Well, this will never be a silk purse, but maybe it is a little less a sow’s ear than it was. @John_Williams and @brenda_tharp – Thanks for making me think about this one.
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
It was a nice surprise to see these fog droplets the other morning on the brush by the river.
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
Going up the river on a foggy morning, the fine branches of bare snowberry and ocean spray had these droplets. Curiously, the drops were only on the plants not under the trees. Hard to find a dark background, but a maple tree cooperated. Strove to get DOF right.
Two hours and one photo - great success by my standards.
Technical Details
Canon R5 EF100 f/8
Specific Feedback
All thoughts and impressions very welcome.
Hi Dick. My initial reaction was honestly a bit of confusion. I think you want to show the lovely little droplets on the branches, but the leaves are a pretty solid anchor point on the left and they keep pulling my eye so the impact of what you might be trying to share is weakened. I believe the branches alone could tell a compelling story!
Right you are. That leaf is huge today! Following your nudging, I now have a version with only about 20% of that leaf, which is now burned a bit. Will continue to play; would have been profitable to spend more time in the field visualizing the resulting photograph.
My impression fell in line with @brenda_tharp, that there is a lack of clarity in vision and my eye stumbles around the image as I view. The panorama crop with the flowing branches is one theme, but the leaf is a bit of another. The leaf also feels a bit cut off and leads my eye out of the image instead of into and through it. The branches if alone could have a bit of an abstract slant, but the leaf pulls in the opposite direction of that.
To play the game of what if, it would be fun to compare those exact same branches with no leaf on the left, but rather a small leaf caught in the upper right third. The eye would flow from the left along those branches, with their entertaining water droplets, to a nice little anchor to provide interest for the eye to settle on once led there.
Thanks for taking the time. Very useful critique…
1 Like
That bigger view is much preferred to my eyes. Nice.
Hi Dick - definitely working better to have the leaf a smaller proportion in the frame - it all ties together much better. I love your sense of humor - silk purse, haha.
