Watching the sun set

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
1

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Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

They enjoy the mild evening temperature and sitting in silence on the sand they watch the sun that fell asleep on its warm blanket. The Adriatic Sea with a south wind is absolutly flat and creates a smooth and peaceful atmosphere.

Specific Feedback

Is the beach strip at the bottom too dark for you?

Technical Details

D800E, Nikkor 60-120mm at 62mm - f/11, ISO 400, 500sec handheld

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:
1 Like
2
  • Vision and Purpose: I think you were going for a scene that showcases what experiencing a nice sunset is like on the ocean. There’s some things you could do to improve on that idea.
  • Conceptual: Concept is fine - let’s get into the details below.
  • Emotional Impact and Mood: I like the mood it conveys, and I think you could do some things to improve that. Mostly around composition and the edit.
  • Composition: I like the amount of black area you left at the bottom, that seems fine. It would be better if the figures / people were at the right side looking left or on the left side looking right (at the boat). Right now they are looking left and are also on the left, which tells the viewer, look over here (where there’s nothing left to look at).
  • Depth and Dimension: The sailboat adds nice depth. It would be useful if there was a third object higher up in the frame to add additional depth.
  • Color: Color seems mostly OK but maybe a bit too punchy and crunchy.
  • Processing: This is where you could improve a lot. It’s SUPER contrasty and there’s loads of sharpening artifacts that have been added somewhere in the process. This scene would do better with a softer touch and less punch.
3

I think this image is aptly titled. Not only is the subject peaceful ( the lone man and a boat on a calm evening) but the display itself. It’s a minimalist composition with few actual objects and shapes. The dominant horizontal layers give a sense of peace. The largest space itself, the sky, overwhelms the image and provides even more the sense of peace. So I think the photograph has been constructed well to support its subject.

Oh yes, and making the silhouette near the bottom a small strip of darkness provides peace rather than contrast or appear even ominous.

I used to be more concerned about subject facing into or out of the frame. I think it has to do with implied movement. A man sitting on the ground doesn’t imply movement and therefore in my opinion is fine looking out of the picture. I suppose you could argue that if he turned the other way you could imagine a story of him and the boat. But here the story is how they’re unrelated, just two subjects on a calm evening.

4

Insightful comments above Giuseppe, and I find the thoughts on which direction the people are facing to be an interesting one. For other animals I find the direction can imply movement as @Igor_Doncov notes, but for man I agree with @Matt_Payne. The challenge for me is that if they are looking out of the frame, I immediately want to know what it is that they are looking at. I think it’s the human nature of it; if you see people focused on something, you wonder if you are missing out if you don’t know what it is. I find this to be true when out scouting for photography. Sometimes I’ll slow to look at a possible composition, and others will slow and look too out of a curiosity about what I am looking at.

5

@Matt_Payne, @Igor_Doncov, @John_Williams your comments are very interesting and instructive, I thank you all for that. I took note about what you have written for my next photographic works. I only add my intentions, a sense of contemplative and admired thoughts for the sunset, still and silent, in a photo without movement with only two horizontal lines and two balancing elements in the opposite sides of the image, flat, without contrast, a bit pictorial. Thanks again for your attention and help.

6

The Absinthe Drinker - Degas.

Notice where the secondary character is placed and which way he is facing.

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