I'm not sure about this one. The place (Blyde River Canyon, South Africa) has so much potential. There's a very obvious viewpoint here, and there is little compositional uniqueness in this image. The light was ok, and editing helped make it look dramatic. I'm not sure this is much more than a mediocre image of a beautiful location. Although it does look a bit better in print.
I'd appreciate any feedback on this one. Thanks!
Hi Lukas
The composition is great and it's certainly a very dramatic place to shoot. I'm just not sure about the light, the background is dark and without contrast.
Thanks for your comment Yannick! Yeah the light wasn't ideal, I only had one day to shoot there and the park didn't open until 2 hours after sunrise. Although I personally like the dark background actually. I could add some contrast back there though, that's a goo point. Thanks!
Hi Lukas,
I look at this and I immediately know how I would do the conversation in black and white. And, oddly for me, I would give it a very similar treatment in colour (I normally treat colour quite differently).
In any case, I think this is a great image, and I would (and this is just what I would do, and in no way a criticism):
- bring up the vibrancy of the lit section of hills in the background; center right of frame. Not a huge amount. And perhaps give it about 3 or 5 points of brightness.
- brighten the cliff line in the distance; center left of frame. Not a huge amount, just a little. I'd also increase the vibrancy, and maybe the saturation. Again, not a huge amount, but enough to make them pop from the clouds.
- And the tricky bit are the clouds. I'd love to see more detail/texture in them. But it's a fine line, and I'm not sure how far you can push it.
In any case, I think it's a stunning image that stands as it is, and you have every right to be proud of it.
Kudos.
Hi William, thanks so much or taking the time! I really appreciate feedback like this and I actually hadn't thought of a black and white conversion on this image before. But I think it's a great idea, there really isn't much color interest going on here. Although, the tough thing is that this canyon is considered the largest 'green' canyon in the world, so going bw might by ironic in that respect. But since the greens aren't really great in this light either I'll probably still give the bw a go. Thanks again for your comment!
Pleasure. I'd love to see it when you do the conversation.
Side note, they just posted about B&W conversion.
You have certainly garnered significant feedback about how the photo should be adjusted. Most of the comments tend to advocate "pushing" the photo into HDR territory. I think the photo looks very good and realistic. The light in the foreground and left provides good contrast to the background's muted features. It looks as though the photo could have been shot with film without much post-processing work. And, in today's overly processed photos, that is not necessarily a bad thing.