Utah Pageantry + 2 versions

New Version:

Original Version:

Diane’s Version:

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

How do you react to something like this?

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

I, as many, was blown away by this landscape upon first sight. I have tried to process it in a manner that reflected my reaction to it by exaggerating the color cast. Did I go to far?

Technical Details

GFX50R, 45-100, f/11

Specific Feedback

All feedback is welcome.

1 Like

Igor
My immediate respons was
Great shapes and colors
A very strange world to me
Therefore I think that it doesn’t mean much to me.

But still a beautiful image

You have captured the converging horizontal, vertical and sloping lines of the sediment well.
I’m always intrigued when I see geological formations like this. It’s not just the colors of each layer of sediment. But, what forces caused the sediment to shift to be vertical?
You did a nice job in pulling out the detail.

Desert rock scenes always appeal to me and I love the converging lines and textures in your image. My only feedback is that there’s a green-ish tint that bothers my eye, especially on the lighter parts of the rocks.

The remarkable beauty that the forces of nature create.

Yes, a wonderful view of this formation! I agree with @Cathy_Proenza about the greenish cast, which is affecting the sky as well as the rocks. The left half of the sky is pulling my attention because it is so bright – I wonder if it could be tamed a bit? The upper left quadrant appears to be the most greenish area – maybe it was a local adjustment that can be shifted? I like the subtle detail in the right half of the sky.

Very close to perfection and would like to see this reworked with a tweak to the green/cyan cast. Texture is amazing and there’s just enough sky to add colors to boost those yellows. awesome job Igor…Jim

Igor, you have captured the textures and the swirly geology of sandstone very well in this image. I like the sweeping effect of the lines. I do agree with @Cathy_Proenza and @Diane_Miller that is has too much green in it, which has weakened the impact of the sky, and also the true colors of the sandstone. The UL white of the sky could be toned down; perhaps a bit of dehaze or lowering the exposure a bit might help too.

@Igor_Doncov, this is a wonderful, quietly dynamic image. Love the flow of the lines in the rock, which pull me up from the bottom to the bubbling formations above. Really lovely. I agree about the slight cyan/green-ish cast. Modifying that would add a bit more richness to the upper area. I’m not sure about the sky. Right now it balances nicely with the rock. I’d have to see any modifications to see if it works (for me).

I dont know how many more ‘l like it except…’ comments I can take. Lol.

The shapes, lines, and geometry are all quite appealing. The color, though, looks odd (as everyone has noted). This could be another planet. If your intent was to create a surreal air, you succeeded. OTOH, if this is close to the “real” color, our reactions are an interesting exercise in expectations.

(off to read your comment…)

If your reaction was that this was a surreal landscape - well done!

Igor,
Surreal landscape for sure with some wonderful leading lines. My only suggestion would be the the correction of the already mentioned green cast.

@Susanna_Euston, @Ben_van_der_Sande, @Bonnie_Lampley, @Ed_Lowe, @Jim_Gavin, @Cathy_Proenza, @brenda_tharp, @Jim_Zablotny, @Diane_Miller, @David_Starr

Thank you for your comments. The overiding agreement seems to be that the image is ‘too green’. I’m assuming that it’s greener than how the subject looks to the naked eye. It was never my intent to create an image that faithfully renders the subject. I believe I even wrote something to that effect. To me the place looked intensely yellow and that’s what I tried to portray - my impression. I have modified the image to look more realisitic based upon the comments made. I like it as well. The colors are more typical of how this place is rendered. I have posted it side by side with the original.

I think you just didn’t go far enough from reality – or far enough with enhancement. The yellow-cyan cast looked too much like a mistake. Yellow could be OK, but without the green/cyan component. The problem area for me is the UL quadrant. I darkened it a bit and then made the image even more yellow. Probably not at all your intention, but I felt it could be more yellow if the cyan was removed.

1 Like

Igor,
FWIW I do like your new version better. Just my opinion of course.

1 Like

I have added all versions above for easy comparison.

Thank you, @Ed_Lowe. I value your opinion.

1 Like

I am so late to the party on this one but I thought I’d chime in as well. I think the composition is very well thought out with terrific leading lines from both bottom corners as well as the center of the bottom merging nicely in a terrific swirl in the upper center of the image. The details are terrific as usual. I would surmise by your title that you feel like this is a landscape on display for it’s uniqueness and is showing itself off. The pageantry part of your title. Since I have not read any comments yet I’m simply using your title and of course my own feelings as to what you are trying to convey here. This is what I would consider a beautiful Pageantry with so many different elements combing to make this a terrific take on this location. I also like the fact that it has lots of motion in it, both fluid and chaotic, just like most pageants. As for the 3 different renditions, I believe the original comes closest to looking the most artistic although I could see something between the original and @Diane_Miller version. I think the newest version is too red and the sky has too much magenta in it while your original version is a nice tweak in an artful way.

OK Off to see what you said…Aha!!! I can see that you were actually trying to cast a color rendition of this scene. Well done and NO, you did not go too far. Maybe not quite far enough although I do love it as is.

So many thoughts and opinions about this image, it’s great to see how uniquely we all ‘see’ or interpret things. I agree that in the initial image you didn’t go far enough from reality - well said @Diane_Miller! I think too that when a traditional landscape is shown, our brains expect it to be a certain hue/color, because of what we have seen before. To get beyond that, we must push it to a greater degree - or not. In any case, as I discussed and so many others mentioned, the composition and design was well -seen!

New version looks great. The sky is an ideal shade of blue No nits from me and I like the new version as presented…Jim

I am for the new version the pallet resonates with me, perhaps because it is more aligned with what I am used to in Australia. Great image Igor!