Hi guys ! I hope everyone is doing fine. It's me again with all my questions. So my intention is not to get attention (that rhyme tho haha), I only want to hear some good and bad criticism for this photo. I was debating for a long time should I or should I not upload it. I quite like the mood (stormy clouds in combination with rain and light from the sunset on the right and the calmness on the left hand side) but I'm not quite sure if it has enough interest. There absolutely noting in the water in front of me besides the 2 pole sticking out. Do you think it would be better if there was some kind of foreground interest ? What do you think about the composition ? Thank you all very much in advance. For me it's really great to hear comments and thoughts from other people 'cause it's truly a way learning for me.
you got the color right. You could do a lot better considering the other photos in your portfolio which are extraordinary. Why is there a clarity issue? or is it only me?
I was thinking the exact same thing, it's a good photo, but not as good as my other ones. What clarity issue ? Too much or it looks blurry ?
it kind of looks blurry. somewhere between a long exposure and a photo that actually requires crispness
Hi Denis, quick question as it would effect my feedback. Was this a photograph that you had a quick opportunity to take or were you at your leisure? !)
Hi ! I was in this particular location for a longer time (maybe an hour and half) waiting for anything to happen. As it happened (when the light from the sunset started to hit the hillside and the tower) I started photographing. It my be taken at hurry, because it was raining where i was standing, but I already knew where to put my tripod to get the composition I wanted.
Got it! The reason I asked, and please know that this is with friendship (and a little envy!), is .... There is a castle and beautiful village back there. At least I think it is a castle. How cool is that! An actual castle! I'm from a small town in New Jersey and I've never even seen a castle. However, your picture is of a lake. If you had some time, I would have tried to get on the other side of the lake and taken that shot. (I'd probably get arrested for trespassing but ...castle?!) :)
Yes it's one of many castles surrounding my hometown of Bihać in Bosnia. It's not a lake, it's the beautiful river Una ! I'm probably gonna try your suggestion as the law says, 5 meters from the river is no ones, so it's not gonna be trespassing ! Thank you very much !
I don't think the picture lacks interest. It is that the focal point is a little lost because it is so far in the background. The colors are great, and the foreground water is good. Maybe you could crop a little off at the bottom. The clarity might be mist or haze in the picture. You could try adding a bit of dehaze if you have Lightroom. Overall, nice picture. Thanks for sharing!
I agree with you Shawn and I should have mentioned before that the color is gorgeous in this. I was just stuck on castle envy. :)
Thank you for the comment. I think that the lack of clarity is coming from the fact that it was raining (as it can be seen on the water) and the wind was blowing really hard.
Hi! I love the colors and the post-processing of this shot, it looks like a painting – in a very good way.
Let me start by saying that it's always easy to give a critique and really hard to actually do this well when you are on location or post-processing – lot's of respect.
But for me, the problem is with the foreground to background separation of the main subject. I feel that there is a stronger separation in the foreground, especially on the two sticks that are, well, sticking out of the water in the middle of the frame. And they immediately draw your eye in, whereas, the castle in the background kind of gets a bit lost.
Also, one of the sticks points at another white vertical, making an unnaturally straight line in the middle of the frame. Or was it your intention to use this imaginary line to bring the eye up? Personally, I think it's a bit distracting.
Hey, thank you very much for your comment ! Unfortunately for the sticks sticking out of the water, I tried to avoid them, but the area that I was photographing from was just to small for moving so afterwards I had the exact idea to align one of the sticks with the minaret (part of the mosque, another straight line on the hill) so it could the viewers eyes to the tower at the top. I'm for sure gonna go and try different compositions at this place, maybe also from a little wooden boat so I could somehow manage to avoid the sticks. Thank you again very much !
Thank you, it's a pleasure to engage in a constructive discussion about a piece of work!
Oh, so it's a minaret! Now I can see it :)
From here on its pure theory and I actually may be wrong ( quite likely ), so if someone from the community or yourself disagree with me and can correct me that would be awesome.
If we dive even deeper into the depths of the theory of composition, we can take a look at the overall gesture of this picture. And I feel that it would be vertical, because of all the vertical elements. by gesture, I mean the overall direction of the composition, it's movement.
And yet, the crop is horizontal. Plus, there is this round movement of the clouds and some of the trees that curl your eyes and keep them in the frame beautifully. But together with all the verticals, this creates sort of a disbalance and kind of divides the frame into segments.
I've illustrated some of the movement that I'm talking about to get the point across a bit better.
You're sure getting some tough love here, Denis! I rather like the image (sounds like damning with faint praise, doesn't it?). In your place, I'd be reasonably happy with it, but tweak it along these lines.
You identify an issue with the foreground water being a bit empty. Images don't have to be packed with edge-to-edge "interest" to appeal to me. The water's texture is interesting, and the poles add something more, including a question at the back of my mind: why are they there? Interest enough.
I like the trees at each edge, but I'd sacrifice part of the left one, and some of the water in this crop, adjusting the composition a bit to my taste..
