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 mood does this convey to you?
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
This is from our first trip of the year to Lassen Park. All the backwoods ponds are full and the lily pads in Lily Pad Pond are well on their way to blooming. This day was mostly overcast, with occasional snippets of sun as the clouds moved across the sky. I love the mood of these kinds of days, and processed this to reflect the slightly somber mood and subtly of the landscape.
I also liked the aesthetic appeal of the contrast between the colorful, round lily pads and the dark, straight tree reflections.
Technical Details
Targeted exposure & color adjustments in ACR & PS: Brought out the colors in the lily pads, dimmed and cooled the sky a bit.
Specific Feedback
Looking for feedback on the emotional impact of this. Comments on aesthetics and technicalities are always welcome, too.
Hi Bonnie,
My immediate reaction upon seeing this image was a sense of wonder. I was struck by the depth of the image, as you look past the lily pads into the reflected forest. It is also a very peaceful image to look at. This is a beautiful image, and I can’t think of anything I would change about it!
Hi Bonnie! This image has a sense of calm and peace and a little melancholy to me. I feel like I’m taking an early morning walk in the woods. One of those walks or hikes where when you stop there is no sound at all and you can start to hear all of the very faint sounds in nature. It’s a place that you always have to return to.
My initial reaction was fond memories from teenage years where I used to walk around a pond very much like this including lilies, it was so nice because it was within walking distance from our home.
I recall many afternoons where the sky was overcast and the water was almost black but I knew there were a lot of fish and turtles under the surface, there were poisonous snakes there as well so my mom always made me wear thick rubber boots with snake guards, I’m extremely thankful that she insisted I wear them because there was an occasion where a moccasin struck my ankle while walking through the reeds at the edge of the pond.
That said, my memories really are pleasant ones because those encounters were few and far between.
Anyway, I digress
The muted yellow/green and red/magenta of the lilies are perfect for the scene in my view and the lilies are spread out in an even and balanced way.
The dark trunk reflections are clear with plenty of definition and yes, the mood conveyed is slightly somber, yet peaceful and inviting at the same time.
Well now that I know what you wanted to convey, Bonnie, I can tell you that is also what I felt when I saw this image. Truly! Not the melancholy part though, that Vanessa felt. Isn’t it wonderful how we can all feel something a little different? It has to do with how we view life around us, through our own ‘filters’. The initial reaction I had was calm, and a feeling of closeness with nature, too. Intimate studies are a big thing for me, and it resonated with me. Well done!
What struck me immediately was the strong 3D quality – I felt I was standing on a precipice, viewing some sort of fantastic world that is both above and below the water. That’s not exactly peaceful, but it’s not really some sort of antithesis either. Just different. Powerful and emotional, in a good way, not an unsettling way.
But then maybe I had a bit too much of a very good Zin with dinner… And I think the image is equally good!
Indeed! I’ve been thinking about this lately. As much as we might want to convey a certain feeling or tell a certain story, there’s only so much we can do. Although there are “accepted” ideas about the various aspects of visual language we can use to convey something, even then we filter those things (color meaning, shapes, lines, etc.) through our own lens. That’s why it’s so interesting to learn what other people see.
I’m thinking a nice Pinot Noir would go better with this photo…
