Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I’m always fascinated by the ‘persistence of life.’ This image is of a tiny patch of growth on a nearly vertical canyon wall in the Colorado National Monument, taken with a long lens from across the canyon. The slope that the patch of juniper, sage and mountain mahogany(?) is growing on must have been at least 60 to 70 degrees. It’s clearly the fallen stones that have provided just enough soil and slowing of snow and water runoff for these plants to take root. The layered portion of the cliff above them was a true vertical section leading to the top of the canyon; below this perspective was another vertical stretch. I did enhance the reddish tones of the rock wall, but not very much – it’s such red sandstone naturally.
Specific Feedback
I’ve played with cropping to remove the layers above the plants, but haven’t been able to decide if I really like it. Would appreciate suggestions. I’ve also debated about trying to remove the slanted scrape mark caused by a falling rock just to the right of the taller juniper (it leads from the upper ‘step’ diagonally down to the baby juniper). It’s either a distraction, or it helps to tell the story of just how steep that location is.
Technical Details
Canon EOS 7D Mark II, ISO 250; f 11; 1/1000; 300mm with CPL
@Denise_Dethlefsen definitely story telling of the survival in the bit of foliage here. Always amazing how stuff can adapt to the harshest of environments. I’m sure you’re correct about the small stone barriers here and there in helping any runoff the foliage may enjoy… 
I think the lower half provides an image in itself… 
Hi Denise - Wonderful image. I love the red sandstone and the spareness of the landscape. I really like the strong horizontal lines at the top of the image, but I feel like they are pulling my attention away from the rocks and vegetation at the bottom of the image. I hope you don’t mind, but I downloaded the image and tried cropping off the top portion to see what it would look like:
Another thought I had would be a crop that includes only the top portion of the image, so that you would have the prominent horizontal lines with the small pile of rocks scattered below them. It would be a different image, but might also look interesting.
Denise, this is an interesting picture in terms of scale. How tall is the taller of the two trees? It looks like a miniature garden to me. I agree with @John_Kilgour about cropping the picture. You could almost crop in the middle. I have difficulty understanding the steepness of the rock leading up to the vertical wall.
Another vote for crops; I like what @John_Kilgour came up with.
@John_Kilgour, I like your crop, and I have to admit I hadn’t thought of the second crop you suggested. I tried it, and I do like it! Thanks for the suggestion.
@Barbara_Djordjevic, It was hard to judge the height of the tree since I was using a long lens across the canyon, but based on the sage below generally being a couple feet tall, my guess is about 6 feet. I’d also guess it’s considerably older than it looks – if we could core it, I wouldn’t be surprised to find it’s dozens of years old, with tiny, tiny rings.
I’ve added a couple reference images to provide a little better sense of scale and how vertical the wall is. The second image is in what is called Ute Canyon. As you can see, any tiny area that’s not totally vertical and that has cracks for roots becomes a mini forest. The shelf that’s full of little junipers is considerably flatter than the slope my “Rock Garden” was growing on; it was perhaps more like the slightly sloped area just above the dark desert varnish section. Literally the only way down to that patch of growth would be to rappel. I think the front lighting took away the visual distinction between the verticals and the subtle sloping.
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Thanks, Denise, for your additional explanation and the pictures. They make your rock garden even more remarkable.
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