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.
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
This was shot in the Steens Mountains of Oregon in late September. It’s a fun image. It’s actually a crop of the original which captures the idea better than the original.
Technical Details
GFX50R, 32-64mm, focus stacked (even though it didn’t need it)
Specific Feedback
What changes would you make to get the idea across better?
Cool, Igor. An amazing group of trees. My wife and I are headed there the end of this month, but I have no idea if the mountain will be accessible. It’s been closed later than this for snow. And, yes, the title is a bit of a give away, but I like it anyhow.
Yes the loop road is gated. Late April may be a little early for that. I would go around to the base of the Steens at the Alvord Desert. There should still be some water for some good reflection shots.
Yes, the title does give it away, at least to an old guy like me. Another possible title is: “Let’s Twist Again”. A couple look like they are doing the gator or the limbo. Wonderful image that brings back many fond memories.
Normally, I would say move the camera a little to do away with the merges, but then that would lose the impression of COUPLES dancing. I like it.
Being nit picky that I am, I would clone out the dark branch in the URC.
This image is very cool, and I love the title and how you perceived the dancing shapes in these trees. I wonder how it would look like in black and white. It might reduce the clutter of the branches a bit and focus even more attention on the shapes of the trees.
I tried that and they stopped looking like dancers to me. In the process I found that the background trees (clutter) serve a purpose. They give the sense of a room full of other dancers. If I crop them out the image becomes a group of individual shapes. This was shot 5 years ago and I can’t remember what I was after. Actually I rarely have an idea in mind when I compose. Whatever feels right.
What’s interesting is that when I found these trees I was disappointed. I was looking for beautiful aspens like the ones I had seen of Ansel Adams in New Mexico. I had to shift thinking and make do what I had to work with. But it took an overnight stay to accept and adjust. Actually I still don’t take this image seriously.
I think a good photographer learns to adapt to the circumstances and make the best out of whatever is available, instead of rigidly expecting things to work out as planned. And if you didn’t take this image seriously, you wouldn’t have posted it for feedback. There must be something about it that still holds your attention after 5 years.
I really like this.
At first, everything seemed strange to me—the twisted trees, the bright lights in the background, the patterns of light and shadow in the foreground.
After taking a moment to breathe and giving it a careful look, I decided that I really like this.
My initial impression is courtship. I think it is because those four foreground trees are paired, and they remind of Sandhill Cranes and the way the will bow to each other.
I totally agree. While I like the classic aspen forest as much as the next guy, this is a unique image. The leaves on the ground become an inverted canopy, and that allows the trunks to be the stars on the dance floor.
I also really like that you found curved aspen trunks that aren’t the same ones everyone chases in Colorado.
One of the fun things here is that if you dropped your classic frame, I would have struggled to peg this as yours at first glance. I think that one of the best compliments I can give a photographer is to wish that I had taken it.
I love this area of Oregon, and really need to take a long trip there when the road up the Steens is open. There are some wonderful views looking down the ravines to the east that I’d love to play with.
I find the discussion so far very interesting. The aspen trees are very distinctive, yet also quite chaotic. If I wanted to create a convincing image from this material, I’d have to do a lot of work. In any case, I really like these kinds of motifs.
Thank you for sharing and for the discussion that has resulted.
The title is great. We recently sang this piece in choir. I can still hear it in my head.
