I just like the way the tree leaned over the sun in this shot and the sun reflection on the water. The bird adds extra interest IMO.
Anything.
I put this in for critique in Landscapes earlier and this seemed to the crop most preferred (versus one with more negative space on the left). Any thoughts on the cropping?
Canon 7D mark II, 24-105 f4L @67mm
ISO 100, f5, 1/1600s, hand held from boat
It’s a nice shot Allen. I feel like the sun and the bird balance each other with the tree being the object to bring them together. I wonder if you could crop in a portrait format and cut the photo down to just outside the tree on either edge? You’d get all the important parts of the image and remove some of the negative space.
This is really nice, Allen. I love the colors and the feel of this. As @Cameron_Wilcox said, the negative space could be reduced. I downloaded your image and tried the crop. I use Affinity Photo which allows me to set different “grids” when cropping. I use the Golden Curve and here’s what I found:
As you can see the tree almost perfectly mimics the golden curve. I would crop this, print it large, frame it, and enjoy the scene. Well done.
This is beautiful Allen! Beautiful light and colors. As Cameron said, the sun and bird add good balance with the tree. I think David’s crop suggestion strengthens image,
Very well done!
For me the crop works. It is a beautiful image, I agree with Steve the colours and light are beautiful and the bird balances the picture.
Hey Allen - very cool image, I love a good silhouette and the bird really makes this one special!
Totally agree with David that the vertical crop strengthens the image. It’s just that the main subject is vertically oriented, and there wasn’t anything else going on horizontally outside of its footprint. This isn’t always a bad thing, because negative space can be a powerful tool, but in this case I think it would make more sense to go horizontal if the bird or sun were off to the left to provide some interest over there. As it is, everything is clustered around the tree, so it feels like the composition has more intent with the vertical.
I have no other suggestions except to maybe see if you could recover the highlights in the water in your raw. It’s not a dealbreaker but they do feel a bit bright and blown, especially heading off the bottom edge of the frame.
This is also one of the rare instances where I think an “unnaturally” warm white balance works quite well. The image has a very classic look and it effectively conveys the feel of sunrise/sunset.
