried they looked too fake or forced. Kind of reminded me of the set design in early movies like The Cabinet of Doctor Calgari which is so highly stylized and beautiful, it still holds up today. Not that there is anything particularly scary here and the scene is quite bright, but I was going for a natural look and it seems I got it.