The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical
About This Image
This is a very small section of a very big rock in Crystal Cove Park, Newport Beach, CA. The patterns looked like lightning trapped in stone. I simply could not resist this image. (I spent over an hour with this one rock on this day.)
Feedback Requested
Anything. Thoughts on the subject, composition, and post-processing. I find it all to be helpful.
Technical Details
Camera: Canon EOS R5
Lens: RF70-200mm F4 L IS USM
Focal length: 166mm
Shutter speed: 1/60s
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100
A rock? Really? You could fool me! There is actually depth to this and it’s really hard to visualize this being a stone. I suppose it could have such raised detail, but my impression is veins or something out of a biology book , nerves or dna… anything but rock! Ok, I can get the lightning, but for sure, the imagination is easily caught up in this one!
The B&W looks great and I think the processing in general including the tonal range and contrast all look good too.
I can’t think of anything that would improve this. I can see why you spent so much time with this. Well seen and captured!
Todd, the sense of lighning works well. I get a sense of wonder, thinking about all of the cracks of different sizes and the injection of quartz deep underground into highly cracked rocks. I like the sense of depth. Is that real or is it from processing. Since the white streaks are quartz, they are much harder than the surrounding “country” rock, so they could be higher.
It must be some kind of quartz embedded in another rock.
I’d love to see the color version, although I like this black-and-white version—it reminds me of tree roots.
I think the composition is a little “crowded,” so I’m taking the liberty of suggesting a slight crop/rotation and removal of some additional elements.
I also slightly increased the contrast and toned down the highlights.
I can certainly see why you spent an hour on this amazing rock as I would have done the same exact thing. My first impression when viewing the thumbnail was that of tree roots clinging to the side of a boulder. The B&W processing looks great IMO and the raised veins in the rock actually add a nice sense of depth to the image. My only suggestion would be to crop or use the remove tool on the area of cracked rock in the LRC as it does catch my eye a little. This is very nicely done and I hope you have some more to share with us.
Hi Todd, A beautiful image. Lightning? Roots? So many forms in nature mimic one another. I love the composition, that is, the part of the rock that you chose to photograph, I like the asymmetry.
This looks like a chain link fence with tree branches or roots growing through it. The B&W conversion just works. Like others, it’s hard to see how this came from a rock. It looks so 3 dimensional to my eye. I know it really stands out but I love the Captain HOOk portion in the LRC. I could see reducing the highlights on that as well as the top two veins dead center at the very top. I can also see a slight crop from the top to remove that horizontal vein coming in from the very ULC. I’m not sure there’s anything you can do but the URC emptiness is distracting to me. Maybe you could brighten the veins in that area or maybe it’s just me. :))). Love the ingenuity of this capture and the processing that you did to come up with this. Really creative.
What an interesting image! You certainly key created the impression of lightning with the processing. To me, this looks like roots growing over a bolder. I’ve seen similar in nature although I wasn’t creative enough to work with it the way you have.
I can see the empty space in URC but I think the balances with the one near the LLC and don’t find it distracting.
Todd: I’m late to this party but wanted to add my kudos. Like some of the others my first impression was some sort of root structure. Superbly crafted image IMO. >=))>
Thank you all. I, too, saw the tree root pattern in this. I also thought of the veins of Vecna from “Stranger Things,” but the white of the quartz reminded me more of lightning. I did end up cloning out the cracks in the LLC , and giving a small crop and reposition to the image. Once again, NPN has proven to be an invaluable resource and community.
