The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I spent quite a bit of time exploring this area experimenting with compositions, looking for something unique and pleasing that also makes the viewer question what they are looking at. Since it was winter, the steam from the thermal features was abundant and a challenge to work around. For a fleeting moment, I had this clear shot! Bacterial mats in Yellowstone National Park are made from thermophiles, or heat-loving microorganisms, and cyanobacteria form around thermal features. This one is from Upper Geysers Basin.
Specific Feedback
Abstracts can be tough, either it resonates with you or it does not.
Technical Details
This image has very little processing done since it is “flat” with no intricate sky or foreground. I adjusted the whites/blacks and added some vibrance to represent better what my eye saw and to give a bit more contrast between the colors. Sharpen to taste.
I’m a massive fan of the thermal features in YS Park - they are just too much fun, and this shows why - the funky color stories you can get there are a great treat as a photographer!
You are RIGHT abstracts ARE tough because of how different people interpret them or what they can or cannot see in them.
For me, my favorite abstract images are either one of two things -
Something with massive visual appeal that has heaps of metaphor and that I have no idea what it “really is” - or -
Something that I do know what it is that has transformative qualities while smashing me in the face with beauty or intrigue.
In a perfect world, an abstract photo doesn’t depict reality, but instead uses shapes, colors, and lines to create its effect. It can be based on objects, figures, or landscapes, but the forms are simplified or schematized. Abstract photos can also be non-representational, with no source in an external visual reality.
Perhaps I am at a disadvantage having been to YS before because there was no question for me what this photo was.
From an abstract perspective, I do like the idea that I can almost see a face in the rocks in the water.
I’m curious - what abstract qualities and / or metaphors did you see in the scene that you hoped to convey?
Thank you Matt for the detailed reply, I can see your point for sure! Probably not “abstract” enough.
I thought it would make the viewer question what they were seeing and try to make sense of it with the water, a glossy sedimentary rock perhaps. Or maybe just pleasing shapes and colors with a face? But yes, that is true now that I think about your thoughts that if you have been there or seen other images of the mats then it becomes too obvious…
I think this is well seen and composed. Yeah, I get that this is a “reality” shot and most especially in the larger view it’s clear what this is. However, when just viewing the smaller frame upon opening the post, it wasn’t immediately clear to me what this was. So for me, how you’ve isolated and composed simplies this in to an image of shapes, lines and colors. In fact, the colors, or actually more so the layers or zones of those colors makes me think of “neopolitan ice cream.” No, not the actuall colors, but how they’re layered.
Nature is of course full of abstracts; some times they’re obvious, other times, not necessarily.
I’m enjoying the textures of the top and bottom layers as well as the fine, rippling details in the center layer.
No suggestions really. A very pleasing, natural abstract
Thank you @Lon_Overacker for the thoughtful reply! I still very much like this image and would even love to see it printed large. Abstract or not, the lines, colors, shapes and the water work for me.
