I’ve seen this image shot from this location a couple of times but never seen it with this foreground.
Specific Feedback Requested
I’m really looking for informtion on the Compostion and the editing.
Welcome to NPN. Glad you’ve joined us and hope you’ll be an active participant.
Shooting icons is always a challenge. I think that to make an image of an iconic location stand out, the light has to be right. The icon is always going to be there and the same, it is the light that makes it look special. You weren’t fortunate to be there with great light and a great sky. That happens.
Composition: My first thought is that the image is too tight at the top. There is also some perspective distortion that is causing the Watchman to tilt to the left.
I did a quick content aware crop to add to the top (yeah, it made a mess of the trees on the right), but wanted to see what it looked like with more room. I also worked a little on the wide angle distortion to get the peak to stand up.
The large boulder at the bottom to start the viewers journey into image is the dominant compositional element for me in the image. To see how dominant I looked at a square crop with the bottom edge above that rock. It completely changes what the viewer is drawn to in the image. Depends on the story you want to tell, which makes more sense.
Here’s a quick example of the changes:
I appreciate the feedback and I am taking notes to get better. Thank you for the critique, it is very helpful. The only critiques I usually get are positive, I believe it’s mostly because the people giving there Opinion are close to me or just don’t know what to look for. This is the main reason I joined this group and am very excited to receive real feedback.
As mentioned by Keith, posting an image of an icon is always fraught. Very courageous of you to do so! The foreground rock does not work for me. Many people love large foreground items in photos, but I’m not one of them. Rather than invite the eye into the rest of the photo, this rock does the opposite for me. It blocks the flow into the photo. Keep experimenting with ultrawide foregrounds though. It’s a challenging and unpredictable task.
Hi Joseph,
Just echoing what others have said here, but adding my sense of the why of the foreground piece.
I think the dominant foreground element has maybe become a bit of a cliche. It’s what makes many people say wow and has been for a decade or so, and that leads to many of us trying to accomplish that effect. I think you achieved that effect, but was it the right foreground element for the image? I don’t think so. Like Tony, it does more to focus us on that foreground than to lead us to your subject. If the foreground were more the point of the image (like a field of flowers) it might work. But—it also might still feel like a bit of a cliche, like the kayak bow pointing down the lake at a mountain.
What kind of element would work there? Maybe pretty flowers or running water or maybe nothing that dominates but more of a steppingstone. The more reddish rock to the right would work or the Little Rock with reflection down the stream?
The good news is you are exploring genres and seeing how they work. And all you have to do now is figure when to use their characteristics to achieve an effect. That can be the hard part, at least it is for me. Or perhaps you decide that leading foreground needs a more subtle approach? I’m not sure. Only you can find the right balance fir yourself.
Maybe play with crops here. I think there is a good one with less at the bottom. oh the irony—what we think makes the image is actually what ruined it!
ML
Hi Joseph and welcome to NPN!
If you’re serious about getting real feedback, and learning and growing as a photographer, I don’t think you could have found a better place than NPN. I truly believe that all of the people here are here for the right reasons and we all try to help each other out get better.
So, on to your image… I understand why you wanted to have a foreground but in my opinion it doesn’t work here. The reason I say that is because the rock in the bottom center is so big and relatively bright that my is immediately drawn to it. Unfortunately it’s not a very interesting rock and is therefor just a distraction. In fact, the more I look at it, the more I feel that the entire bottom part of the image is too busy and detracts from the image.
I think that if you were to crop away the bottom, to just below that round rock near the middle that the overall image would be much stronger.
Distracting elements (in my opinion):
Crop suggestion:
Joseph,
First of all, welcome to NPN! Great to have you here! And as others have commented, this is indeed a great place to get constructive feedback. As you noted, your friends, family and even SM like Instagram, FB, etc. you’re not likely to get constructive criticism and almost always just “likes”, etc.
So, I’ll be a little different - and that’s a good thing to remember that we each have different opinions, outlooks and experiences - and there is no right or wrong answer. And as Grandma Ivy always says, “… there are no answers, only the search…” (And if anyone can peg this reference you get a gold star.)
Anyway, my first thought was, wow, a different look at the classic. Although I’ve never been, and I thought they outlawed pictures from the bridge… LOL… but I thought what a different perspective adding this foreground element. I thought it made for a different take on the icon.
After review, reading the comments and such, I agree that the foreground rock actually kinda takes away and overpowers the Watchman, which of course is typically the main attraction and focal point. But all is not lost, this capture I think has great potential. And actually it’s the white water in the LLC (lower left corner) that was more of a distraction to me. So, with that, a crop from the bottom I think mitigates a couple things with this composition.
The other has already been addressed, and that is the distortion, chromatic aberratioins and general lens quality at the extreme edges of a wide angle lens. Those distortion in the lower landscape aren’t noticed by nature cause there’s no reference. But up top with open sky, become more of an issue.
Now Idon’t have the same skills in corrections as others when it comes to the distortion, extending the canvas, etc., (and another great thing here is that we are able to practice and learn by attempting to help others, which is a selfish reason often why we perform edits…).
So this is my attempt. Some very rough dodging, burning and painting in the sky to try and make the canvas extension (content aware cloning) look ok for demo purposes. I also raised the luminosity slightly in the lower portion of the landscape and also boosted the vibrance, but not saturation. The crop left some of the rock so there is still that near/far perspective.
You’re off to a great start and we look forward to your images and contributions! Welcome!
Lon
Thank you for the feedback
thank you for the feedback and the addtional example it is a great help.
Welcome Joseph! I constantly find ways to improve from the amazing folk who comment here, and hope your experience is the same. Join in the fray too; a big part of the learning for me is to have to stop and think how and why I might do something different than what someone else has posted.
One of my better memories is a trip to Zion with my brother in 2014. A few days before we arrived there, I blew out my ankle falling in a slot canyon, and was having a hard time hobbling around. Instead of the grand hikes we had planned, we took our chairs and sat on the bridge sipping coffee and photographing the day dawn over The Watchman.
Great thoughts above, hitting most of the points I would make. I’m a self-admitted sheeple when it comes to foreground anchors, and often really enjoy them. With that in mind, @Lon_Overacker’s version hits the sweet spot for me.
My only addition is that there may be a bit of a CCW rotation adding to the distortion lean The Watchman has.
I’ll add my welcome, Joseph – you’ll find this a great place to hang out! Excellent comments above, and I think @John_Williams is correct that, in addition to the wide-angle distortion from the lens being aimed down, that the camera was not quite level. I would have a look at some CW rotation. It’s really difficult to see either sort of distortion in the viewfinder, as our brains want to correct the scene. I’m not much of a landscape shooter but the FG rocks are too dominant and awkward for my taste. Maybe it would be better from a few feet to the right, so the one coming in from the bottom was not centered. But I’ll have to vote for @Tom_Nevesely’s crop.
It’s always helpful if you include details of lens, body and processing.
Hey Joseph – You are getting great coaching from all the others, so let me just say the best news is that you can return to this location in any of the four seasons and the foreground will change dramatically – snow, flowers, fallen leaves, high water, etc. – probably enough for you to include it to your heart’s content and still honor The Watchman!