The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Here’s another image from our recent visit to Canyonlands. Sadly, my light is harsh and too close to midday, but in a way, that seems to fit this harsh and uncompromising locale. But as the juniper and limber pine on the right show, it’s also full of life. This view from the Shafer Canyon Overlook shows Dead Horse Point, about 22 miles away by road, but less than 5 miles as the crow flies. The La Sal Mountains in the distance are nearly 60 miles away by road, but less than half that straight across. The distances are extremely misleading, and much further by foot than they look. For example, the Shafer Canyon Road is nearly 1500 feet lower than this overlook; the Colorado River (not visible from this spot) is about 2000 feet below this point.
Specific Feedback
I know the lighting conditions aren’t the best, but I’m hoping to return and would like comments about the composition, choice of camera angle, and whether I should take my “afraid of heights” camera out onto that ledge on the right (it’s not unsafe, there is a trail to that spot, I’m just uncomfortable with anything less than 6 level feet around my feet!). I think the Colorado River would be visible from there. I could also have taken a long step to my left, which might have gotten some separation between the right-hand ledge and the triangular formation across the canyon.
Technical Details
Canon 7D Mark II, f 11, 1/60, 27 mm. Taken about 3 p.m. Some post-processing to help reduce the heavy haze that day; On1 NoNoise AI for light denoise and a very little sharpening.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Denise, this has a real sense of life on top and desolation below. I find myself wondering how in the world they could build a road down to the bottom of this canyon.
Denise, the mid-day light does a good job of saturating the colors, which shows off the color variations in the rocks. The strong black shadows on the right fit expectations of the area but do show some details. You’ve got an excellent sense of distance framed nicely by the pillar on the right. and the La Sals in the distance. What I find myself wishing for is a better view down the road and along the canyon into the distance, so I wonder about a few steps left…
@Ed_Williams and @Mark_Seaver - Thank you both for your comments. Ed - I have a photo of the road to the bottom from near the viewpoint above: Shafer Canyon Road. One way into the canyon is from near Moab and the potash mines east of Dead Horse Point - not nearly as steep. But, for fun, here’s a view of the crazy switchbacks down from close to where I was. In the expanded view, you might be able to see a white SUV heading down and a pair of mountain bikers going up. (Researching this, I found a photo from 1965 of a VW Beetle negotiating big rocks near the bottom.)
Mark - I’m with you in wishing I’d stepped further to the left. What I get for trying to stay out of the way of a group of folks walking around the viewpoint, and trying to keep them out of the frame. I forgot to verify MY view had everything in it.
I agree with the other feedback that the harsher midday light is actually appropriate to the scene. I think the desert southwest is one place where good images can be made in pretty much any light, and you’ve portrayed the subject very well.
You mentioned taking one step to the left to improve the composition. I think the balance between the upper left mesa mass and the foreground rock on the right is fairly well balanced, even if it is asymmetrical. Moving to the left may improve on it? Worth a try. However, one thing that a step (or two if possible) to the left definitely would help is the road in the valley below. In this composition it is blocked in the middle by the foreground rock, and breaks the leading line through the middle of the scene. I can’t recall exactly how the Shafer road flows down there, but if possible, it would be great to see it thread continuously, hovering just along the edge of the foreground rock instead of behind it. This would also then reinforce the diagonal lines of the mesa layers on the left, all of them leading the eye towards the La Sals and those denser clouds in the upper right.
