The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
As we were finishing up a nice birding drive around the Sacramento NWR the sun was getting low and the clouds were lighting up. There were some light cirrus clouds up above this that I cropped out of the image.
Specific Feedback
I lightened the shadows and applied a slight Topaz denoise. I cloned out a few distracting branches on the far right.
Technical Details
Canon 5DMiii, f5.6, 1/250 sec, iso 100, 105 mm (24-105 lens) handheld leaning on car window.
I really find this image pleasing to look at! I have taken a quick look at the landscape images posted recently several times and I keep coming back to this one as I feel it really stands out. It doesn’t have anything that really grabs ones attention like a colorful sunset or beautiful mountains, but it has an incredibly nice balance to it and a really nice combinations of colors. It also has awesome depth to it with a foreground, middle ground and background. And it has a clear path for the viewer to follow with the water, the trees marking the path and the mountains and clouds at the end. I also find the color combination of the blue in the water, the yellow/brown of the trees and the subtle blue and white in the sky to be very nice.
I can also add that it has a really nice curve formed by the water and land on the center and right side of the image.
If I were to be a little picky I might wish that the foreground were in focus and I might crop a little tighter on the left side.
All in all I would describe it as a compositionally exceptional image that really grabs and keeps my attention. Well done!
Before I lost my hearing in my left ear birding was a passion. (I still enjoy it, but it’s incredibly frustrating to not be able to locate a bird you are hearing.) I remember the day winding down and that tired and satisfied feeling of a long day spent on the prowl.
This light reminds me of that, and the mix of the shadowed water and trees combined with the sun still shining off the clouds works well.
I agree with @Willemd about the focus and there is just a tad of haloing around the trees that could be removed if you wanted to spend the time, but both are nits.
@Willemd, I think that is one of the nicest critiques I’ve ever received. Thank you very much. You give me some really good insights on composition, and things to work on for future images. @John_Williams, again, thank you for your encouraging comments. I hear you about the hearing loss making it difficult to locate the birds, especially in the brush and forests. I too lost the hearing, for me in my right ear when my sons brought me chicken pox when I was 28. I heard a nice sizzle, pop and this really interesting ringing sound . . . I will see what I can do with the haloing. I had noticed a bit of it and worked on it near the base of the tree on the right, but wasn’t sure how to reduce it with all of the branches on the left side.
