Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
To me nothing says layers like the Palouse at sun rise or sun set. This image is at sun rise. I like the contrast created by the rising sun.
Other Information
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Image Description
As stated above, this was captured at sun rise creating the contrast emphasizing the rows of the crops and tracks left by farming equipment. I was also able to compose this image to connect the curvature of the crops and tracks to the layered hills and the highway to lead the viewer through the image.
Technical Details
Camera: Canon R5. Lens: Canon RF24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM @ 123.0 mm, f/22.0 for 0.3 sec. ISO100. Edited using Photoshop & Topaz Studio 2 filters.
Robert, the lighting on and shapes of the foreground hills look great. I also like how they angle across the frame. The valley in the middle distance also adds well to the visual flow. I am bothered by the distant top as it feels crowded. I don’t think that showing some sky up there would help, since it would reduce the visual impact of the parts I like best. I am thinking that a modest crop off the top, removing the structures along the very top helps.
Thank you, Mark for your comments. I too gave serious consideration to what you said about the crop off the top as it would indeed better emphasize the stronger and more interesting elements of this image. Robert Engle
HI Robert. This is a great sunrise location, I know it well. I agree with Mark that a crop off the top would be advantageous. Typically at this location I don’t include the distant hills, unless I am doing a wide angle shot that has a lot of the sky in it, when there is interest there.
Yes, totally agree, sunrise/sunset with the low angle light is the dream-time in the Palouse! Way to go!
Hi Robert, I’m going to throw a little bit of a stick in the spokes here. Like others, my very first reaction to your image was, indeed, that the horizon seems a little crowded. But for me it was the wonderful, gradual transition to softness in the distance that really pulled me into the picture. I love the painterly feel of the receding details, the shadows and splashes of light. I love the hazy glow that grows as I look toward the top of the image. For this old wildlife photographer (and rank amateur at that), it’s this view into infinity that makes your picture so delightful.
So I’m not good enough to offer a suggestion on how to ‘correct’ the ‘crowding’ at the top edge, but personally I’d be very hesitant to crop off more than just the most minute sliver. I’d really love to keep those distant trees. In fact, if it was me, I just might decide to simply remove the buildings and human elements from that very top edge, instead of cropping anything. To see if that might solve it.
Mind you, I dunno. It’s a stumper.
Just sayin’…
And at any rate, I usually try to keep my nose outa places it doesn’t belong. Like landscape photography. But I know what I like and I like your image. It pulled me into it. And the temptation to open my mouth overcame my sense and sensibilities. Once again.
