When I first picked up a camera, 3 1/2 years ago, all I really wanted was to be able to take a picture like this. A lot has changed since that time in terms of where I want to take my photography but I still can’t resist a shot like this. However, as I was working on it in post I kept wondering to myself - is this iconic or a cliche? I would really appreciate some feedback around this. Any feedback on composition or post processing would also be appreciated.
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Hey @Kerry_Gordon.
Amazing image. Who could resist to shot a scene like this? Not sure if I would change a thing, maybe and just maybe I would rise the shadows at those left isolated trees, but just a minor thing.
Thanks so much for sharing,
Cheers
Kerry, I have a soft spot for this type of image! I think the composition and processing are really on-point, however, I do find the vignette in the sky and on the right edge to be a bit distracting. It’s a bit of personal preference but in a shot like this I love to let the fog/mist fade out close to white at the edges of the frame, especially at the top. Since your light source is going to be above the main subject I have a hard time reconciling darker areas up above (and I think you lose the “fade into nothingness” effect).
Only other nitpick would be to lighten the left side of the trees just a bit.
I agree with the right edge. There is almost a vertical layer of almost homogeneous tone along the entire right side that struck me from the start as being unnatural.
The entire scene is very mood evocative but the bird adds a great deal to this image because it’s sharply defined with deep blacks and clear edges.
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@João_Ferrão, @Michael_Rung, @Igor_Doncov: Thank you all for taking the time to view and respond. I would like to share with you my thinking on approaching this image. Six months ago, I would have post processed this picture almost exactly as you have suggested, Michael – little or no vignette with an almost high key effect fading out to white around the edges of the frame – and, probably more clarity and texture overall. In fact, that was how I initially approached this. But I’ve been feeling in a bit of a rut with my landscapes and a need to experiment. Over the past six months or so, I’ve become very much enamored of the work of photographer, Keith Carter. Carter is not primarily a landscape photographer but, after fifty plus years as a professional photographer and teacher, he is regarded as a modern master. But that is neither here nor there. What has captivated me about Carter’s work is his whole approach to seeing. He works with his photographs, both behind the camera and in post, to establish something like how the eye actually perceives. So, he focuses on his central subject and then dramatically fades away from the centre, both in terms of luminosity and clarity (typically shooting hand-held and wide open) outward to the edge of the frame and then, typically enhancing the effect in post. What I have found so affecting about his photographs is the feeling I get when I’m looking at one of them, that I’m somehow seeing one of my own barely remembered dreams. It is an eerie effect, certainly, not “natural,” but one that I find deeply moving and very compelling. Clearly, I am not Keith Carter and I don’t really want to copy his photographs but what I am trying to do in this image is capture that same sense of “the half-remembered dream.” Whether or not I have been successful is, of course, entirely up for question. In a month or a year, I may very well come back to this image and wonder, “what was I thinking!” But, with this, right now, my main concern is attempting to create the half-remembered dream experience that I spoke of. Perhaps, the vignetting on the right is so off-putting that it undermines my attempt. And I will give that careful consideration. But, although I realize there is a reason why conventions and rules exist, these days I am feeling trapped by them and am trying, both in what I choose as subjects and how I work with images in post, to explore other possibilities that feel resonant to me or, at least take me in a different, less expected direction. This image is one of those. But I freely admit that my attempts may not hit the mark in the least. Thanks for listening.
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To me this type of image remains very appealing, no matter how many versions of it are existing in the world. It’s not a novelty, but beautiful all the same. I’ll not get tired of a good, foggy, minimalistic, well composed image like this one.
Grt, Ingrid.
Thank you, Ingrid, that is very kind. My computer crashed horribly and this image was lost when I had to wipe my hard drive. That turned out to be a good thing since I went back and post processed it again from scratch. The new version isn’t that much different but I like it a lot more.
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Kerry, I love the composition and the tonality of the water, but the blur vignette in the background still seems heavy to me. Still, it’s a very moody, and nice image.
-P