The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
I really like the idea of this plant under the waters surface. I think the plant works but I am wondering what can I do with the water surface? Should I make it less obvious or more? I feel like I almost have the vision but curious if there are some slight fixes I can do to make this a little more complete. I would love to hear some of your suggestions.
Creative direction
Abstract, almost like a painting. Since it is a plant that grows under water it is coming to the surface. However my first impression when I got home after taking this picture was that the plant was drowning and it is just under the surface and it is so close to the open air but something is keeping it under.
Specific Feedback
I am just wondering if this editing works or if there’s something more I can do. There’s actually not much editing to this picture to be honest.
Technical Details
171 mm
1/3200
f/13
ISO 4000
Sony a7iv, Tamron 50mm-400mm
Description
This summer I spent some time taking pictures of water. I love the water’s surface and the patterns that present themselves depending on the lighting. This plant was just lying under the surface and I just felt the need to take the picture. I just took a look at it yesterday. It has been two months since I took this picture and I just wanted to try and work with it.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Vision and Purpose:
Conceptual:
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Hi Rikki This image caught my attention this morning. I appreciate you capturing this plant under the water. Good Eye. I love this style of photography. Maybe some more contrast … A beautiful abstract idea. Really nice !!!
Create a B&W adjustment layer above the Background layer.
Set the blending mode of the B&W layer to “Luminosity”.
You can then adjust the brightness of the yellows and greens independently.
You can also open the RAW file in Camera Raw and use the Color Mixer set to Luminance to achieve a similar result. I do not know if Light Room has a similar capability, since I do not use it.
It’s a cool image and worth the effort to refine it.
-P
Rikki, I like this and I agree with Gill and Preston. I copied your image, applied a levels layer and set the white and black points. Just doing that added quite a bit of contrast.
Very interesting find! I would have thought it was a double exposure. (Nature’s double exposure, I guess!) I think @Gill_Vanderlip and @Preston_Birdwell have a good suggestion and I like what @Don_Peters has done in that regard. I wonder about masking out part of that change in the UL to give the contrast punch to more of a diagonal that encompasses the plant.
Thank you @Gill_Vanderlip@Preston_Birdwell@Don_Peters and @Diane_Miller . I do agree a little more contrast will do the trick, maybe something inbetween of what has been suggest. I thank you so much for taking the time to give me your feedback. and even showing me what you imagined. Have a beautiful day.
Hi Rikki. Lots of other people beat me to the contrast suggestion, though I did it in LR with the Dehaze slider. Not as elegant in terms of separating the greens. I’d also suggest taking a bit off the left as it feels a little unbalanced to me. A very nice find and I like your vision.
Thanks everyone. I took your suggestions in mind and came up with this. Being an abstract picture I know it can go in many directions. I think it’s fun to see how you would interpret this picture. I don’t have photoshop, I just use Lightroom. Thank you again!
