Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
There is an area of the local river where I live in which the sediment that accumulates on the surface of the water forms random swirling patterns as the water moves about. I stood on the bank of the river and took several shots, each one focusing on a different segment. I chose this one and processed it in black and white in Lightroom, as the colors weren’t very prominent to begin with. I adjusted the luminosity of the lights and darks in the image to get this result.
Specific Feedback
As with any abstract image, how much of a mystery would you as the viewer feel there is just looking at this image and not knowing anything about what was being photographed. I feel like the more unknown the larger subject is, the more effective the abstraction becomes. How well do you think I have achieved that in this photo? Any feedback would be most appreciated.
Technical Details
Canon R6 Mark ii
RF 24-105mm lens at 35mm
f/16, 1/125 sec, ISO 640
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I will say it’s difficult to gauge the scale here, and I won’t attempt a guess, but as an abstract it works nicely.
I like the B&W treatment but would like to see a little more detail in the brighter white areas, especially in the patch on right side. That’s a pretty minor nit. It’s a nice image.
-P
Pretty cool, Ted. I think it’s fairly obvious what the subject was, ted, but as Preston noted, the scale is completely arbitrary. The patterns remind me of the old paisley ties (haven’t worn a tie in so long I have no idea if they still exist). Somehow I find the idea of paisley in B&W rather intriguing, since that pattern is more about geometry that the colors used to me.
An interesting image.
Ted
Nice image. I appreciate the abstract nature of the image and having worked on many a composition that involves the movement of water, I think your choice of degree of motion works for this image. A longer exposure which would have blurred the water movement I believe would lack the same impact as captured here. I speak from experience as I often lean toward longer exposures and full blurred motion of water and your image will make me rethink that next opportunity to entertain options, so thank you. I did rework a very slight crop, which I hope is ok by you. Basically I eliminated the one half circle in the upper right corner. By doing so, my eye tends to focus more on the interaction between the more elongated forms in the center of the frame and the one tear drop shape in the upper right that holds more dark tones.
Only other item I may play with is pushing the highlights, selectively, in some areas, possibly just in the two main center based swirls. Just a subtle push of those highlights via dodging highlights or a curves layer pushing the highlights in just that region. A number of ways to selectively do that and I know everyone has a different approach.
Thank you for sharing.
Ted,
This is a wonderful, natural abstract. I love this!
To me, it is a bit of a mystery as this could very well be geologic, rather than water - or sand? Typically with foam or other things floating in water, you get more blur or motion (if water is moving of course.) This, I’m not so sure. Well, at least my imagination is telling me it could be anything - but my analytical brain says water. 
I’m quite loving this as presented. What also stood out initially was the presence of some graininess - makes me feel like this is sand. In fact, what this reminds me of are those novelty, decorative pieces that have some kind of liquid/sand enclosed in glass and when you rotate/flip, the sand re-settles and makes a new design. (I know I’m not describing it well, but hopefully you get the idea.)
Very cool No nits or suggestions!
Thank you @Lon_Overacker @Preston_Birdwell @Dennis_Plank and @chipperhatter for your comments and suggestions. A couple of you made note of how slower shutter speeds may not have worked as it would blur the swirled patterns. I actually experimented with slower speeds while photographing this spot and found that was indeed the case. Those few photos ended up in the trash bin, as the faster shutter speed images were much better. Thanks again to you all.
I’m late here, and meant to comment much earlier – I love this!! The patterns fit together so well. What really intrigues me is that I can’t tell if it is a flat surface where subtle currents have made the swirls or whether it is a wildly thrashing area of fast-moving water, because it looks amazingly 3D!
My only nit is the brighter area in the LL corner, particularly the part of it nearest the edge. More detail / less white there would be good as it pulls my eye off the canvas. A slight crop if nothing else would fix it but I’d hate to lose any of this. Well seen and presented!
Thanks Diane. I’m glad you like this image. I see your point about the LL corner being a bit too bright and distracting. I am thinking I will revisit the image and do some tweaking, as others have also made some suggestions regarding the processing.
