The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The sunlight hitting the colorful rocks of Packer Creek near my campsite in the Tahoe National Forest resembled a stained-glass window when captured using a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion of the water ripples.
I like to joke that one of my favorite genre of photography is “campsite photography” which involves wandering around the campsite in the middle of the day to capture whatever catches my eye.
Specific Feedback
I love photographing these types of abstract images, and as enjoyable as the experience is, I’m uncertain how compelling they are, and just looking for general feedback. Also, my first time posting to NPN!
Technical Details
Shutter speed: 1/800 second
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO 400
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Welcome to NPN and the Abstract Forum, Beth. I really like these. The ripples do make them remind me of stained glass, particularly the first one which I would definitely consider my favorite because of the luminosity and the cohesion of the appearance throughout the frame. The second image is really cool as well , but doesn’t have quite the pop to it that the first has. I think that could easily be changed by playing with exposure, contrast and saturation. Another fun way of playing with this kind of thing is the relatively new point color adjustments in Lightroom, if you use it. The third image doesn’t appeal to me as much as the others, largely because the area below the ripple line feels dull compared with that above it-though it looks like it has potential.
Welcome again. I look forward to seeing a lot more of your work and reading your comments on other people’s posts. We’ve found that one of the best ways to improve your own photography is to spend a lot of time looking at other people’s and trying to figure out why you like it or don’t and what it is that makes you feel that way, which is why we ask people to comment on at least two other posts for every image they post.
Thank you for your feedback, Dennis, I greatly appreciate it! Yes, I was gravitating to the first image the most for the reasons you mention. I admittedly struggle with the contrast slider because most of my images that tend to be bright, high key and less dramatic, but in these, more contrast and blacks seemed to work well. I will certainly play with these more!
Hi Beth,
I too love to do abstracts like this. Reflections or through the water with a polarizer. Like Dennis, I’m partial to the first one. I think it’s because the colors are more like a classic stained class palette.
I really like the ripples in the second, but it has a different effect and makes it a little more energetic, which is not a bad thing to my eye, just different.
The third one is a little less colorful, but I think it is also less sharp. Perhaps the camera was not on the optimal plane with respect to the subject? Or for some reason the depth of field wasn’t quite extensive enough?
For what it’s worth, I think there are also some interesting opportunities by cropping some of these to make two or three images from one frame. I’m not sure that’s to your liking, but for me, that’s one of the great things about abstracts is creating a virtual copy and floating around with the crop tool to see if something else grabs me.
In this case, the second one has that potential the most, in part because so much is going on in it. I can see one top left and another top right (nearly square, but play until your eye says “ooh, I like that,” and see if you find anything to your liking.
Thanks for sharing these, and I hope to see more of your work here soon.
ML
I too like the first one the best of these Beth. They have such a nice clean clear and vibrant look to all of them. Welcome to NPN. I went to your website, and you have done some amazing work with abstracts and other serene, peaceful scenes. I love what you do for hospitals and other healthcare facilities. I can see your work giving hope and peace to many in trying times. I grew up in Northern CA and know where a lot of your images were taken. I worked in agriculture my entire career and traveled extensively throughout the state. You have a lot of great ag images too. You should contact the California Department of Food and Agriculture to see if they’d like to use some of your work. Can’t wait to see more of your work here on NPN.
All are lovely but the first one is special, with purity and balance in the frame. Welcome to NPN! I also look forward to your images and participation. Your website is well worth perusing and I will get to it very shortly.
Hello Beth, welcome to NPN! My goodness! These water abstracts are beautiful. Water reflections and abstracts are one of my favorite subjects to photograph. I think you may have stumbled upon a new niche of photography - “campsite photography”. Love it!
Three things stood out in this sentence: “involves wandering around the campsite in the middle of the day to capture whatever catches my eye”
The first is “wandering”. Nature offers so many opportunities for exploration. Wandering to me is about following my own curiosity. The second part is “middle of the day”. You’ve heard the old mantra of shooting in golden light. I disagree and you’ve proven my point by photographing in the middle of the day and coming away with superb images! The third part in your statement is “whatever catches my eye”. I use the phrase “exposing to the eye” as a means to photograph things that mean something to you, to record something that caught your attention and imagination. Thank you for adding these important items in your description.
Of the three images, it’s a close contest for my favorite between the first and second images. The second image has the potential to be cropped in a number of ways but I also like the “grander” view compared to the first which does resemble stained glass more than the others.
I look forward to checking out your website Beth. Thanks so much for being here and sharing your work. It was a joy immersing myself in your images in this post. Hope to see you participate in other members’ images as well.
Hi Beth! These are lovely and the colors are super. The first one is appealing for the distribution of colors, I think, especially the cheerful yellows. The second one is appealing because of the sweeping curves of the linear riffles. I think the third one would work well as a square crop of the top part, so that linear riffle +/- divides the frame in half.
I’m totally with you on wandering about and seeing what catches your eye. Wandering up and down shallows creeks is especially fun in the summer when it’s so hot - you can stay cool and see more of the streams!
Thank you for your feedback, Marylynne! And you have a sharp eye- I did have some softness/out of focus plane on the 3rd image, which is one of the reasons I cropped it. And I totally agree with you on cropping the abstracts; oftentimes, I’ll mirror or flip them if it looks better
Beth, Welcome from me as well. I’m a big fan of stained glass, and you have made fine work depicting nature’s show. You have done a marvelous job of seeing and composing the creek’s offering into a wonderful image. I used Photoshop, the TK9 plugin to add pop to the image. I just added “Soft pop” at about 85% opacity. I also denoised and sharpened the image a tad with Topaz P{hot Ai. Thanks for this fabulous abstract. I look forward to seeing more of your images.
Thank you, Ed, for your feedback, and for taking the time to view my website too (which needs a lot of work)! Years ago, I had an exhibit at the Ag museum in Woodland, and coincidentally, I have a wall mural at a local US Department of Agriculture office space in Folsom, so your suggestions are spot on!
Great eye Beth – I have a collection of similar images, also high shutter, shot in Glacier National Park. I made them into a set of drink coasters! Anyway, the photo artistry potential of these is endless, but I must ask: Did the creek bed have this full rainbow of colors? Even in Glacier, where a delightful mix of rock colors makes for a rainbow in the streambeds and lake beds, I didn’t see blues like these. Any thoughts on how to treat color enhancement in these shots, which walk the line between abstracts and photographic truth?
Terrific series Beth. I know your work well from Women Capture Magic, IG and other sites. I love the pop of colours in these three images. They would work well as a tryptic. I also prefer tithe first image but I wonder if my response would be different if they were ordered differently. Great work and welcome to NPN.
Hi James, the drink coasters are such a great idea, I love it! I did cool down the color temperature on these quite a bit. The natural colors of the stream were very warm, very yellow/ gold tones. Pulling out those blues was kind of a happy accident! I usually tend to favor cooler, more soothing blue tones generally, that’s just my style
Beth: I’m really late to this party but as soon as I saw the thumbnail I did a double take; I have a very similar image from Glacier NP! I love the colors and the effect and I also love that these are unique images never to be duplicated. Well seen, captured and presented. The only problem I see with your post is that you have set a pretty high standard for yourself. Thanks for joining NPN and keep the posts coming. >=))>
