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 were your initial reactions and thoughts when viewing this image?
Other Information
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Image Description
Oldie but goodie from 10 years ago. I struggled trying to decide the category for this image- abstract, landscape, or closeup, and finally decided it was mostly an intimate landscape . I was drawn by the interplay of sunlight slicing through some foliage, shadows, and reflections, which all added to the dimensionality.
Technical Details
Sony NEX-6, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/40s, 50 mm
Specific Feedback
All comments and suggestions are welcome and thanks for viewing.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
This makes me think of looking deeper; peering through the proverbial veil so to speak. When I was young, I used to be fascinated by looking through water to the floor below to see what plants and creatures looked there, and this reminds me of that.
The light did some nice things for you here. The rich orange and yellow is very attractive, and I like the subtle blue where the sky is reflected as a contrast.
I’m a bit of a fan of edge patrol; those tiny bits of bright that cling to the edge are mildly distracting to the overall scene, and you might consider toning them down. There also may be an interesting, somewhat abstract, black and white lurking here. If I peek at the green channel, it looks intriguing:
@John_Williams , thank you for your interesting and helpful critique. Though no longer young, I still enjoy looking at the bottom of streams to view fallen leaves, smoothed rocks, and anything else that may be lurking there. When Outdoor Photographer was still being published, one of their columnists, Russ Burden (sp?) always advocated using “border patrol” to check along the edges of an image, so thank you for that reminder. Your suggestion of B&W possibilities and example is intriguing so will check that out.
I feel as though I’m looking at water with some objects submerged and some above the surface. Actually, that’s not really but an attempt at understanding what I’m seeing. Images of water that partially show reflection and also show what’s below the surface are often intriguing because of their ambiguity. This is such an image. For me, the colors are too dominant and I’m therefore a bit confused as to what the image is saying.
Now that I’ve read the description I guess I’m close to understanding your intent. It comes close to being an abstract.
Hi Jim,
I like the way the light transitions across this intimate landscape and how it affects the warm and cool tones in the scene. As I stare into the water I get the impression that I could be on the other side of a portal. My only suggestion would be to clone out all those highlights scattered around the image as they do catch my eye a little. If they were sunstars I would leave them; but as is they are blown hot spots. Very nicely done; good eye to spot this.
This is a difficult image for me to critique. There are things I like, and a couple I struggle with. I enjoy the colors, the diagonal stripes of light and the voyeuristic view of what’s below the water, but there’s just something about the overall composition I can’t quite come around to. My eye wants to wander to the URH corner, which has less going on than the rest of the image. I wonder if a crop from top and right to eliminate some or all of the “blank” area would improve this? Great eye for “seeing” this, though.
. I was drawn by the interplay of sunlight slicing through some foliage, shadows, and reflections, which all added to the dimensionality.