Shine a Light on Me

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

Loch Druim Suardalain, Assynt, Scotland.

Staggeringly beautiful light was the order of this late autumnal evening at Druim Suardalain where upon the sun found a gap on the horizon between heavy layered cloud and bounced off the cloud base creating light of burnished gold which duly splashed over the island pines, reed bed and occasionally the dome of Suilven itself. When the rain started, a startling bright double rainbow formed, and all around continued to be bathed in sumptuous golden light.

Technical Details

Fuji GFX50S, 3 Stop ND filter, f/14 at 1 Second, ISO 100.

Gorgeous. I especially like the warm light on the grasses in the water. Very nicely composed, too. The saturation of the leftmost bright hill feels too much, but that may be exactly what it looked like.

The light is gorgeous for sure! One of these days I really have to get to Scotland for like, a month. I am particularly drawn to this duo -

I would do a little more with color and luminosity here, but this is the heart of the image for me. What a haunting place.

Hello Bonny

It’s pretty close actually, that gold light was really intense, the rocky bank on the left has quartzite mixed into the rock structure and when it gets wet as it was here the rock almost shines white, tends to look like snow. So I guess with the low angled golden light reflects back like a crazed mirror. The Scots pines on the islands are usually quite dark green but when sunlight hits them they reflect like lush green moss. It’s very striking. The moody dark blue/grey sky was quite awesome.

| Bonnie Lampley Valued Contributor
April 9 |

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Gorgeous. I especially like the warm light on the grasses in the water. Very nicely composed, too. The saturation of the leftmost bright hill feels too much, but that may be exactly what it looked like.

1 Like

Scotland remains on my bucket list even as time is running out and pictures like this, Ian, only increase my sense of urgency :smile: I agree with both @Bonnie_Lampley and @Kris_Smith about the intensity of the light (and saturation) on the left side of the frame but I’d be loathe to crop it out. For me, the panoramic feel works better than a tighter crop. That being said, what’s important, isn’t what you actually saw but rather, what you felt and what you would like the reader to feel. My tendency, therefore, would be to significantly tone down the brightness/saturation on the left side otherwise the image feels completely unbalanced to me to where I can’t really settle in and enjoy the more subtle light that is happening in the rest of the frame. The light on the trees on the outcrop is so jewel-like and I’d really like it so nothing upstages it.