Critique Style Requested: In-depth
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 liked the contrast between the fog in the background and the crisp flow of the water and foreground.
Creative direction
I wanted to use the boulder in the stream to anchor the image and have the viewers eyes wander up along the steam. Softness of the forest in the fog and the crispness of the stream and rocks.
Specific Feedback
Did I create the mood I saw in the scene?
Technical Details
Nikon D100, 12-24 mm lens @22mm, f22, 4 seconds , ISO 100
Description
Wandering through the woods of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park on a rainy Spring day and coming upon this scene. Worth getting wet.
Paul, the foreground boulder makes a good visual anchor. The rocks and stream on the left lead my eyes into the distance. It’s an attractive scene. While the distance does show a touch of fog, it’s not what gets most of my attention. My attention is drawn to all of the crisp details in the stream and in the trees. That has me wondering if the fog would show better in color or maybe making the trees leaves darker by adjusting the green and yellow luminosity.
Mark- Thank you for your critique. I attach 2 copies- one where I brought the BW image into Nik Color Effex Pro and added fog.I then brought that into PS , placed a mask on the selection and then brushed out the fog at varying percentages. The second is the color version. Same work flow as on the BW, however I increased the green hue to have the trees stand out more. Some time ago I placed a luminosity mask on the color version, and when I do that I cannot convert the image to a jpeg. Maybe you have a workaround for this. Thanks for taking the time to review these. Paul
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Smokey Mountain Stream In Fog Color.tif (7.2 MB)
Paul, I downloaded the color version (which shows the fog nicely) and put it into PS. When I add a b&w layer, darkening the yellow channel darkens the leaves in the nearest trees (along the edges) in a way that to my eyes helps show off the fog. (It does darken the rocks way too much.)
The b&w version here also shows the fog nicely. What I’m thinking is to burn-in the darker tones along the two sides and in the foreground. The extra contrast will look less foggy towards the front while show how the fog increases as you look deeper into the scene.
Here’s a color version where I added extra contrast in the water and along the edges.
