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Questions to guide your feedback
What does this remind you of?
How does it make you feel?
Other Information
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Image Description
I haven’t been doing much photography lately (long story better suited to the discussion forum), but I frequently walk my dog along the Alameda Ridge above the Rose City Golf Course in Portland.
I always find myself thinking about George Seurat when I see these trees with heavy shade beneath them. His painting “A Sunday Afternoon the the Island of La Grande Jatte” has highly stylized trees, and though this shot has no people in it, I feel like the park’s variety of specimen trees evokes this kind of impressionistic scene.
So, I decided to go back without the dog and see if I could create that feeling. It’s a little left-heavy, but I had trouble not intersecting the frame. I do have another version with a longer focal length focusing on middle of the image.
Technical Details
35mm
f/14
1/80s
LR for contrast reduction, texture reduction (haven’t played with new lens blur tools), and various LR filters to reduce sky exposure and increase depth of shadow under trees
Specific Feedback
Does this vaguely evoke the aesthetics of an impressionistic painting?
Is it too gimmicky?
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
This is an interesting image. I enjoy the elements, composition and colors, but to my eye it appears more AI-like than impressionistic. That isn’t a critique, just an observation. Those foreground trees leaning at angles are wodnerful. The three primary conical shaped trees are great too and they lend a sense of depth. I do wonder if a crop from the right, close to the edge of the brighter green tree at right, might create a little more balance. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Bret. I hadn’t thought of the AI effect, since I shot it and then merely de-textured it. It will be interesting to see what others think. It’s certainly not pointillist, so that probably impacts any association with impressionism or Seurat.
Here is another version, cropped from the right a good bit.
Great to see a post from you. I find this kind of pleasant and peaceful. those little leaning trees give what is more a static image, some dynamic and engaging elements.
Total transparency here, my very first impression was also “AI” - before Bret even posted his comment. No doubt “de-texturing” is probably what is causing the impression. I only mentioned because my FB feed is just littered with AI images and over a brief period of time (this year it seems) the images are so prevalent and anyone paying attention can spot them right away.
Of course that’s not to say that yours is “AI” - and I might be offended if someone ever told me my images were AI generated… but it has the look… I’ve no doubt this was NOT your intention!
As a landscape image, I really like the mix of trees, evergreen to deciduous and your colors/saturation are done quite nicely. The sky is a lovely compliment/addition to the scene.
I think perhaps the green grass that has been “de-textured” is probably contributing to the AI look more than anything.
Maybe others won’t see this the same way. I sure hope so.
When I first opened this I thought it might be a photo of pencil art but then I noticed that there was almost no texture in the image so I got the feeling that you had purposefully de-textured (is that a word) the image in hopes of portraying a certain style of art. I absolutely love the whimsical smaller foreground trees in amongst those ramrod straight cylindrical trees spaced out almost perfectly and declining in height across the image from left to right.
I do think I like your cropped version better because it has a slightly better composition. You have a lovely sky that looks painterly to me and is perfect for this scene.
The more I look at this the more I think about claymation like in Gumby, the old claymation cartoon with Pokey the horse. It has that sense, that feeling to me. I don’t mean that in a bad way either. I think this is extremely creative. Well done Marylynne!!!
What a strange response to this photo that I am experiencing. It is so vibrant and full of light that it should make me feel happy but rather I am feeling quite sad and melancholic. Such a deep feeling of loneliness.
It’s a wonderful composition and perfectly exposed. I have no suggestions. And the title is spot on.
Hi Marylynne,
I love the diagonal lean of those four trees in the FG and the way they contrast with the vertical lines of the trees directly behind them. I think your rework with a little crop from the right was perfect for making them the star of the show. They just seem to have so much character and they deserve to be the star here. The clouds also work well and make this a very inviting scene. I would be curious to see the original with out the de- texture effect for comparison. Nicely done.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I do have another version, cropped even further, and with less of the flat animation/ai effect applied. There is a little texture reduction here, but not nearly as much.
Here is that one for your continued feedback. I might take a really direct pointillist approach to one of these, but as this is a different crop altogether, I thought I would throw it into the mix and get feedback on the greater focus it offers on the three leaning trees.
