The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I love to compose using shadows. I think this comes from spending half of every year in the desert. For some reason my antenna goes up when I see shadows. This was shot on the way back, after I was done shooting.
Specific Feedback
The question I had was whether to include the upper 1/4 of the image with the sky and yellow rocks or to simplify things. Somehow when I simplify it the image looks less interesting to me. It loses context. What do you think?
Technical Details
GFX50R, 32-64mm, f/11, focus stacked.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Hi @Igor_Doncov, What an interesting standoff you have shared with us. It looks to me like the rocks on the top of the rise are defending it from those below. I agree it needs some sky to balance things. Maybe a little bit less of it though?
Yes; I have seen this theme in your images and I really like it. Features gain character and depth, IMHO, with this type of lighting.
For me it’s a coin toss; I appreciate both. If I play with cropping to the foreground rocks, it focuses on their intriguing spacing and those wonderful shadows. The larger view, however, gives context and has great color contrast. I don’t think you lose either way.
I can tell you that I much prefer to have the sky in the scene. It gives spatial context to the image and it also shows how the small little pebbles and rocks in the foreground are a totally different color than the rocks in the background giving the scene even more context, kind of a Yin and Yang. The color of the sky is rendered beautifully and you have just enough clouds to make the sky interesting but not captivating. I just love your desert scenes showcasing shadow and rocks. You have posted several in the past that are some of my favorite all time images. This late afternoon light with the really long shadows is very nice. The arrangement of the foreground rocks is well balanced and I honestly can’t give you any recommendations on how to make this more appealing.
I knew this was your image from the thumbnail, @Igor_Doncov. I wish I had some helpful suggestions for you but I don’t; the image is perfect just as it is. I appreciate your sense of balance and use of color contrasts that seem to be present in most of your images.
The things that drew me to the image were the beautiful side lighting and the strong shadows like a bunch of little sundials. I thought the horizon was a little messy with the boulders, so cropped it off. That doesn’t work IMHO., for the reason you state.The image is less interesting.
G’day Igor.
I really like the aesthetic of this image, it caught my attention straight away. I absolutely understand your preference for keeping the sky in the frame for context, but I have a couple of contrary thoughts:
I’m not convinced the sky adds much else to the image aside from context. The rocks with the shadows is what keeps catching my eye, and they’re the hero of the shot (for me, at least), so I wonder if the benefits of retaining the sky are less than cropping it out and just making it all about the rocks.
Assuming you choose to crop off the sky, I wonder if it’s worth trying a pano crop on the rocks (2x1 crop should prevent the need to crop any of the rocks out). The reason I suggest this is because the shadows point horizontally moreso than vertically, and by adopting a pano crop it means that the direction of the crop matches the direction of the shadows, providing a nice visual flow across the image from left to right. I should state at this point that I’m a sucker for an old-school pano crop so will always see opportunities to install them.
Igor, cropping off the top does make it simpler, to the point of being almost 2 dimensional. I prefer the view presented because it put the brown area with its scattered rocks into context, telling me that there’s a much larger scene that’s also worth exploring.
