Sharing another image from my recent Sierra backpack. Seeking a foreground element I was attracted to several spots where the lake was beginning to melt out. I took a number of compositions but think I like this wider view that included some prominent trees. Comments, critiques always appreciated.
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Great image Dave! I like the inclusion of the trees they work well with the foreground to lead your eye up through the scene. The reflection of the mountain and clouds in there is a nice bonus. The only small nit I have is the reflection of the mountain seems to have a bit too much cyan for my taste.
Nice foreground line indeed, and those clouds are perfect! I like how they create another swirly line. And the reflection of the mountain in the water is a great extra touch.
Some minor things I can think of: The shadows in the trees in the mg seem a bit āheavyā to me, I wonder what they will look like with the blackpoint lifted a bit. The very fg shows some of the pinkish orange tones from the sky, and I would try to maybe emphasize that a little bit more, keeping the blues in the shades?
Real nice scene, Dave. The sky color in the reflection looks off to me, too light and too cyan? Otherwise, the processing looks good and so does the image.
Dave, I love the visual flow here. The cloud line from the top left corner and the crack in the ice in the foreground really leads the eyes here and the pine trees (somekind of a bristlecone?) on the right act as a stopper. This is a very difficult light to work with but you have managed to get a very nice tonality. I agree with @Ron_Jansen to bring up a little bit of the shadow in the trees, but not too much.
Dave this is a very dramatic scene, and I love the composition, you made great use of the lines and shapes in the snow. I also like the tripod height that you shot from, it really showcases the pool and reflection. I too agree with the otherās comments about the strange colors in the pool and lifting shadows in the trees.
One thing puzzles me though, with that much yellow color in the clouds, i would have thought you would see more of that color appear as reflected light in the snow, or at least the highlights in the snow. I think the color in the pool and snow needs some tweaking, to add some more vitality. This light and composition are so strong, I think some rework of the color in the snow would elevate this image even further.
@David_Nilsen, @Ron_Jansen, @Harley_Goldman, @Adhika_Lie, @Ed_McGuirk, Thanks for the helpful comments/suggestions. Never seems to amaze me that I can overlook āissuesā and then have them seem so obvious when pointed out. Anyway, The cyan color in the pool was naturally occurring color of the meltwater but I pulled it back some. I also darkened the reflection and raised the luminance of the background trees.
@Ed_McGuirk, @Ron_Jansen, thanks for the thought on the snow color. I went back to the raw and pushed the sat to 100 to see if I could pick up any reds/yellows in the snow highlights but they donāt seem to be in the file.
There is purple in the snow throughout, not highlighted. Perhaps thatās what theyāre seeing. Lately Iāve been critical of singular (not massive clouds) clouds that go off the frame. Since nobody else seems to mind Iām wondering if Iām on the right track with that. I am now looking for that in my compositions. In this case I would like for there to be some blue instead of the frame around that cloud.
Dave,
Beautiful high Sierra āearly summerā landscape. I was suspecting the water in the pool was of the glacial run-off of aqua-blue, and so that does explain the color shift in the water. The repost just looks more natural.
I was wondering if it was possible to literally get right on top of the bottom of that pool rather than including all that semi-melted snow. The reflection is killer and it would have been nice to be closer and have it more prominent. But of course I was there and what you chose works just beautifully too.
Iām fine with the clouds (the colors and glow are awesome) To Igors question, at least for this image, the clouds occupy about 50% of the sky and so with that, I think itās quite natural that some of the clouds will go out of frame.
I like the repost quite a lot!
Lon
Igor, you raise an interesting question with this issue. When shooting in the field I try to leave blue space around singular clouds where possible. In fact in this recent post of mine, I got a suggestion for rework along those lines, and I think cropping to remove a clipped cloud helped
In @Dave_Dillemuth image here, the clouds did not bother me at first, but after seeing your comment/question, I can see the point you are raising about the cloud in the ULC. I think there are two things about it that make me pause a little.
First the cloud goes right out of the corner of the frame, and lines leading out to corners can sometimes bother me. This issue sounds like it is related to your concern. Second, to me the ULC cloud feels like it has a lot more visual weight than the clouds in the center, so some folks could argue that is unbalanced (some might not). This issue is probably not related to your concern. In Daveās image, these things are not a major concern to me, but perhaps a very slight crop from the top would help mitigate these concerns.
However, in general, I think you raise a valid issue. In most cases I like to leave some breathing room around important compositional elements, such as clouds. So itās something to be aware of and think about, I think it often will make sense to do, and it leaves leeway for cropping too.
It must be so annoying to a landscape photographer. After climbing miles to get to a great spot and then getting up at predawn for the perfect light I have to deal with clouds being perfectly aligned for my composition. Itās enough to make you want to quit the whole profession. And then the heavens parted and we got Lightroom (Photoshop doesnāt sound Biblical enough).
@Igor_Doncov, @Ed_McGuirk, thanks for the interesting and thoughtful comments. In general I agree with Igorās comments on cloud positioning. I try to be mindful of this but sometimes the sky gods are not agreeable. I do have versions of this image with the complete cloud formations included but they resulted in 50:50 sky/land ratios that presented other compositional issues.
ā¦ and yes it can sometime be a bit frustrating but the infrequency that everything lines up keeps the pursuit interesting.
This is a lovely alpine scene,Dave. The combination of warm and cool tones works beautifully as does that wonderful reflection of the mountain and clouds in the meltwater. The couple of tweaks you made with the repost have sealed the deal for me. I also like that lead in line in the snow along with the textures and blue tones. Just a great looking image!
Really nice capture Dave, and complete magic with the repost. I really just wanted to comment, as a new member at NPN, that this wholeheartedly honest critique and kind conversation is so wonderfully refreshing. I learned so much from this short conversation. Of course, I now need to reconsider my singular clouds that almost always extend beyond a comp or crop. Not sure I agree, but itās definitely something I will consider now.