Stones in pond 2nd edition

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
1

Stones in pond 2nd edition
Stones in pond 2nd edition2048×1638 2.09 MB

Alex, I have very recently posted another edition of this image here at NPN Stones in pond + 2 rework. Based on the comments I have updated the image and decided to post for your review.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any comments are welcome!

Technical Details

1/25, f/5.6, ISO 200, Olympus OM-D E-M1X with 40-150 @ 125 mm (250 mm equiv.), handheld

2

Hey Ola! I really like this image. The patterns almost remind me of camouflage! The blue treatment is also very nice.

There are just a few distractions for me:

  • There are dark spots all around that break up the overall bright “pattern” feel - the lower left corner, the right edge about halfway up, and some of the shadows between and around the rocks.

  • The blue saturation is much higher in the shadows along where the rocks meet the water.

  • There are lots of cyan tones in addition to blue, these could be shifted blue to make the color palette less chaotic, since the pattern is already pretty busy/dense.

  • There are some magenta/purple tones that could also be pushed more blue, for the same reason.

  • It appears to be level on the right side (reflections perfectly line up vertically), but not on the left. Even if it’s almost level, the image feels tilted. So I would warp up the left edge to straighten out the appearance.

  • The lichen spots on the right, nice as they are, are too bright and draw too much of my attention. The image feels much calmer to me with these burned down a bit through a luminosity mask.

I already liked the image, but I like it more with these changes! Here is my try. I hope this helps:

stones-in-pond-2nd-ednew
stones-in-pond-2nd-ednew2048×1638 1.47 MB

3

Alex, thanks for your great advice and that you took your time to work on the image. Your try show very clearly the possibilities to enhance the original image.

  • I had not at all reflected on the dark spots, great find.
  • Appreciate the comments on color tones, sometimes you get “blind” when you look at your own images. I also have to get more experience in identifying which color tones there are and how to adjust them to get a more pleasing image.
  • I think I changed the optics slightly when developing the image and just missed that the image did not line up correctly.
  • I have darkened the lichen already in the original image, but even more is better!