Nature's Graffiti

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

On the second morning of my trip I was focusing on trying to come away with some rock abstracts from the face of El Capitan. I posted two sets of panoramic images in Abstract category over the last couple of days. I poked around with a few other images I captured that morning and decided to take amore liberal artistic license with the colors. These tones are there in the rock, just very muted. However, with a little boost in vibrance and saturation, the colors just pop out like crazy. As I was playing with this image I was reminded of the work that Tony Kuyper used to post of the sandstone of the Colorado Plateau in Utah years ago. In any case I thought the color contrast of the Blue and Orange would make a good candidate for this weeks weekly challenge.

Specific Feedback

Are the colors too over the top? Do the colors help the composition?

Technical Details

Nikon D850, Nikon 80-200mm at 200mm f/4 MF lens, at f8, 1/100 sec ISO 100. Processed in ACR and PS. Some radical adjustments, but nothing color wise was pushed beyond 40% in vibrance or saturation.

Critique Template

Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.

  • Vision and Purpose:
  • Conceptual:
  • Emotional Impact and Mood:
  • Composition:
  • Balance and Visual Weight:
  • Depth and Dimension:
  • Color:
  • Lighting:
  • Processing:
  • Technical:
2

Youssef, my first thought on seeing this view was of Tony also… :grin: You’ve got a good mix of colors and shapes and a good lower left/upper right balance in this view. For me, since an abstract is not the same as showing nature as it is, boosting the colors is fine. I might try a slight desaturation also and compare the two to see which one provides the feeling that I like best.

3

Youssef: Works for me in every respect. I love looking for comps like this and your reference to Tony brought back fond memories. I also like that there is no hint of scale. Is this a tiny scene or a massive wall? The mystery is marvelous. :+1: :+1:>=))>

4

Hi Youssef, This image is quite lovely. The beautiful tones and the ambiguity of the scale work so well giving the eye plenty to explore and discover. Well seen and processed.

5

Youssef, I appreciate the concept of doing abstracts of geological subjects, having just published a portfolio of my own. It wasn’t too abstract to figure out what you were shooting, yet I really like the balance of colors, thinking it is OK to play with color. There is also a more abstract portion of your shot on the bottom right 1/3 of the image. I like how the vertical weather stains from the grey upper portion drop into the horizontal veins in the blue area. There is a nice “V” where the vertical lines come down, where it intersects the horizontal grey lines. It truly becomes abstract with the blue and gold colors only. Thanks for sharing.