The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
A cold winter’s morning on the north shore of Lake Erie. I was drawn to the predawn light and the shapes I the snow and ice. The feeling of awe standing alone on the shy of a large body of water wondering what the day will bring
Specific Feedback
I feel the image is a bit tight on the left hand side. I was balancing the shapes in the snow while avoiding small amount of the shore poking into the left hand side on the horizon
Technical Details
2.5 seconds, f11, iso100. 58mm (24-105) on full frame camera
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Hey @bryannelsonca - nice looking scene you’ve got here!
It certainly conveys the feeling of cold with that nice touch of warm light helping to bring life into the scene.
I was going to say I also felt it was a little left heavy and on the edge you can even see a structure of some kind. I wonder how the comp could have changed if you were to step left a little?
The only other thing I was going to mention is that I feel like the horizon light upper right is a little dominating vs. the rest of the scene, so you might have a try at burning that light down ever so slightly.
I quite like this! Not only is the scene a bit breath-taking (minus the fact I wasn’t there!), but I think it’s a great nature story. I say that because I really notice the “squall”, which adds intrique and a bit of drama to the landscape.
For me, I’m not bothered by the left side. The center of attention to me is the storm and first light on the horizon. If anything, my thought/suggestion might be to crop further - but mostly on top and very slightly off the bottom. The more pano crop emphasizes the long horizon, the squall and to some extent even the shapes/forms in the ice/snow. But that might not re-create your experience. Just a thought.
Otherwise, processing and everything look great to me.
@Matt_Payne, thank you for the constructive feedback. I appreciate your photography and the Natural Landscape awards. I did try a few minor tweaks (left-right, up-down, wide/medium) to the composition when I was taking the image. It’s not a structure but the edge of the shoreline that I thought that I had cropped out in the camera. I was maybe too focused on the relationship of the foreground elements. I needed to spend more time fine tune the composition. I’ve include 3 other images that I had when working the composition. However my natural instincts are to pull out the long lens and isolate some more simplified images.
@Lon_Overacker, Thanks for feedback. I’m still happy with the image but I’m always trying to learn and improve. Here is an alternative 16x9 crop of the original image. I do like playing around with 16x9 and 65x24 crops.
Thanks for taking the time in considering the suggestions and to rework and show us the other scenes. The wider views, especially the first one really show a daunting sky and we can appreciate the scale and conditions you experienced. Thanks!
p.s. - I didn’t realize that this was posted to the guest-critique feature here on NPN. I’m sure you don’t mind the extra comments, but I also don’t want to overstep because folks are submitting specifically to get the critique from Matt and Tim.
Hi Bryan - your final image in this section works really well to me. (or perhaps a mix of the foreground in the last and the sky in the next to last).
The conditions are amazing but without that cliff I think the top of the image could be a little lacking in interest. It either needs more of the storm or added interest in the sky. I’ve combined those last two in this sample.
The detail in the foreground has a great foundation with that first mound of snowand the three ’ ice’ blocks (darker areas) provide a nice leading line toward the cliff, which is reinforced by the diagonal of the sunset/cloud boundary.
I think this would go through to the second round easily and a bit further too. It would struggle to win I think because desipte being aesthetically pleasing, it doesn’t have a ‘subject’ as such to engage the viewer. I really like it though (I added some contrast in a similar way to one of your sample images to bring out the light in the snow)
I know the sky here is a bit driver of the story, but have you considered just making this about the foreground entirely? It would have been especially fascinating reflecting some of that nice golden light?
@Tim_Parkin, thank you for your work on Natural Landscape Awards and your insightful feedback. I knew the image was good but not great and for me personally this is where I learn the most trying to figure out why an image falls a bit short.
Thanks @Tim_Parkin, @Matt_Payne. I didn’t try that type of composition but need to work a bit longer before moving on to different comps (need more patience). It’s easy to get pulled in many different directions. I did shift to longer lens images see below which were shot shortly after the above images and after when the sky cleared a bit. I have fun playing with shapes and abstracts with longer lenses. Thanks again for everyone’s feedback. It is greatly appreciated.
Hey! All 3 of those images are fantastic ideas and good execution. The last one just needs some work on the crop to get rid of the bright areas on the edges. I really enjoy the 1st 2 a lot!
