The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
I like the way the light is streaming through and hitting the trees and the grass. Not sure if some of the branches are too bright.
Creative direction
I really love doing ICM photography. And just want to improve in it. I’m hoping this captures the feel of a quiet morning as the sun starts to light up the day.
Specific Feedback
All feedback is appreciated!
Technical Details
Nikon D3400, ISO 100, f29, 300mm (450 equivalent), 1/5s. Handheld with a quick down and up motion. Adjusted highlights, contrast, brightness, shadows in Pixelmator Photo on my iPad.
Description
I was on my morning bike ride, thankfully it was my day off, and I stopped to take pictures of some poppies. As I was moving around I noticed this stand of trees a little ways off being lit up by the sun coming up. First I tried a few traditional shot’s but wasn’t liking them so ended up doing a bunch of ICM shots. I feel like ICM does better at expressing what I saw and how it made me feel.
I really appreciate the description about why you chose to shoot a few ICM images and how that approach would help to convey the feeling you had when you saw that scene.
I feel like your sentence opened my eyes about ICM photography.
There have been so many times when I’ve tried to use conventional photographs to convey a feeling, some have been enhanced via Ps filters and other simple treatments to help achieve that as much as possible but I never thought about going farther than that.
Thank you for mentioning the “why” part of your approach.
I’m sure that the goal in some ICM photography is primarily for the “Pretty Picture” with no concern for conveying a specific emotion other than “Joyful” or “Peaceful”, etc…
With the above in mind, I find this image very compelling and effective, I think I can imagine the feeling you had when you first spotted this scene, if it’s anything close to feelings I’ve had when I first noticed a scene that made me think “Oh Wow, check this out, I need to capture this!!”, then I think I understand.
I’m sure this type of description has been written before and probably many times but I am likely guilty of not paying enough attention until now
I may be way off base with this but I kind of feel like an early morning scene where the sun is just starting to light up the day might be better presented with slightly milder or softer brightness and perhaps just a very slight touch of WB warming, especially with the light hitting the grass and trees from the side the way it is here.
However, the slightly warmer and slightly darker idea mentioned might not be as effective at conveying the feeling you’re trying to convey?
Hi Vanessa: As soon as I laid eyes on this image, I felt the vibe of a quiet morning in early morning light. Your process is not unlike others who, when not getting what they want from a single shot, move to ICM for a more creative interpretation (including me). The subject is full frame w/ soft , even morning light. And even more impressive is the composition where you separated the trees, avoiding blocked up areas, which can happen when moving the camera over the scene. It may seem normal to pump up the contrast, but in this case I would consider pulling contrast back a bit to slightly open up the darker areas in the scene, or I should say the darker areas of the trees. There is, however, a few bright areas to consider toning down, the main one being at an opening between trees at the upper portion of the frame. Try lowering highlights to -40+/-. Aside from that, this is an evocative image of "a quiet morning as the sun starts to light up the day. " Well done!
Thank you, @Merv for your feedback and thoughts as always! I’m glad also that my description makes you see ICM in a different way! I’ll be on the lookout for your images in the future! I tried working with the scene as suggested by you and Tony. I posted it…
Hello @Tony_Sweet ! Thank you, so much for taking the time to look at and critique my and everyones images! I really have enjoyed reading your feedback and suggestions on all the images. It really helps me learn a lot! I did what you suggested with the highlights and also adjusted to less contrast. I think it is improved. I posted it. I’m especially pleased that you got the feeling from it that I was wanting to convey! Thanks again for your help and time, it’s much appreciated!
This grabbed my attention right away from the thumbnail, and the larger size was even better – I think this is wonderful, and definitely conveys a peaceful early morning with the trees basking in soft sunlight. It was a lovely idea to try ICM! I’m inspired to think of it on a trip I’m about to embark on.
Hi @Diane_Miller ! I’m glad you think it works and that you will be incorporating ICM in your trip! It makes taking photos so much more fun, in my opinion!
I may be way off base with my thoughts on the edit, I really like the original version with the exception of the bright highlights and maybe the color temperature. I didn’t really think about the red in the trees trunks as overly done but Tony’s comment about that made sense.
I feel that the contrast on the tree trunks is good idea and I feel the highlights in the upper portion are too much.
My idea of still conveying the feeling that we spoke of and to tweak the image for aesthetics is to reduce the contrast in the tree trunks, reduce the exposure and contrast in the highlights in the upper portion and add a slight amount of warming but leave the contrast pretty much as is was throughput the rest off the image.
I just don’t feel that trying to be more precise at representing the scene in a way that makes more sense is the way to go, it’s more about conveying a feeling than representing the scene (to me anyway).
As I said, I may be way off and it may not align with your thoughts, so please feel free to disregard the example edit below.
I would be happy to provide details on the edit but so many people are using the TK plug-in or a variant of it and I still don’t, I’m still doing things the hard way
Hi @Merv I like what you did and honestly going back to my rework, I don’t like it at all! Actually if I had to choose between the two my original seems better. But I like your rework the best. I think a big thing that’s holding me back is not having the right processing equipment. I don’t have Lightroom or Photoshop which I know is what most everyone uses. I have an iPad and I use Pixelmator Photo which was designed for iPad. But a big drawback is that you can’t make any local adjustments. So basically when I adjusted highlights or contrast or anything it adjusts the whole image. Which is why I really appreciate advice about what I should have done with my camera settings in the first place. It seems though that sometimes that still isn’t always enough. It seems like everyone still always has to tweak things in post. But still I appreciate knowing what I would need to do if I could! And it’s my goal to one day have the right equipment for that and to learn how to use it! Thank you so much for taking the time to show me!
Wow, Vanessa, I’m really impressed that you are being so deliberate with capturing the bulk of the details and effects “In-camera” with minimal editing!
I try to do as much as possible in-camera but I’ve always enjoyed exploring possible enhancements and admittedly many of those enhancements are local and targeted.
I wanted to be able to draw and paint when I was young but I just didn’t have what it takes, but, when I discovered Ps in the late 1990s, suddenly my artistic side was possible to a degree.
That said, I still wanted to maintain the original scene since it was captured with film (scanned 35mm film).
By the early 2000s my realized artistic outlet was creating composites and back then creating composites were a real challenge, Ps only had very basic editing tools and I never dreamed of AI like we have today. I still tend to do things the hard way by manually cloning and blending.
Hats off to you, Vanessa for producing such fine images with minimal editing!!
That is a real art in and of itself!!
Actually if I had to choose between the two my original seems better. But I like your rework the best. I think a big thing that’s holding me back is not having the right processing equipment. I don’t have Lightroom or Photoshop which I know is what most everyone uses. I have an iPad and I use Pixelmator Photo which was designed for iPad. But a big drawback is that you can’t make any local adjustments. So basically when I adjusted highlights or contrast or anything it adjusts the whole image. Which is why I really appreciate advice about what I should have done with my camera settings in the first place. It seems though that sometimes that still isn’t always enough. It seems like everyone still always has to tweak things in post. But still I appreciate knowing what I would need to do if I could! And it’s my goal to one day have the right equipment for that and to learn how to use it! Thank you so much for taking the time to show me!