Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: John R on March 05, 2009, 07:24:20 pm

Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: John R on March 05, 2009, 07:24:20 pm
[attachment=11936:snowmoun..._ptxcopy.jpg]Here are a few shots of what I call snow dunes. Taken by the roadside somewhere in Caledon, they are essentially close up shots of little ridges and hills created by snow plows. I waited for the snow to blow to take some of the shots.

JMR
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: BlasR on March 05, 2009, 07:49:04 pm
I like # 3

BlasR
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: AndrewKulin on March 05, 2009, 08:49:25 pm
Quote from: BlasR
I like # 3

BlasR

I concur.  It has a nice symmetry to it, or is that an S-curve?

Andrew
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: John R on March 05, 2009, 09:03:10 pm
Quote from: BlasR
I like # 3

BlasR
Thanks, most people do prefer no-3.

JMR
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: John R on March 05, 2009, 09:04:42 pm
Quote from: AndrewKulin
I concur.  It has a nice symmetry to it, or is that an S-curve?

Andrew
Thanks Andrew. Not really an 'S', just the angle from which I took the image.

JMR
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: wolfnowl on March 06, 2009, 01:26:51 am
Nice work, John!  Here's one I made on Lake Nipigon back in 1982...

Mike.

[attachment=11939:IMG0066.jpg]
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: Hans Kruse on March 06, 2009, 06:42:42 am
Quote from: John R
[attachment=11936:snowmoun..._ptxcopy.jpg]Here are a few shots of what I call snow dunes. Taken by the roadside somewhere in Caledon, they are essentially close up shots of little ridges and hills created by snow plows. I waited for the snow to blow to take some of the shots.

JMR

Hi John,

Clearly 3 is the best. No 1 has too much overexposed areas that do not look good. No 2 is too subtle (at least for my taste). Now no 3 could be cropped better, I think, to enhance the composition and increase the power of the s-curve. My suggestion is to remove the upper part which distracts from the nice s-curve and I also adde a little extra sharpening.

Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: francois on March 06, 2009, 07:00:44 am
Quote from: hkruse
Hi John,

Clearly 3 is the best. No 1 has too much overexposed areas that do not look good. No 2 is too subtle (at least for my taste). Now no 3 could be cropped better, I think, to enhance the composition and increase the power of the s-curve. My suggestion is to remove the upper part which distracts from the nice s-curve and I also adde a little extra sharpening.
Your cropped version is better - in my opinion - than the initial photo. What I like in either the original or the cropped version is simplicity. Photo #3 is definitely the best of three.
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: John R on March 06, 2009, 05:00:11 pm
Quote from: wolfnowl
Nice work, John!  Here's one I made on Lake Nipigon back in 1982...

Mike.
Thanks Mike. You must have had a lot wind in your shot. In fact, it looks to be blowing iright into your lens.

JMR
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: John R on March 06, 2009, 05:07:00 pm
Quote from: hkruse
Hi John,

Clearly 3 is the best. No 1 has too much overexposed areas that do not look good. No 2 is too subtle (at least for my taste). Now no 3 could be cropped better, I think, to enhance the composition and increase the power of the s-curve. My suggestion is to remove the upper part which distracts from the nice s-curve and I also adde a little extra sharpening.
No 3- I played with a similar crop to yours but decided I really like the light above the shaded area that separated the 'S' area and felt the simpler curve was too tight for my liking. No- 2 is subtler and I have made different versions of this. No-1, IMO, is matter of taste. I gave it a sepia treatment and really like the overexposed areas and feel they contribute to the image as kind of light emanating from the fissures of the snow dunes. With respect to sharpening, I do as little as possible because I find it tends to ruin the soft qualities of an image, and until I can find a way to sharpen only the parts I want, I keep it to a minimum. These shots are all scans from slides. Thank you for your interesting comments.

JMR
Title: Snow Dunes
Post by: John R on March 06, 2009, 05:11:34 pm
Quote from: francois
Your cropped version is better - in my opinion - than the initial photo. What I like in either the original or the cropped version is simplicity. Photo #3 is definitely the best of three.
The third image is a slight crop, but not from the larger images in my post. I agree, simplicity is often better in photography. Our photoclub addage was, "simplicity without monotony; variety without confusion." But as you know, this is easier said than done.

JMR