Here’s an edit taking a stab at @Mark_Seaver’s suggestion. (I also played with framing it, because I was hopped up on caffeine while editing.) It’s a subtle change; taking it farther looked a bit odd to my eye.
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is a follow up to my last post, but in a horizontal format. Without the tree of the prior, it becomes very abstract to me. (I prefer the prior post personally.) I played with cropping out the foreground snow, but that was even more abstract and I felt all sense of scale was lost.
Specific Feedback
In a reply below, I’ll post a broader view of this scene so you can see what I was working with. Does this image work without it? In other words, without a sense of scale is it ho hum? Any other suggestions on processing/composition are more than welcome.
Technical Details
NIKON Z 7II
NIKKOR Z 24-200 f/4-6.3 VR at 200 mm
1/320 sec. at f/13 and ISO 64
Handheld
Critique Template
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Three suggestions. Print. Frame. Place in high-end gallery!
Seriously (not that the above wasn’t…) I think you found an awesome scene here and presented it beautifully! The subtle variability across the frame gives a hint of 3D but leaves the viewer wondering, which is excellent!
My first thought on seeing the second frame was I’d love to dive off that ledge with skis (OK, would have loved to dive off, a few years ago) then I see something top center, just below the lip – is that a skier, kicking up a rooster tail??
John, I think this looks great as an abstract, with the bits of ridge lrc setting all of the ripples of very well. I do suggest adding a bit more texture (via contrast?) to the triangle in the lrc, so it shows similar contrast to the rest of the scene. The entire scene is quite nice also.
Hi John,
This is amazing and great eye to isolate all this goodness. I like the way that you filled the frame with all those wonderful diagonals and textures and I like the fact that you have those two lighter toned areas along the bottom edge to draw the eye into the image while creating a little visual tension. I think this one might now be my favorite of your series. Keep them coming. BTW I think @Diane_Miller has the right idea with her three suggestions.
I played with your suggestions Mark, and am adding a version that subtly heads in that direction. I maybe should have gone even farther; I’ll sit on the idea and play with it some more.
What a beautiful abstract! Of course without any tree tops, context and scale are mostly gone, which in this case is a positive thing! (does not make your prior image any less wonderful, but certainly the two have different impressions.)
Thanks for posting the edited version, I love it even more! I think there are a couple factors in play here. The first is, the added contrast especially in the LRC makes a huge difference for me. In the original, I was leaning towards that corner feeling cut off, or not enough of it included. The added texture there really helps. But also, there’s the consideration of the frame. I don’t recall if you had a frame around the original, but the frame in the edited version I think helps with that LRC; so I’m not really sure if it’s your added texture/contrast, OR the frame that makes it better. hmmmmm.
Initially I thought the balance in elements was weaker in the original, but now think visually it’s working. Again, can’t figure out why.
Also, the edited version appears a tiny bit warmer? But now I’m suspecting the frame is altering this because I’m using the dark theme and the white frame is perhaps making that an illusion. Interesting if that’s the case.
It’s interesting how similar sand and snow is in terms of subject matter. Yes, the frame was the key to the lrc. I think that now the picture includes the frame and that pushes that triangle closer to the center, away from the edge.
