Mother Nature Pealing off the Mud
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
Which of the two images is the best, or should I retake ???
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
The fragility of Death Valley is at the millimeter level; please watch where you step. this is mud that has been pealed back due to wind and Sun and filled in by sand.
Technical Details
Canon R6 Mark II
F5.6
35mm
1/1000
ISO 160
Specific Feedback
Please pick the best one or tell me to retake the image (if retake, please tell me why or what I should do differently)
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:
I like the theme here. I have mixed feelings about the shallow dof in both. It both isolates the peeling parts of the earth and hides from us the breadth of the earth’s exfoliating response to drought.
Which do I prefer? I guess it depends on the specific message. The first one is more “cellular” and has an organic feel to it. The peeling earth is collecting sand, which might create a new surface.
The second one, along with the title, makes me feel like the wind is at my back, peeling the earth and pushing me forward, but I get less a sense of the peeling itself. It feels more abstract in terms of scale and what I’m actually looking at.
So, it’s a tough one, but I think I would say the first one captures the title better (and vice versa), and perhaps has a less abstract quality, so it tells more of an environmental story.
ML
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In both composition and focus you’ve set this up so that the lifted curls are the star of the show. I much prefer the forward facing first image (with it’s more complicated pattern) for that. However, I prefer the lower exposure (or maybe something between the two?) of the second.
It would be interesting to compare the same images with everything in focus. I think, especially in that first image, that the composition alone might be enough to isolate the curved mud. If you reshoot, maybe take both with and without the bokeh to compare.
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I’ve been to DV a couple of times now and always struggle with composition when it comes to the dried mud tiles. You found some really interesting ones and I like both images. The only thought I have is the curl stands out on its own and does not need the help of the shallow depth of field to point out what is important in these. I can’t tell you how many times I have done this myself, there is certainly many opportunities where shallow DOF is king but for me, not for this instance. Still a great find and composition!
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