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
This upside down shrub elicited an emotional response in me. What is yours?
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
The image is one of lines and circles, wavy lines and stones of varied shapes. I knew I wanted to do this in b&w before even shooting it. My imagination ran wild with it. Actually, I’m beginning to think that b&w allows more freedom for imagination. This was shot during a hike through Marble Canyon, DV.
Technical Details
GFX50R, 32-64mm, f/11, focus stacked.
Specific Feedback
All of the above but particularly Conceptual and Emotional.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Hi @Igor_Doncov , I quite like this image you have shared with us. The wonderful level of detail in the roots and the bark really are quite fascinating. The B&W captures the delicate tones of the dried tendrils and the shadows beneath the trunk. Is it slightly to severely cropped at the top? Perhaps, But overall it is a really successful image.
My initial emotion may not have been one that you expected, but it was confusion (not even sure confusion can be classified as an emotion). But in a good way, not a bad one. I was confused as to what I was looking at. Was it an upside down tree or exposed root system. It made me want to really explore the image and wander up and down and between and underneath all the intertwined lines. Excellent choice on the B&W conversion. Eliminating color lets the viewer focus on what is important.
Igor, definitely a wild thing for sure. At first glance I thought it was the first page in an old Thomas Guide map book of the LA Freeway system. Another thought is a tangled ball of yarn maybe.
Regardless, I feel your approach and overall presentation works well and especially in B&W. I’m sure the color version would not have the same feel in the end.
It does seem a bit tight at the top but I’m sure there was a reason to be cropped in at that point. I like it as is.
Igor, there a strong feeling of Medusa’s hair with the tangled roots going every which way. I would be tempted to crop most of the rocks off the bottom to further emphasize the tangled maze feeling. I also get a sense that this shrub is about to walk away.
This made me think of the tendrils of time, and how they twist and weave as they flow by. It has an ancient feel for me. I think that is amplified by the choice for black and white; it really focuses on the form and its flow in the image.
Hi Igor,
My first emotional response is one of trepidation as this almost has a sinister feel to it. The diagonal placement of the roots makes me feel as though the tree stump could slither away in any direction at any moment. The B&W conversion adds to the mood IMO. My only suggestion would be a little more room at the top, but it certainly is not a deal breaker. Very unique image.
