Winter Along the North Shore

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
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Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

The north shore of Minnesota is a beautiful place, full of rugged beauty and serene landscapes. It might be my favorite place I’ve ever visited. Lake Superior can be both a wild beast and a place to calm your mind. I prefer the days when the lake is at as ease. It allows me to create images that are a bit more etherial and/or calming.

This might be my favorite image from my trip to the north shore of Minnesota. This was photographed at well known spot for photographers along the shore. It can be tricky to find something unique that you can call your own. Most of the time the composition has been done before or at least it looks similar.

When I am at these types of locations, I always take that iconic shot, but then I like to branch out and find something that feels a bit more unique that I can call my own. Sometimes it can be difficult to do.

The chunk of rock in the background is a section of the iconic island that is photographed frequently. I really liked the how most of the rock was encased in snow and ice, but the tip of the rock wasn’t. It almost reminds me of a sheep that hasn’t been sheared in awhile. At the time the sky was filled with some nice pastel colors while the setting sun illuminated the ice with a very soft inviting glow.

For this image, I felt it worked best as a vertical since I could fit the rock with the cap of ice in the foreground. This helped ground the image a bit. I used a 3 stop ND filter with a shutter speed of 30 seconds, which helped smooth out the water, creating contrast between the textured rock and water.

There are so many beautiful places along Lake Superior. It feels like I’ve only scratched the surface, but I am looking forward to my next visit, whenever that may be.

Specific Feedback

Just want to get everyones opinion on this image. Photography is very subjective and can be very personal, but I do love the way this one turned out. I guess if I could change one thing, it would be to remove the two rocks that are touching the bottom right side of the image.

Technical Details

Nikon D850

Tamron 70-200 F2.8 G2

70mm
ISO 250
F11
30 seconds

Haida 3 stop ND filter

Edited in Lightroom

1 Like
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Beautiful color and light here Jason. I really like the shapes in the ice. You chose a good word with “ethereal” for this.

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To me this looks surreal, imaginary. I think it’s due to the clash between the pure white areas and the rest is pink. The smooth, fog-like water adds to the illusion. The jellyfish rock adds to this illusion. This is a really interesting image. Colors and composition look fine. I can’t see ways of significantly improving this.

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Thanks for the kind words!

5

The tones in icy scenes like this are among my favorite to photograph. You’ve captured the light well! I love that little dome of ice in the foreground. I might have used a bit longer focal length and zoomed in closer to it, but thats not a critique of your work here, which I really love!

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That mushroom rock is a real treat; it makes the image for me.

Those two rocks didn’t distract me too much. They fit in the flow of the other rocks around the mushroom, and to be honest I didn’t think about them until I read your comment.

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Thanks!

I was hoping to get a closer shot of the mushroom ice, but couldn’t navigate my tripod to an appropriate angle.

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Thanks! We tend to be our own worst critic.

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Gorgeous! You certainly probably couldn’t come up with ice like this this year - the non-winter winter. Even last year was tough. I like the tones and colors - that icy rock is great. Good contrast with the long-exposure water, too. The composition feels a bit blocked to me, but that’s secondary to the excellent focus range and light.

1 Like
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Thanks!

This was photographed in the middle of January this year. Fortunately there was a nice cold snap prior to my arrival. I’ve seen photos of the shore now, and most of the ice is gone. It seems like I picked the perfect time to be there.