Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction
Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
Are you drawn to this image, have an emotional response or thought provoking?
Other Information
Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.
Image Description
This image was captured in July 2025 in Lassen Volcanic NP that was heavily burned by the Dixie Fire in 2021. I’ve seen burn areas before, mostly from distance or up close to areas of controlled burn and typically I’m not drawn to photograph them. The burn areas in Lassen absolutely impacted me in a different way and I was drawn to photograph them. It was an emotional connection to the trees, in areas vast numbers of them, that were not actually charred but were bent and twisted and had wrapped themselves in their own branches, as though an attempt to save themselves before succumbing to the heat. I’m sure we have all captured photographs that we feel a tremendous emotional connection to yet they may not always evoke the same interest in other viewers. I am curious if this image, or my attempt to capture my emotional response is felt or seen by other viewers.
Technical Details
Captured on TMX 100 on Linhof Field Camera. Going off memory as I don’t have notes with me but believe it was with a 150mm lens. Exposure I recall was in the 2-3 minute range during last bit of ambient light in the sky.
Specific Feedback
Do you feel there is enough separation between the bent grouping of lighter trees and background of vertical trees?
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Vision and Purpose:
Conceptual:
Emotional Impact and Mood:
Composition:
Balance and Visual Weight:
Depth and Dimension:
Color:
Lighting:
Processing:
Technical:
