Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Early on my lokal beach in Westland, Holland.
Moody sky, perfect for bnw.
Sigma art 50mm- Nisi 4 stops ND - F11 - ISO 100 - 8 sec
A moody image indeed, Ulbe (we zouden in het Nederlandse kunnen schrijven, maar ik doe dat gezien dit netwerk maar niet).
I have just had a discussion on the horizon being in the middle in one of my own images, and thus immediately noticed the same is (almost) true in this image. It might have been better if you had positioned the horizon in the top 2/3 of the frame. This would have cropped out the rather featureless white triangle in the middle of the sky, which I feel now detracts from the image. The strongest part is the silvery white surf that runs from the foreground to the middle. The crop below shows what I mean.
You were not afraid to lose detail in the blacks and whites, which enhances the graphical qualities and created a nice ‘silvery’ look. The noticeable grain adds to this. Personally, I mind the blacks less than the white triangle, although the black on the left (sea) side suggests that there is land instead of sea, and that we are looking at a river. Hence, I would suggest lightening the black patch in the left middle (I tried this rather crudely in the crop above) and remove the white triangle by cropping.
Hence, a great, bold image with some suggestions for improvement.
Thank you so much for your feed-back.
It sharps my way off thinking about ( my) photography.
Ulbe, Good to see some more Dutch photographers here. Welcome .You have here a great B&W with four triangles (one above, one below and two left and right ).These four are making a very balanced image. Well done !
Thank you so much!
(Dank je wel.)
This is an excellent image in all its moodiness. I love the bold blackness in the darks against the subdued highlights. I also love the graininess, which is reminiscent of film. The choices that you’ve made both in the field and in post processing gives this scene a strong emotional hook, which , in my opinion distinguishes snap shots from fine art. At first I agreed with @gerard about cropping from the top but as I sit with this image further, I’m not so sure. There is something about the brightness in the upper part of the frame that makes the darkness feel even darker - i.e., even moodier.
I agree. Keep the bright sky.
