The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I did not plan this shot. My wife and I were walking from Yosemite Village to our cabin in Curry Village and I only had my compact Sony RX100 with me. We took a trail I had never been on and it led to a bridge from which we saw this view. I thought it was stunning and photogenic because of having a foreground, midground and background, good light , and a leading line. I also hadn’t seen this view in a photograph before, so I hoped it was original.
Specific Feedback
Does the moving water in the foreground work? I can imagine a more pleasing foreground, but this is what I saw.
Is the white balance OK? There’s a lot of green in this image. Too much?
Technical Details
Sony RX100, handheld
1/160
f/7.1
10.4 mm
ISO 200
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Yosemite is iconic for a reason, right? These scenes are so magical.
The things I enjoy about this photo are the swirly water patterns and the color reflection of the spring foliage. The subtle light on the rock face is also a nice plus.
I’m usually not a big fan of trees emerging up into the horizon like this on the right and then the smaller one on the left, but if you’re gonna do it, do it with style like you did here with the bigger trees taking up some real estate. The smaller tree at left though is so close to the horizon that it draws some attention. I once read that horizons are one of the most powerful compositional elements because it is such a strong line, so when you put something that goes through it, you better want the viewer to look at that thing, if that makes sense.
Otherwise, I’m enjoying the moody skies here, a nice touch to be sure.
To answer your questions - the white balance feels good to me, but I’m wondering if the green saturation is maybe a bit much, try reducing it some?
Hi Ron, definitely a competitive subject matter here, we get lots of entries from this area so unless they’re ridiculously good, they tend not to progress to second rounds. I like the composition you’ve chosen here but I think there’s too much space at the top with those tall trees projecting into space.
My main issue isn’t really compositional though as the viewpoint is pleasing and the crop is generally nice. The biggest issue is the processing which I think is a bit heavy handed. The highlight recovery or masking and burning of the sky is too much and there’s a halo around the cliff top. The sense of aerial recession is lost because the area of cliff around the falls is quite ‘gritty’ in sharpness instead of fading to lower contrast as I would expect given the conditions (you can see evidence of the original contrast levels on the cliff at the very right edge behind the trees). I’d also be a bit more reserved with the yellow/green saturation of the trees as intense greens can really disturb the balance of a picture.
I’ve added a suggestd crop and treated it to reduce some of the grittiness and balance to the cliff and sky and reduce green/yellow saturation a little. I hope you don’t mind! (p.s. white balance is fine - you could go a little cooler but it’s not needed at all - I’ve done that in my sample though)
I enjoy the flow of the foreground leading to the left of the image and the waterfall; I think that composition works well. I agree with all the comments above, and really like @Tim_Parkin’s version.
Thanks all for your comments. Tim provided me with a new term - aerial recession. I think I know what that means but I’ll also look it up. Everyone seems to agree that the green is over-saturated. I’ll take that to heart. I’ve downloaded Tim’s revision and will study it. Thank you so much Tim for taking the trouble to create the revision.
Hey Ron,
Looks like you and your wife stumbled across a really beautiful scene there in Yosemite. You’ve got terrific light on the rock wall near Upper Yosemite Falls which is a great element as the falls should be what grabs the viewers eye. The Spring colors along the river banks are gorgeous and refreshing looking. You gotta love Spring. The water flow in the foreground is a little bit disrupting since the rest of the scene is so tranquil but really not a big deal. I much prefer the calmer section of water where the Spring colors are reflecting. The three tall vertical trees on the right disrupt the flow of this composition. They stick out like eye magnets. @Matt_Payne makes a really good point about horizons. I totally agree. Elements that are very close to the horizon or barely past the horizon also create a lot of tension. Those three trees on the left are going to get noticed but nothing like the trees on the right. I also agree with @Tim_Parkin regarding the processing. It’s too heavy handed. A little grungy and gritty. There is also that green/yellow cast mostly on the rock walls. I think Tim’s rework nails the colors and I prefer the crop to your original. It reduces the pull of the eye towards those three trees on the right.
I hope you don’t mind but I went a little bit different direction with the crop removing those trees altogether. I eliminated some of that fast moving water in the foreground and cropped out a little bit of sky. I didn’t touch the processing as I think Tim’s version is perfect. I’m not sure it’s your intention for the image but here it is.
