Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: dwood on January 06, 2009, 08:13:06 pm
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(http://dswood.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p747583224-5.jpg)
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Had a look at your site and see that you are drawn to saturated images. Nothing wrong with that, but I think this image is underexposed, likely because of the large amounts of white area in the image. It could use a little brightening. Just tried it. Hope you don't mind. It actually brings out the subtler orange-browns in the still water section, whitens the snow and ice, and both these elements greatly enhance visual interest. I found it interesting that one can brighten this image quite a bit and still retain good exposure. Ice has blue tinge in some areas, but this looks natural, as the other parts appear white. Only you know how bright the light levels were. Adjust to preference and it is not bad.
John R
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Had a look at your site and see that you are drawn to saturated images. Nothing wrong with that, but I think this image is underexposed, likely because of the large amounts of white area in the image. It could use a little brightening. Just tried it. Hope you don't mind. It actually brings out the subtler orange-browns in the still water section, whitens the snow and ice, and both these elements greatly enhance visual interest. I found it interesting that one can brighten this image quite a bit and still retain good exposure. Ice has blue tinge in some areas, but this looks natural, as the other parts appear white. Only you know how bright the light levels were. Adjust to preference and it is not bad.
John R
John,
Your adjustment is a bit too bright and doesn't really reflect the light conditions/mood of the shot but I agree that a bit of 'digging out' is in order. Thanks for your input.
-Doug
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I really like the colors and composition. I'm partial to the brighter re-work, although I realize it isn't necessarily your vision. Regardless, it took a skillful eye to recognize the potential of this scene.
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John,
Your adjustment is a bit too bright and doesn't really reflect the light conditions/mood of the shot but I agree that a bit of 'digging out' is in order. Thanks for your input.
-Doug
I agree with Doug. Here's the version I came up with:
(http://beautiful-landscape.com/OPP/p747583224-5-AB.jpg)
Alain
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I agree with Doug. Here's the version I came up with:
Alain
I don't know how you guys manage to post the whole image as I am only able to post the reduced version. In any event, I sympathize with Doug as altering the brightness of a scene really depends on what one perceived on that day and not necessarily making it "better." Having said that, maybe its my screen but I only notice a touch less brightness. Yes, this version is subtler and resaonably maintains the colours and details in the reflections of the mid water areas.
John R
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I don't know how you guys manage to post the whole image as I am only able to post the reduced version. In any event, I sympathize with Doug as altering the brightness of a scene really depends on what one perceived on that day and not necessarily making it "better." Having said that, maybe its my screen but I only notice a touch less brightness. Yes, this version is subtler and resaonably maintains the colours and details in the reflections of the mid water areas.
John R
John,
For a true evaluation you need to download all the modified versions and open them in Photoshop on your computer. Or, open them in different windows on your browser. Either way, look at all of them at the same time.
Subtle variations is what a fine print is all about! However, I don't think my modifications are that small. I must have increased the brightness of the shadows by a factor of 2 to 4.
Regards,
Alain
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I went back and played with this a bit. I pulled some additional detail out of the shadows but not quite as much as you Alain. In the end, this is, of course, fairly subjective stuff. In the case of this particular image, I've made the edits (below) based on how the scene felt to me at the time. Thanks for taking the time to provide your valuable input gentlemen. I appreciate it.
(http://dswood.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p381178010-5.jpg)
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I went back and played with this a bit. I pulled some additional detail out of the shadows but not quite as much as you Alain. In the end, this is, of course, fairly subjective stuff. In the case of this particular image, I've made the edits (below) based on how the scene felt to me at the time. Thanks for taking the time to provide your valuable input gentlemen. I appreciate it.
(http://dswood.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p381178010-5.jpg)
Hi John,
I like your new version. As you say it is a subjective thing. WHat's "light enough" for one person may be "too bright" for someone else.
What matters is that we agree open shadows are better. I often go a little far in opening shadows. One of my teachers told me one day "A shadow is a shadow. It is dark! Shadows are dark." That was in Paris in the 80's. But then I like open shadows. However, my most recent print of the month has much deeper shadows and I love the contrast that this gives to the print. Even our own taste changes.
Alain
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Hi John,
I like your new version. As you say it is a subjective thing. WHat's "light enough" for one person may be "too bright" for someone else.
What matters is that we agree open shadows are better. I often go a little far in opening shadows. One of my teachers told me one day "A shadow is a shadow. It is dark! Shadows are dark." That was in Paris in the 80's. But then I like open shadows. However, my most recent print of the month has much deeper shadows and I love the contrast that this gives to the print. Even our own taste changes.
Alain
Hi Alain - that was me (Doug), not John but no worries. Thanks again for your input.
For those of you who may land on this thread for the first time, sorry about the 'content protected by owner' thing at the top. I inadvertently deleted the link to that version of the photo.
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The main problem I have with this photo is the composition. There are some interesting things happening in a few sections of the image, but as a whole it lacks coherence.
I think you could coax two or three images out of this that are more visually compelling with some judicious cropping.