The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
I’m happy with the texture and tonality of the foreground and the subject, and with the separation of subject from background. I am unhappy with the sky, and the weird tonality of it. I am uncertain about the balance of the image, and dislike the lack of tension.
Creative direction
I have visited this spot several times, and the ennui of the old woman patiently watching the horizon has stuck with me. When I was a teenager I had a Nikon and a Yashicamat. My Yashica landscapes, constrained by the square format, made me think about my subjects differently, and felt old-fashioned. These days I will, in some circumstances, set my Nikon D850 to shoot in a square format and try to recapture the feeling of both constraint and artistic purpose. I have a growing series of such photographs, and this is one of my favorites.
Specific Feedback
I’m interested in feedback on the conceptual and emotional impact of the image.
Technical Details
This was photographed with a Nikon D850 and a Tamron 24-70 at 48mm, 1/100 @ f8 iso 64. I had it atop a tripod. I photographed it vertically with the intention of cropping it square. The black and white conversion was made using Nik Silver Efex.
Description
This is a spot I’ve photographed several times over the years. The weather has usually been calm, or the tide low, and the sense of longing and resignation I sense in the old woman just isn’t suited to such weather. When we went this time the weather was rough, the tide was coming in, and the mist was thick. I previsualized the image and ran a couple of hundred yards across the beach to get there before the tide trapped me against the cliffs. I had about 5 minutes to shoot and get out again. Not long after, the rock on which I was standing was under water.
Hi Joe, I, too, love the whimsy of the image! It does look like a bear to me, though.
In examining the image, the foreground really works (IMHO), and I like the misty water and rocks behind the woman. In Silver Efex, you can do selective editing. You could add structure to the sky to provide more contrast with the misty rock. That might “do the trick”!
Joe, I too see a bear staring wistfully out to sea. The figure and the foreground are set off nicely by the misty island behind. That mistiness adds well to the wistful feeling. I think that some mid-tone burning in the right half of the sky would give a bit more contrast there, but that needs to be done carefully since I don’t think you want more contrast in the island and its trees. Another alternative would be to dodge the darker bit of sky in the upper left, to even out the contrast across the entire sky.
Conceptually and emotionally this works beautifully , Joe. I think you caught some wonderful conditions on this trip with the tides and the weather as they have imparted some lovely atmospherics. As you already mentioned the tones in the sky seem to clash with the rest of the image so I would play around with that a bit. I think @Susanna_Euston has a good idea with the Silver Efex. I quite like the separation you achieved with the rock formation and the BG.
This is wonderful, and I love the title. As for the sky, in these light conditions I’d expect the brightest part of the clouds to be near pure white, and I think my brain is picking up on that. As others have suggested, adjusting the contrast to give the clouds a bit more structure might work well here. Alternatively, blowing out the sky in LTC completely out might also work, I think it’s that hole in the clouds there that, in the absence of more structure around it, tends to draw my eye as I look up.
