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Technical Details
F11-20mm-30sec-iso100-ND
Specific Feedback
Te “darkness” of the rocks
Critique Template
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Hi Ulbe,
My initial reaction is moody and mysterious. The drama and atmospherics with that cloud laden sky is outstanding and I love the luminosity of the water; particularly the area around that main section of rocks. That little hint of warm tones in the clouds makes for another nice element in the scene. The sense of motion both in the sky and the water also works nicely here. My only suggestion; just my personal preference; would be a little crop from the sky. Lovely image.
Love the ethereal mood of this one, along with the colors. I agree with @Ed_Lowe suggestion to crop a bit off the sky, probably enough to give the water 1/3 of the frame and the sky the other 2/3. Seems more like it’s split into 1/4’s as-is. The rocks anchor the scene and it’s neat how the smaller rocks behind them guide my eye diagonally to the horizon and into that amazing sky. Lovely!
Thanks for posting this image. The long exposure, perhaps aided by ND-filters, means that the textures of the clouds and water are blurred. Given that the only things in the image that do not move are the rocks, only the outlines of the rocks are defined, whereas most of the image has an almost evenly blurred character. A sense of depth can be created by various means, but clarity of texture in the foreground is one of them. You might consider using a gradient filter in post production to enhance texture in the foreground, and/or a gradient filter to decrease texture in the background, in order work with the sense of depth.
Really enjoy looking at this image. Main thought on the image might be the crop. Maybe lose a few inches from the top to lessen the competition between the top of the sky and the water. Tighter would also have the clouds more closely mirroring the lines in the water and rocks. Nice flow through the image. I was thinking to say might have moved to the left a bit to get the rocks more centered under the clouds. But then I saw the small trail of other rocks, and agree with the spot you picked. Here’s might quick rough crop. Thanks for posting.
My initial thoughts echoed the moody/mysterious too. I really enjoy how the rocks anchor the image; they are a reality counterpoint to the ethereal mood of the rest of the image.
I too like the idea of a crop for balance, and @Leo_Catana’s idea to decrease texture in the sky.
Cold, windy, moody, Invigorating and a bit mysterious. I love the separation of the foreground water and the sky. It’s not often that you see bright foreground water and a dark sky but this really works well and provides high contrast. The sunrise/sunset colors in the sky add just the right amount of color drama but not enough to make it all about the clouds. The long exposure adds a very nice touch blur to both the water and the clouds creating lots of movement. Personally, I like to see a little n more texture in my water images and I think doing a blend of a shorter exposure for the water and a longer exposure for the clouds would have worked bring out that texture in the foreground water but this is also really immersive. I would also like to see some sky removed and I think @patrick6 crop really looks great. Your composition is very good. The clouds are nicely balanced, the rocks are centered well but I would just remove some of the top of the image.
Beautiful image. Indeed, it is very moody in a wonderful way. I will be the outlier and say that I prefer the uncropped version. It adds to the expansive sense that the photo illicits.
