Lone Soldier

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
1

Lone Soldier
Lone Soldier2000×1333 372 KB

As of late I have been fine tuning my “photographic vision” to find smaller scenes in the bigger landscape, especially ones that have a single element that stands out. I noticed this lone tree near the ridge above me as I was recently driving along a road in the backcountry of California. I did a black and white conversion of the raw file and brought out the whites in the already overcast sky to give the image more of a high key look.

Type of Critique Requested

  • Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
  • Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
  • Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
  • Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

I think this image works as a minimalist portrayal of the landscape, and has a better feel to it without the distraction of color. Any particular advice on the composition and processing would be welcome.

Technical Details

Canon R7, RF 100-400mm lens @400mm
1/160sec, f/8.0, ISO 100

2

Hi Ted,
what a nice image. Great that you discovered this little scene in the vast landscape.
I love these diagonal lines created by the hills.

In my opinion, the image could benefit from a little bit more contrast in the foreground to emphasize the light on the hills.

I have made a few subtle adjustments here:

  1. adding some contrast to the hills
  2. adding a subtle vignette to the foreground
  3. cloned out some little rocks

Edit
Edit2000×1333 545 KB

I’m not that black-and-white conversion specialist. I hope these adjustments make sense to you.

Again, very nice image. Would love to see more pictures of this landscape.

2 Likes
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Ted, nicely seen. This is a terrific intimate scene. I like the B&W processing too. I wouldn’t change a thing. Awesome.

1 Like
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I like finding these, too. The angles and textures in the ground are interesting and set the tree off well. I wonder how it would present with a horizontal flip? Folks who read left to right often have a better connection to images that also read that way. Jens’s processing gave it a bit more intensity and focus, so you could certainly add that to the mix if you decide to re-edit. A touch more sky on top wouldn’t go amiss. If you don’t have it in camera, CAF and add canvas in Photoshop will get it done.

1 Like
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Ted,

I really like what you’ve framed here. I love finding these lone trees and have scoured the CA countryside many times in search of these gems too.

I like these in color when there’s a clear blue sky and white puffy clouds and the spring greens on the hills - but wise choice to go with the b&w when there’s an ugly gray overcast.

I really like the edit by Jens. The extra contrast adds to the starkness and lonliness of tree. And I like the slightly brighter sky. I also like the flow of the composition. This has a left to right flow as Kris brings up, but flipping in my mind removes that flow. It’s interesting how we all see and read things.

Makes me want to head out on the road - it’s that time of year in the CA foothills!

Lon

1 Like
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Thanks Lon. Yes, it’s a great time of year to be exploring California.

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Ted, I like this image a lot and I think your choice for B&W serves this type of image very well. Just a minor issue and a matter of personal opinion but I would have liked to have a tad of more space between the tree and the upper border. Below is an example, I also adjusted slightly contranst and tone. The image works well as is and I am looking forward to see more of this tyoe of images in the future.

3Q3A3986_adjust
3Q3A3986_adjust2048×1365 682 KB