The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is a quartz-mudstone outcrop that was left behind after sluicing for gold at St Bathans in my home region of Otago. It is at the edge of the old sluicing lake (168m deep) that remains after gold mining ceased in 1934.
My aim was to capture the sun-lit outcrop and its reflection to highlight the contrast in tones between those, the dark lake water, and the wedge-shaped area of a gravel fan reaching down to the lake.
To simplify the image I have darkened an area of hill in the backgound.
Specific Feedback
With this image I am attempting to gauge general interest in high-contrast black and white photography that seems to have captured my mind recently.
Beautiful image Phil, I like what you did with the processing, it has a very graphic feel to it. The contrast between the different textures of the outcropping, the middle ground, and the water with the solid black background is very intriguing . I think my only comment is that after looking at it more closely, the reflection of the background behind the outcropping in the water does not match the background, usually, water reflections are slightly darker than the source. I know you weren’t going for a totally natural look, so this may not be an issue for you.
Beautiful image, Phil. The strong graphic quality appeals to me. when first looking at it, I was thinking stranded iceberg, so the background explanation helped me understand what was going on here. I like your processing.
Intriguing and very lovely – I also thought iceberg! Good idea about darkening the reflection– just a bit. My only nit is that he horizon is not level – the reflection reveals the slight camera rotation, as corresponding elements would be vertical. Easy to visualize by turning on the Photoshop Rulers (Ctrl/Cmd-R) and pulling out vertical guides. Here’s a correction:
Thankyou for your comment (re reflections) Scott. It is very helpful because I tend to be a big picture person and have always had trouble with detail. You have reminded me to slow down and examine images more closely.
Cheers.
Phil, you picked an excellent subject for high-contrast black and white. It’s a fine shot. If you have the pixels to work with, I’d prefer a little more breathing room on the left side, but it’s not a big deal.
Thanks Don. The LHS was too messy to include unfortunately. I’m also very anti-generative during post so I don’t add anything around the edges that wasn’t in the original shot in order to improve the latter.
Cheers
Hi Phil,
This is a stunning B&W landscape with a wonderful range of tones. . My initial thought was iceberg as well. I also like the graphics in this scene with the strong diagonal lines The CW rotation suggestion from @Diane_Miller pretty much nails it for me. Very nicely done.
