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 which points of the image do your eyes move to when looking at it? What are the strongest focal points?
Other Information
Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.
Image Description
Typical vegetation with Cholla and Saguaro cacti in the Sonoran desert of Arizona against golden sunset light.
Technical Details
ISO 100, 16 mm, f/11, exposure bracketing. Additional shot with sub blocked to reduce lens flair.
Editing in Photoshop using blending with luminosity masks for the bright sun.
Specific Feedback
Any feedbacks on composition, processing, color saturation and brightness, etc. are appreciated! Do you think a portrait format works well for this image?
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
My eye is drawn immediately to the sun, then to the light on the top of the cactus. The muted colours are excellent. I’d consider lightening up the bottom a bit.
A very compelling image
The backlit Cholla and the sunstar are the major attractions. The distant saguaro tells the viewer where this was taken. I could see cropping off about half of the sky for more drama, but the expanse of blue does add a touch of peacefulness to a striking scene.
Beautiful image; my eye goes first to the sunstar, right away then to the stunningly lit cholla, and finally rests on the saguaro. I do wonder what the image would look like horizontally, as the cholla feels just a little chopped of in this photo, and my mind wonders what the whole plant would look like. Beautiful colors and contrast throughout. Nicely done, Ruben.
Thank you very much for your comment! I will try to lighten up the bottom a bit, maybe it will be even more balanced. The eye of the viewer would probably still be drawn to the sun and move between the various cacti above the cholla.
My initial, initial reaction was, “Well, I guess I won’t upload a ‘teddy bear cholla backlit by the rising/setting sun’ photo”. LOL.
My initial reaction aside from that was “lovely flare!” and that my eye was drawn as much to the sun as the cholla, then went back and forth. In other words, the scene held my attention and I then proceeded to contemplate it further.
I think my one critique for improvement would be a little less sky… this is a wonderfully warm image (or hot, depending on time of year it was made), and the mostly empty blue sky above cools it down a bit too much. Not a lot goin’ on up there. A 4x5 ratio works well to my eye.
I also like it as a square crop. Up from the bottom just a little bit, under the two front-center joints. This reduces the impact of those darker areas below, as well as that pesky joint in the lower left that is pulling my eye out of the frame. That puts the top of a square crop just above the ocotillo on the left and leaves those fun little cloud streaks on the right. The entire image at that point is wonderfully warm and inviting, and the dynamic between the sun rays and the glow of the cholla is even stronger.
Thank you for your comments! Yes, I agree the sky is not very interesting, but I wanted to keep enough space above the main focal area, which is the small area between the sun, cholla, and other cacti. I also liked keeping enough blue to balance all the golden sunlight colors. I will try to crop the sky a bit more, but probably not half.
Thanks a lot for your comments! I also have a horizontal (3:2) version of the image. I found it difficult to find a good composition without including too many distracting details on the left and right sides of the cholla. For example, slightly to the left there was a larger saguaro, which I thought was attracting too much attention. Therefore, I decided to crop the cholla a bit to exclude distracting details on the sides. Finding a good composition in this desert really was a challenge for me.
Oh, great! Glad that worked for you. I will often play around for hours to see how many alternate crops I can make from a “finished” image. Which often leads to spend even more time tweeking each as the overall mood of each crop shifts a little.
An Arizonian myself, I know how chaotic desert scenes can be. I hope it did not come through as criticism; it was merely a suggestion. Really nice image as is…
