The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical
About This Image
Visiting Greenland National Park was unlike any other cruise I have taken. We only visited one village, and the rest of the trip was dedicated to hiking and sighting so many icebergs - some larger than a condominium! I marvel at these temporal designs, shaped by the wind and sea. I wanted to see this part of the world before climate change before the permafrost and glaciers melt.
Feedback Requested
I’d like to know if others felt I did too much burning in the ULC of this image or if they have any different ideas for cropping.
Technical Details
Camera: NIKON Z 7
Lens: NIKKOR Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/200s
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 64
I’ve never been there Laura… but I have photographed a good number of glaciers . What made you decide to make the photograph a black and white? Is the glacier in this case white or are there some blues in the glacier?
You make want to reduce the whites a bit to bring out some of the details on the face of the glacier.
Without the foreground, it would be mistaken for a shot of the Badlands of South Dakota. I think the ULC is too dark. Perhaps lighten it a bit. Maybe a little CCW rotation, or is it just my old eyes that make it appear that the water line is higher on the left?
Laura: Like @Jim_Gavin my first glance impression was “Badlands”. Noting the reflective FG revealed the glacier instead. My conventional mind doesn’t connect glaciers and a foreboding mood so the dark presentation doesn’t work great for me. Boosting the overall exposure a full stop still doesn’t blow the whites and brings out some details in the ice face.
On a separate issue, when you post full size images the site automatically downsizes it and you will lose a lot of the detail you may want to present. Site guidelines recommend images be sized to 2000 pixels on the long side. The Posting Guidelines don’t specify a total file size but I’ve found that keeping the file below 3Mp doesn’t trigger any site intervention and the images post as I’ve processed them. Hope this helps and I certainly envy you the experience and hope to see more from Greenland. >=))>
I did shoot many of the icebergs in colour, particularly if there was a striking vein of colour. In this case, I wanted to render it in bnw so that it would resemble a village of icebergs, focusing attention on patterns, textures, shapes. I will do a re-edit of the image with the exposure bumped a bit in the darkest part of the image. Thanks for your input!
I like the way you bumped up the exposure. Thanks for the suggestions. Also, I appreciate the tip about posting images. As you can see from my gallery, I’m an infrequent visitor, alas. I still fill like a newbie.
I liked the way you bumped up the exposure at the top. Thanks for the tip. I appreciate the tip for posting images. Though I’ve been on the site for over a year, I’ve posted so infrequently, I still feel like a newbie
Laura, going to b&w does a great job of letting the shapes and textures dominate the view. Yes, both top corners are a bit dark. The only time the shoreline will be flat across the frame is if the camera was perpendicular to the shore, otherwise the rules for translating a 3D view into a 2D image require the “flat” to angle across the frame…think about (or even try) photographing a counter top.
Like others, I imagined this to be a desert scene, so to learn it was a glacier is even more special. The shapes look like a backward glance at a procession of hooded monks.
I have seen in your portfolio a number of coloured images of ice which I like. Would you consider posting a colour version? I like @Bill_Fach 's idea, but wouldn’t go that far.
I also wonder if you might crop the sky and the water off? Maybe a cool change in temperature?
I like the image very much, and it’s well worth the effort to experiment.
