Through a Glass Darkly

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
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Through-a-Glass-Darkly.jpg
Through-a-Glass-Darkly.jpg2800×1900 2.73 MB

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

As always, I am interested in the emotional impact that this image has for you. What mood does it evoke for you?

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

In the early morning light the feeling is both one of optimism – a world invitingly laid out before us – mixed with a touch of the anxiety that comes with uncertainty – we can never know where this day will lead us when we only have the faintest hints of what lies beyond.
I’ve been told that there is merit in the old sailor’s adage “red sky in the morning, sailors take warning” and so, despite the beauty of this magenta light, we can’t help but feel some sense of trepidation as we head out on waters where a gently building breeze already begins to break the early morning calm. We load our boat with excitement and resolve wondering if on this day the breeze will remain light and favorably at our backs or build and turning to face us, force us to shore.

In this picture I wanted to accentuate the feeling of mystery that I experienced in the rising mist of early dawn. And so, I chose to shoot into the light. The back lit silhouette of the land gives the impression of looking through a glass darkly, which is the mood I want to be sharing through this picture. I have been especially conscious in post of my colour palette, slightly accentuating, fine tuning and balancing the magenta/purple and blue that the camera saw when I took the picture. I think this colour palette, which is unusual but not too extreme, also adds an air of mystery and helps set the mood.

Technical Details

Screenshot 2024-04-22 at 9.31.26 AM

Critique Template

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  • Emotional Impact:
  • Mood Creation:
  • Composition:
  • Balance and Visual Weight:
  • Depth and Dimension:
  • Textures and Patterns:
  • Use of Color:
  • Lighting:
  • Subject and Genre:
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1 Like
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I don’t know exactly. There is a Romantic sense to it but it also has a sense of darkness.

But my second reaction is related to experiences in the Kamloops area. After finishing dinner at the campsite we would all go down to the shoreline to look at the light. There is usually no breeze by this time and there is this dark stillness. I’m always looking for the last rise of a trout because the ring really stands out on the flat surface. It’s a special time that ends the day and precedes the darkness. I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t recognize it as such.

Now to read your comment …

Well, I saw this as the end of the day. Perhaps because I rarely rise early enough to witness the dawn. Regardless, there is mystery at both dusk and dawn.

The pinks don’t bother me in the least. They’re typical of the margins of the day.

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Kerry, I am puzzled by the title. The composition, limited palette of color, and the beautiful DOF create a very peaceful scene. I could spend an hour watching the movement of the clouds and the play of light on the lake. This is a very restful scene.

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@Igor_Doncov , @Barbara_Djordjevic - Thank you both for taking the time to look and comment. Your feedback is most appreciated. Barbara, I don’t like naming my photographs for the simple reason that others, in this case you, might find them “puzzling” and even imply a meaning or interpretation based on other than your own experience of the image. You might notice that my most recent posting is simply called “photograph” for that reason. So, thank you for reminding me not to get too cute with titles.

5

I rather like your title, Kerry. It captures what I see as the two senses of this - joyful clarity and sombre obscurity. Although there is that tension in the colors and luminosity, your formal, balanced framing alleviates the tension. Just lovely.

(reading your comments…)

I saw this as sunset, but that doesn’t matter. You succeeded in your intent, to my way of thinking. The colors look fine - realistic for the time of day.

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Cute titles are OK, but then there may be consequences.