Rework
Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction
Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
Representative of the region, Fall weather?
Other Information
Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.
Image Description
Late afternoon sunlight over Saguaro NP paints the nearby Little Rincon Mountains, the overhead Monsoonal clouds and the reflective cacti various orange and yellow hues and tones. I wandered around this area, searching for a good saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) specimen, standing alone, that I could approach to make it large and isolated from the myriad other saguaro as well as have it superimposed over the brighter section of the sky.
Technical Details
Canon EOS 5 D II; Canon EF 28-70mm @ 28mm; f/16 @ 1/10 sec, ISO 260; Gitzo tripod, RRS BH 55, remote trigger
Specific Feedback
Whatever you think, positive or not.
2 Likes
Gorgeous and dramatic light on a beautiful main subject with a great sky. Hmm, what’s not to like about that. You certainly had great conditions. Almost looks like monsoon conditions. Those clouds are really singing. I do notice a little bit of noise everywhere (or over sharpening) and a weird artifact in the very upper right corner in the dark blue area coming out of the cloud. I like the composition although I could see a crop off the left side into a 4x5 or something close to that since I don’t think the left side of the image adds much to the scene. All in all, This is a really beautiful scene that definitely is representative of the region but I was thinking more Summer/early Fall during monsoon season. There isn’t much in the image to tell me this is Fall unless I’m missing something but I don’t know what the desert shrubs look like in Fall so I am definitely not an expert on that. 
Thank you @David_Haynes for your kind remarks and suggestions. The area I think you were referring to in the URC is aswirl of cloud. However, Since it was a distraction it was easy to remove. Although I could not see any noise in the RAW file or .psd file I made a new copy to convert to .jpg for viewing here. The image is from September 21, 2014, so I think those are Monsoonal clouds. Summer ends on September 22. My error in asking if it was representative Fall weather. I looked at various crops to eliminate the expanse of the left side. The results each forced the largest cactus too much to the center. I think the original ratio lends more depth to the image via the extended view of the mountains becoming smaller.
1 Like
