Looking Up

[raven]

In the summer just laying on the porch looking up at the clouds and the bamboo leaves overhead.

Specific Feedback Requested

Technical Details

Took with my phone.
Is this a composite: No

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Hi Raven and welcome to NPN. I do the same thing on my porch only it’s maple trees over my head. I like the different shapes and the clouds against the blue sky are great, too. The processing is a little harsh though. Very crispy and contrasty (sky is too dark) the whites are blown out. Did you apply a filter setting to your shot before processing or did you just let the phone take the shot? Depending on your phone and software, you can avoid this in the first place or correct it in the second.

Is the phone your only camera?

[Ed_McGuirk]

Welcome to NPN Raven, thanks for sharing your image with us. Clouds like these are hard to resist, and I can see why you are attracted to this scene.

Layering one strong pattern shapes on top of another can sometimes create a busy look, but I think your concept works here because the pattern of leaves has strong colors and saturation, so you get some separation of one pattern from the other pattern (the clouds).

I do agree with @Kris_Smith comment about the processing. A viewers eyes generally get drawn to the brightest part of the scene. In this case that means the viewer gets pulled to the blown out whites (especially in the bottom half), rather than to the leaves where you want the viewer to look. You could try recovering some of those blown highlights using a local adjustment. But you may also want to consider an alternative crop, by removing the bottom half of the image where the whites are the most blown out. The pattern of the leaves is also strongest in the top half of the image.

[Igor_Doncov]

Welcome to NPN Raven. This is a fairly creative image. For some reason I feel that the leaves should come up from the bottom rather than the side. No, that doesn’t look right either. I guess it’s this strange juxtaposition of the fg over the bg that makes this image intriguing. As others have stated, there are some technical issues. Cellular phones are difficult to control and even predict what you will end up with. Mine takes really contrasty images and in trying to compensate for a wide dynamic range comes up with unnatural images.

[raven]

@Kris_Smith

…d the clouds against the blue sky are great, too. The processing is a little harsh though. Very crispy and contrasty (sky is too dark) the whites are blown out. Did you apply a filter setting to your shot before processing or did you just let the phone take the shot? Depending on your phone and software, you can avoid this in the first place or correct it in the second.Is the phone your only camera?

Thanks for the welcome @Kris_Smith . I tried doing some adjustments to tame down the sky and the clouds a bit. It kind of ended up almost looking like a black and white. Yes, for now I just have a phone. At least I can try working on composition.

[raven]

@Ed_McGuirk

…lown out whites (especially in the bottom half), rather than to the leaves where you want the viewer to look. You could try recovering some of those blown highlights using a local adjustment. But you may also want to consider an alternative crop, by removing the bottom half of the image where the whites are the most blown out. The pattern of the leaves is also strongest in the top half of the image.

Thank you for your feedback. I really appreciate it @Ed_McGuirk . As I mentioned to Kris I went back in and tried to bring down the brightness and saturation. I’m not sure, maybe I should go black and white…

[raven]

@Igor_Doncov

…the side. No, that doesn’t look right either. I guess it’s this strange juxtaposition of the fg over the bg that makes this image intriguing. As others have stated, there are some technical issues. Cellular phones are difficult to control and even predict what you will end up with. Mine takes really contrasty images and in trying to compensate for a wide dynamic range comes up with unnatural images.

Thanks for looking and your comments @Igor_Doncov . I’m trying to work on composition of things that I see and like. So maybe I should try for black and white? I don’t know. Thanks for the welcome too.