I’m brand new here, and having already criticised, sorry critiqued, someone else’s image, I thought I’d better post one of mine.
I was drawn by the curves of the end of this valley, which I felt were further emphasised by the mud track at the bottom, and the tree as a pivot.
I struggle in my mind with black and white conversions often wondering whether I’ve taken it too far or even not enough.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
All feedback welcome.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
All feedback welcome.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Converted using Silver Efex Pro.
Sony a7rii - EF 24-70 at 70mm. 1/50 @ f11.
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James, I think this is a r strong image and the B&W well chosen. The only thing I should do is take off some of the bottom part up to where the black on the left begins. It makes your image stronger in my view. I hope this helps and to see more of your work.
Thanks for your feedback Ben, I think you have a definite point re bringing the bottom up, though looking at that area more closely, from the top I have tree, grass, mud (the black bit you refer to), and grass again.
So, I’m tempted to lighten the grass under the tree and then crop to leave a strip of the main grass to match that depth too.
Great shot, James. I really love the way you chose to compose this image as well as your decision to convert to B&W. The curved lines remind me of Saturn’s rings and it gives the image an extraterrestrial impression (complete with space cows). The only suggestions I’d make would be to create a little more drama in the clouds and bring out more detail in the tree.
Welcome to NPN! Kudos for jumping right in with some comments and excellent first post.
B&W works fine, although of course we don’t know what the color version you started with. For me, b&w is great to emphasize contrasts, shapes, design and often times just to simplify a scene to just tones and/or contrasts. And of course with b&w there’s great leeway and so I’d say you didn’t go far enough; especially with the clouds.
I think the sweeping curve of the bowl is very intriguing and I can see your attraction to it. Which leads me to wonder if all the sky is helping - or not. I really like the inclusion of the grazing horses and the sky along the horizon has a lovely glow to it. As much as I like those upper clouds, my thought is that if the sweeping curves of the land are the primary subject - I’d remove more than half the sky. As presented I see two subjects which makes the mind flop back and forth. Alternatively, crop from the bottom enough that the land becomes the accent to a great sky. Hope that makes sense.
Looking forward to more.
Lon
edit: correction - upon further review, I believe those are grazing cows… not horses.
Thanks so much for your comments and welcome. I’ve now given it a bit of a rework and added (hopefully) some more drama to the sky, lifted the tree a little and cropped in a bit.
Lon, I do now agree that there’s a question of what is the subject, and it is in danger of being two photos, perhaps I’ve let the sky get too light on the horizon. I want to keep the aspect ratio, as I want it to be part of a series, I also tried cropping it in landscape and it just loses interest.
So I’ve also darkened the horizon a touch to try and keep them together. Not sure if it helps.
Thanks for taking the time to repost. I like the crop. It helps address the 2-subject conflict. I like the sky much better although for me I wouldn’t go so dark in the upper left corner, ULC.
Totally understand your wish to keep the same aspect ratio if you’ve got plans with a series. Thanks for including that.
site tip: When you repost an edited version for comparison, you can edit your original post and insert the new image link there. That way viewers can actually page scroll between versions for easy comparison. No biggie
Thanks Lon, I’ll agree that the top left is too dark (tried to lighten it after a quick change with a curves layer), but I think I should reprocess properly via Silver Efex.
Good tip re the repost, I’ve struggled when looking at other’s reposts and it makes perfect sense.
James, I like your attitude, at it’s best critique is a two way street, and it’s good to have you participating here. B&W can certainly be pushed harder regarding contrast, and I like everything in your re-work, except for as you said the ULC may have gone too dark. I love those concentric rings in the field, it is unique and not something we often see like this.
I’ll confess that I hadn’t read your reply before I started thinking about this image, and I went through your same thought process of two images, and a horizontal crop losing interest etc. Even if this wasn’t part of a series where you wanted to maintain the aspect ratio, I think this image works better with this much sky, the clouds help to balance the image IMO.
I tried a re-work of your re-work (is that a re-re-work? ). My goal was lighten the ULC, but I brought a little more mid-tone contrast to the middle section of the sky. I think it helps a little.
I completely agree on the critique two way street thing:
Critiquing my own images, I am wrapped up in the history at the time of taking, all the editing, and the initial rush when I got an image I think I like. When I look at someone else’s work objectively and dispassionately, asking what is the subject, how can it be enhanced, what’s unnecessary etc, that practice becomes easier to apply to my own work.
I’ve been looking for a good critiquing environment on the web, where it’s not about clicks, cliques and the “post one rate five” brigade that appear on other sites. Hopefully NPN will hit the mark.
Oh and your version of my sky is definitely better!
I am sure that you will be happy with what you find here at NPN critique, we are all about substantive comments that actually help people assess their work. While we are not pushy about “post one rate five” it is nice to see a new member who believes that it is important to both receive and give critiques, and who understands that both can provide learning opportunities.
This works beautifully for me as is, James. You get that sense of the openness of the English countryside with its large scale farming - and the diminutive cattle on the rise are a nice touch in that respect. The conversion I find no fault with myself.
). My goal was lighten the ULC, but I brought a little more mid-tone contrast to the middle section of the sky. I think it helps a little.