As I was walking along a dried creek bed at a nature center near my house, I imagined what I could do with these, drab, lifeless twigs and leaves that were half-submerged in the mud. It was the first time that I clearly “saw” the photograph in my mind before I took it and was able to create what I envisioned. It was when I first understood the term “making a photograph” rather than taking one. What could we create out of the drab, lifeless world that we find around us if we could learn to “see” what is not seen and bring it into existence?
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
I have spent several years immersed in the technical aspects of photography. This is a departure away from that. If felt freeing to break away from the rules and “how it should be done” and create something conceptual and emotional. This is the area that I want o grow in with my photography this year.
Hi Carrie, it’s great to see your wonderful image. I love what you said about making a photograph and seeing the image before recording it. That is significant! It means growth and the path to creativity and self expression. Learning the technical aspects of photography helps create a solid foundation upon which we can then explore and create.
Aesthetic:
I love the colors combined with the patterns in the branch. The dark branches add so much visual interest and the leaves with their colors hep elevate the image to be more than it appears. Just a recommendation on the composition if you don’t mind. Did you consider cropping in so that the bottom of the branch is right up against the bottom edge of the frame? I think this would help reinforce the story and concept of the image.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
The concept and message of the image is strong. The colors to me mean life and light. The branches mean connections.
Emotional:
I think you’ve done a great job at recording something that has a beautiful story to tell and one that expresses more about you. Well done! Please continue looking at the natural world with curiosity and looking beyond the literal.
This is really eye-catching, Carrie. The many colors are pretty. What is even more catching of my eye is the luminance of the colors and also of the white textured background. It almost seems like there is some light source behind this image. In fact, the scene looks like backlit stained glass! Super catch!
Welcome back. WOW! This is an outstanding photography. So lively, creative… and I must say one of the best examples I’ve seen in a long time where one could describe a photography as “like a painting”. I could see this hanging in a gallery!
Agree with Alfredo, Love what you’ve written here. Congrats as that is a huge milestone. And now the journey should continue taking you down the path of “seeing” and not just “taking” images.
This is really great and I think you did a really fine job with it. I agree with you, sometimes you just have to break away from the rules and do something you want to do, what ever that this. Here, I like the bright vivid colours and the almost metallic sheen and looking at your image makes me feel happy!
Hi Carrie, this is so dang cool. I love it. I’ve been taking photos for close to 50 years and still find it hard to see the photograph in my mind. Happens a few times but not often. I congratulate you on this excellent image and the kicking processing. Wow.
This is so beautiful. It reminds me of those stained glass windows they had in Catholic cathedrals growing up. I would label this as art rather than an abstract though.
Thank you so much for your encouragement! I’m sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but I am just learning to navigate my way around NPN! I totally agree on the suggestion regarding the crop at the bottom. I looked at your images online and they are breathtaking. Thanks again for taking the encouragement to “break the rules” sometimes!
Someone else suggested that this resembles stained glass art and I echo that. It’s lovely. The colors, the composition and the subtle textures all combine to create a wonderful photograph.
Thank you Carrie! I’m happy to hear that enjoyed my work. Please feel free to ask me any questions on navigating around NPN. I hope you share more work soon.
Thanks for posting, I will add to the kudos, a very engaging and beautiful photo. I would love to hear more about your process, the colours are so vivid I wonder did you saturate them or add colour? And the mud is almost metallic and peppered with colours. Very fascinating and effective. I hope you don’t mind but I was tempted to download and play with it a bit by cropping in a bit on each side (it seems to lose focus on the edges?) and pull down the highlights and whites to get a more even luminosity, and add a smidge of contrast. I am not sure I like the tighter crop but I find the more even luminosity maybe helps. Just some ideas to play with. Thanks for sharing. Love this image.
Carrie, Welcome back. I look forward to seeing more of the images you “make.” I fully agree with @Alfredo_Mora’s comments. Your comment about seeing and “envisioning” an image is what we all strive to continually improve. I just watched Cole Thompson’s webinar on NPN from last March about black and white photography – but it’s really about finding and following one’s vision. It’s over an hour in length, but worth the time. You have a wonderful intimate landscape here. It’s unusual to find background and leaf colors like this, and the branch does pull them together and unify them.
Wonderful image Carrie. Beautiful colour combination with the specs of orange against that vibrant green. I would crop some of the bottom, up to or just before the main branch. This would help to balance the overall flow. Right now, the colourful circular area tends to compete with the other areas. I would love to see this as a print.
Thank you Charles. I wish that I had documented all of the steps in post-processing, but I just kept moving sliders until I liked what I saw! I definitely upped the saturation on the leaves as I wanted them to have an other-worldly look. I did not crop the bottom of the branch to give the impression that the image was “disconnected” from reality. I like that crop that you did to the edges and will experiment some more with pulling down the highlights. There is almost a soft glow to the background that I like. Thanks for you feedback!
Hi Larry,
Thanks for the input. I will definitely look at Cole Thompson’s webinar. I love black and white and am always wanting to learn more about following vision. Good suggestions!
