Watering the Tree

[Bob_Faucher]

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

Strong/weak; intriguing/boring

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

A lone conifer, situated on a ridge in the prairie near the Mountain High Highway in Montana and framed by descending columns of rain, will benefit from the precipitation, as will the surrounding plain.

Technical Details

Canon EOS 5D IV; EF 70-200mm @ 70mm; f/14 @ 1/80 sec; ISO 200; Gitzo tripod

[DeanRoyer]

The thumbnail drew me in, with a sense of drama provided by the foreboding clouds that dwarf the lone tree. Full-size I am losing that sense of drama. It may be the jpg compression, but the tree is not sharp (which I think it should be) nor is anything else.

[Chris_Baird]

I agree with Dean about the tree. Otherwise a compelling image with lots of drama.

[Bob_Faucher]

Thank you all for your comments @DeanRoyer, @Chris_Baird. After reviewing the image I agree that it was “soft.” I have reprocessed the image to address your criticisms. I think this rendition is more dramatic with the foreground grasses and the tree more adequately portrayed.