The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I was shooting in the dawn light when the sun first rose over the horizon. What a difference in mood. I knew the light wouldn’t last for more than 15 minutes or so. I jumped on the first thing that looked inspiring.
Specific Feedback
The raw file produced greater contrast than I remembered. So I reduced it in postprocessing. Are the shadows too bright now?
Technical Details
GFX50R, 45-100mm, f/11, focus stacked
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Typical of most of your work, Igor, the composition of this piece has obviously been carefully considered. The light is, of course lovely as is the colour palette and gorgeous textures that are so beautifully accentuated by the side lighting. But it is the small details that take this to the next level - the use of shadow in the top right and left, the pile of rocks in the lower right that serve to hold the eye in the frame, and the opposing red curves top centre and mid centre. Lovely.
Hi @Igor_Doncov, I really like the composition, textures and tone of this image. But I have to agree with you that the shadows could be brought down a bit. Well seen.
Igor the low contrast in that beautiful light offers a great number of details, a pictorial look and a serene atmosphere for this reason I love the photo. I would clone the three bigger stones on the left side but if you have leaved them this means that you like them. So the photo is perfect as it is.
Igor: Beautiful light indeed and for me the shadows look good. I also like the little bit of mystery regarding the scale of this scene. If this was a large scene taken from a significant distance I would have expected f11 to be sufficient for full DOF. The fact that it’s stacked suggests this is a more intimate scene. Are these large rocks or pebbles? Regardless, well seen, composed and presented. >=))>
I really love the cool tones in shadow and the warm tones in light. I can feel the texture in this image. The rip in the rock in the top portion of the image and the bottom right portion of the rock really stand out to me. This is great because I have no sense of scale on this shot. The rocks/pebbles in the sand could be an inch in size or you could have had to climb over them on your stroll up the beach. There are two things that pull my eye and they are both on the left edge of the image. Particularly the large rock right in the middle of the left edge that is very dark. The smaller rock just beneath that rock also catches my eye. If you dodge both of them I think they will be far less noticeable. I took a stab at it but had to work around the frame with a mask so this is not ideal for sure.
Yu made great use of your 15 minutes of exceptional light.
Igor, the textures and tones in the sunlit wall are gorgeous. I do like the depth that the shadowed area adds and how it contrast with the sunlit area. I think its luminosity is about right. I do wonder about a slight reduction in blue for the shadows at the back.
I have been wondering about the same for some time now. At times it looks too blue and at times it seems right. Thank you for bringing it up. If I remove the blue the image loses its appeal so I have to decide whether to show it how I saw it or construct something beautiful. I usually opt for the second knowing that it’s a subjective choice and will be debated (as I’m debating with myself because I’m not on firm ground).
This is gorgeous – I love the beautiful light and the texture in the rock. The interplay of the light and shadow is also very nice and no, I don’t think that the shadows are too light.
The only tiny thing that bothers me are the two stones creeping in from the left in the middle of the frame though definitely not a deal breaker by any means.
I really appreciate when an image grows on me. The New York Times has had a 10-Minute Challenge going where they ask you to spend uninterrupted time looking at one piece of art, and it’s an interesting exercise.
This image evokes a feeling of how extreme the passage of time can be. The sand and pebbles are transient and in geologic scale fleeting, but the rock itself is ancient; it’s been around awhile.
I think the texture of the rock is critical to that, and I really enjoy it. When I view it large it hints at tiny fingers of flame running up an old tree.
The sinuous curve of the rock meeting the sand adds to the effect. The way it kind of disappears in that back left corner is excellent and is for me allegorical of that ancient time slipping away and disappearing in the past.
I also think the random, haphazard way the small rocks are strewn fits the vagaries of contemporary time, especially when contrasted with the “Nothing lasts forever but the mountains” of the rock wall above. The fact that the rocks are cut off doesn’t bug me at all here; that adds to the effect here today, but maybe gone tomorrow.
For some reason that I can’t elucidate that cluster in the bottom right corner is a cool anchor to the scene as a whole; I don’t think I’d like it as much if it weren’t there.
And finally, almost no need to mention it, the light is what makes it all special. It gives it both tone and color contrast, and adds a beauty that would otherwise not be there. Did you edit blue out of that back corner? If not, I certainly wouldn’t remove more.
Great vision!
