I walked by this composition numerous times before taking this shot. The problem as I saw it, was that the broken fragments on the left side of the crack went on indefinitely. So where to draw the line. I found no good boundaries to create a compelling composition. Finally I just decided to use the crack as the main point of interest with two different sides and not worry about whether the frame edge was touching edges of objects. And for me it works. I don’t feel compelled to look at this flash points we often spend time on. Am I making exceptions for myself or is this the case? I can’t really tell at this time because I’m too visually invested in this image.
I decided to go hog wild with the colors on this one. Somehow nothing seems to capture this image in my mind as well as with good colors. Of course I could saturate this even further but to me the oranges seem to be at a good level.
What do you think about these two issues? (a) color saturation and (b) the image boundary on the left side. Also, what are your feeling of this image in general - good, bad, or ugly?
I love this image Igor. I think it is a brilliant composition. And sometimes hog wild colors work, like here. Looking at it I experience the same thing as when I look at great Abstract Expression paintings. Who knows what is going on, but it sure brings up emotions. Well done!
As a slice it works well. You’re right about the difficulty of cutting off the composition with these. I might have cropped a couple of the dark areas on the left where the orange rock falls off, but as I don’t know what’s beyond them, maybe I wouldn’t. I am enjoying the story of geological formation, time and erosion you’ve framed. Colors look rich and natural throughout.
The colors look natural to me, Igor. As for the boundary on the left side, I like it because it is more organic. If you had cropped it clean, the whole image would be, at least for me, more symmetrical and, at least for me, not as interesting.
Here is what the subject looks like with the iPhone. The compositions are endless. It wears you out to just looking at the possibilities. In fact, it’s an impossible task to find the ‘best’ one. You do your best and accept the fact that there are undoubtedly hundreds better that you just didn’t see.
The colors look good - rich and saturated, but not unrealistic. As far as the composition, I get the impression of flow from right to left, as if the left side (warmly colored, broken up to the left) is exploding out of the right side (cooler colors, fractured but still intact). In that light, it feels unbalanced to me. It feels like the whole frame could be moved to the left, to show more of the “exploded” parts and less of the “static” part.
But all that being said, you want the crack to be the main feature, so I guess the foregoing is a moot point. Perhaps a square crop of the upper half alone would make the crack more prominent and lessen the feeling of movement.
I felt that the grey area in the lower left helped create visual balance due to the grey area on the upper right. Like a teeter toter. There’s also the fact that this is about the strong vertical line and a vertical format just emphasizes it better than a square one imo. I’ll have to give some thought to your suggestion. One thing about myself. Even though I apply your type of analysis during my critiques I never do so when I’m shooting. And when I look at this now I prefer to look at it from that approach: the feel approach rather than the analytical one. Does that make sense?
Yes, it does. Although I would say that I do the same thing - look at by feel. If it doesn’t “feel” right to me, then I work through why that is. To me, that is a REALLY important part of critique. If we “feel” something isn’t right, but we can’t articulate it, what good is it to the person receiving the critique? I compose that way in the field, too - frame it in a way that feels right, then when working on it later figure out why.
On this one, I see what you mean about the color of the LLC bluish rock balancing the URC. Because the LLC is so much darker than the URC, though, it didn’t feel like a balancing act to me. Perhaps darkening the URC to match the LLC?
Thank you for the input. The source of light was diffused in this image but it still came from above and that’s why the upper part of the image is lighter than the lower part. I would hope that the viewer understands this when looking at the image and accepts it. The image also has two planes. The right plane is more forward than the left and could be receiving more light. It also could be that the substrate itself varies in nature. The left could have looked like the right and broken off. The right has been exposed longer and is more weathered. Either way I don’t think I’m skilled enough to apply a darkening to that corner in a seamless way.
The subject of feeling vs understanding is an interesting one to me at this time. I sometimes feel things are right without understanding it and in looking at it I still don’t understand it. In fact, some have argued that when you understand it some of the feeling goes away. The appreciation of the image is diminished. Others have written that the feel of impact of an image can’t be put into words. Visual language is different and doesn’t translate into verbal language. I’ve been chewing on this recently. Several photographers have stated it to me. It makes critiquing challenging.
Not sure how I missed this one but being rather late to the party I’d still like to say that the composition works really well for me. The dark band along the left edge and running underneath the bottom of the image gives it the balance that it needs. I might darker the bottom dark areas a little bit more to give the image a solid “footing” to sit on more in keeping with the darks of the left edge. If you had composed the crack going out of the frame in the exact LLC, this image would not work for me so I think your choice of where to cut off the bottom is excellent.
Saturation and colors look great to me. Not garish or unbelievable at all. I find it interesting that rocks on right side of the crack are fairly well held together and mostly uniform in texture compared to the broken, gouged, discolored and multitextured left side of the image. It’s a neat juxtaposition from sedimentary rocks that are right next to each other. All in all I find this image interesting and explorative to look at which is all you should ask from any image.