The image is a bit between the show-all landscape, and moody impressionism. As it has this much detail, I'd push it towards the former by boosting sharpness and clarity, and increase mid-tone contrast. Finally, since it's "painterly" to my eye, I've added a vignette, excluding the sky at top as it's dark there already.
I've overdone it all somewhat to emphasise what I'm getting at..
BTW is that a minaret?
Hey, at first, thank you for you elaborate comment. As I already have mentioned above in one of my comments, at first I tried to avoid the poles because they were a bit distracting for me, but haven't had much space to move myself, so at the end I stuck with them and tried to align the right one with the minaret (yes indeed, it is a minaret, nice you noticed it). (BTW. those sticks are like mini-ports for small wooded vessels which are used to harvest sand from the river bottom). I love you crop much more than my original photo, it's gives your eyes less to see so they can be more focused on the tower and the weather. For the edit, I also like it, but as much as I see the purpose of adding a vignette for emphasizing the main element of the photograph, so much I don't that the trees on the right hand side are too dark. The light was hitting them directly from a lower angle, and the rain was falling so it created a dreamy look. Anyways, thank you again very much ! If you don't mind, I would ask you just one more question, what do you think about the straight horizontal line between the water and the land ?
I think its a very nice image. The colors look very good en the mood feels great! composition wise, there is nothing wrong with it. maybe a small crop so get a little bit less water.. the most annoying thing for me personally is actually the poles in the water... they take my attention and I don't want them to distract me in the image..
nice work! keep it up! :)
Thank you very much ! Some mentioned the poles and cropping the water, so I'm gonna for sure try it next time I go to this location !
Hi Denis, I'm late to the party so apologies if I repeat or contradict others. I also tend to remark without reading information provided as I don't want to be influenced by that.
Whenever I critique images I try to put my brain to one side and see where my eyes take me.
For this image I am drawn to the bright/contrasty posts leading from the water, and along the bright bank to the trees on the right.
It is only after pulling my eye from there that I find the scene beyond - as this has less contrast and is out of focus this for me is playing a supporting role
I can see how you might have been attracted by the lighting and contrast in the foreground but don't find enough interest there to support the image. For me the gorgeous sky and background are screaming out to be the stars here, but are dominated by the foreground.
I think the image may well be strengthened if you crop to reduce the weight of the foreground - from left and right to keep the trees as framing elements, and from the bottom to a little below the poles.
I'm not sure if this helps in any way, and keep in mind that this is one opinion and not the one that matters (which is yours....). You may have a totally different/emotional connection to the image that should be respected.
... just for the heck of it here's a really quick crop you can review and see if it resonates with your vision for this image in any way.
Thank you very much for your detailed comment ! Someone did I think the exact same crop as you did and I said that I like it much more than mine. The reason why I haven't cropped it like this is because I liked the texture of the water created by the wind and rain, but at the end, it can be also seen from your crop and it's fairly enough of it. I guess, as you said also, I gave a bit too much attention to the foreground and mid-ground (the water and the trees in combination with light from the sunset) while I was thinking that my background is gonna looks good no matter how I decide to photograph the foreground. I really thank you for pointing that out to me !
I think you may simply have depth of field issues here, Denis. You shot at f/9. Considering the proximity of the foreground, I'd probably have shot at f/16 or at least f/11, cranking up ISO if need be. And I'd focus on the trees at left and right (i.e. about one-third distance in). Also, cropping out some of the water would reduce the depth of focus needed. Every bit helps, with sharpness.
Incidentally, Alan demonstrates using the poles as a significant compositional element here. They're not a problem! For me, anyway.
Yeah, I was just finding that my eye was drawn to them as the contrast makes them so strong.
Funnily, in the cropped image I find them working much better and actually feel they help the image by adding some foreground interest.
What are your feelings on this? (I don't feel I'm right or wrong, just that I have a personal opinion).
They do work well in your image, Alan. But I like them to begin with.
Overall, I think your image is different, gaining in focus and graphically, but losing some of the rich detail - especially the trees at the edges, which are different, left and right, and frame the water - which Denis has captured.
Room for both, and more besides! I'd like to have taken dozens of variations here.
Great point Chris. It proves the case that there will always be different tastes, options and composition changes that will affect the overall feeling of an image.
I think it's great to get such variety of input.
Well, Denis - look at the number of posts! I think that answers your question: INTERESTING.
I was not expecting this at all and I'm so happy about it! I don't know how to thank everyone who participated in this conversation. Not only that I got the answer to my question(s), but I and I hope everybody else learned something new and valuable that we are gonna apply in the field as soon as possible ! Btw. I owe an apology to everyone for my bad English, I'm not a native speaker, so I hope that you all understand.
I'm sure we all enjoy these discussions, and your English is fine, Denis! :-)
Based on the number and length of comments, I'd say this image is very successful as it was powerful enough to move many to action. Nice work.