The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Next year will be the 58th year I’ve been going to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. And I’ve still got a long way to go before I capture all the subtle small-scene nuances that parade across it’s rugged coastline. This sea stack, situated in the middle of sea lion cove, is just one example.
[Spoiler Alert: It looks quite different on a foggy/overcast day…]
Specific Feedback
Looking for overall (first?) impressions. Does it make you want to go there yourself? Etc.
Technical Details
1/6 sec at f/13, ISO 64, 70mm, camera tripod mounted.
Assorted tweaks and cropping in Lightroom Classic.
[Easy Peasy!]
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Vision and Purpose:
Conceptual:
Emotional Impact and Mood:
Composition:
Balance and Visual Weight:
Depth and Dimension:
Color:
Lighting:
Processing:
Technical:
I like the color palette of this, @franz. The warm tones of the rock, the cool ocean, and the sense of water movement.
I’ll be interested in what others have to say. For me, it feels like it’s too big for small scene and too isolated for a grand landscape. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to go there. I definitely do. The picture makes me wonder what all there is to see, and this is a good start.
I like the capture. I love that State Park. White sand, clear aqua water, sea otters, sea lions, a brown pelican colony, coastal cypresses… Quite a place.
The sea stack in the original post is identified in this image by the red arrow - but taken from a slightly different position on a day when the waves were not as muscular as in this image.
For what it’s worth, the region between my sea stack (red arrow) and the sea stacks in the distance is locally referred to as the “Devil’s Cauldron”. It extends quite a bit further outside the right frame.
In my mind, zooming in on this “relatively tiny” sea stack in the foreground certainly qualifies as a “small scene”.
Perhaps descriptive terms like “grand”, “epic”, “small scene”, “closeup”, and “macro” vary depending on context/subject and the photographer…
Hi Franz,
Sorry if it seemed I was presenting a hard and fast definition of small scene. What I was getting at is that the scene you presented was pretty, but perhaps too isolated from the larger scene to make it captivating for me. It was more like, I wondered what else is here? And that question makes the photo work as an “interest generator,” even if aesthetically it felt like it was missing something.
What you posted here to show the larger scene is a much more engaging scene for me. Very exciting. Lots of energy, lots of interest.
I enjoy the photo, especially the coolness and action of the water. But I’m not so sure it makes me want to go there. That’s not a knock on the photo cause that’s not always the intention. I can enjoy looking at an image of a flower, but it doesn’t make me want to go where that flower is.
