Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: deeyas on December 26, 2010, 10:42:29 pm

Title: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: deeyas on December 26, 2010, 10:42:29 pm: Merry Christmas everyone! It's been a while since I've posted anything. With a fresh round of snow in North Carolina, I was lured into taking these snaps. I haven't really taken photographs in the snow before (particularly of snow!). I found this to be a little challenging. It was a gloomy day; made the snow look flat on the screen so I added some grain to it. Comments, suggestions, and links to your shots-in-the-snow are most welcome.

(https://files.me.com/deeyas/v0w9ew)

(https://files.me.com/deeyas/bkxfok)
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: RSL on December 27, 2010, 08:23:13 am: Sayeed, That's a very fine shot, though I'm not sure I like the grain. Hope you're ready for the coming avalanche of cropping recommendations.
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: John R on December 27, 2010, 03:19:08 pm: I like the first image for its painterly quality and its simplicity. It has a distinct ethereal feel, like looking through a window and watching snow fall. Magical! The bottom white area balances the rest of the image and reinforces and accentuates the ethereal quality of the softness of the scene. Allowing snow to go slightly grey works well when the aim is to enhance expression, so I think the grey works fairly well and is a matter of taste. There are three slight bands at the bottom that are slightly noticable. I don't think they are that objectionable and I really like the proportions you have now, so I would not mess with it. Perhaps the digital experts can suggest something in this regard.

Re the second image, I feel the horses and tree outline are somewhat hemmed in, especially as compared to the first image. To me, the horizontal format coupled with the whiteness of the scene is asking for a more expansive view on both sides of the visible scene, so that the proportion of the whiteness (and therefore softness), to the visible scene is more balanced aesthetically. But, this is an excellent image also, and I may be unduly prejudiced by viewing and enjoying the first image so much. Cropping? Why bother, if it is not in YOUR vision. Anyone can crop.
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Rob C on December 27, 2010, 04:38:23 pm: A personal thought: not wise to offer an audience alternatives on the same take. Shows you aren't sure yourself. Have done exactly that, too, and regretted it.

But a good shot/subject and I prefer the first rendition.

Rob C
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: fredjeang on December 27, 2010, 05:56:51 pm: Quote from: RSL on December 27, 2010, 08:23:13 am
Sayeed, That's a very fine shot, though I'm not sure I like the grain. Hope you're ready for the coming avalanche of cropping recommendations.
;D ;D ;D
Russ, I always have a good laugh when I read your remarks about the croppers.

I imagine you, in front of an american door house with a gun and instead of the sign "no trepassing", it's written "no cropping".
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: jule on December 27, 2010, 06:00:34 pm: Thank you for posting this image. It suggests a simple, beautiful, serene scene. I suspect the grittiness if the grain is a little too much for my own tastes, and would only be able to be decided upon in print - and at the finished size and viewing distance. For me the top image is far stronger by far. The second one goes in the basket of orinary for me, whilst the first one has a more individual interperetation of the scene.

Julie
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Alan Klein on December 27, 2010, 09:45:36 pm: The top one would be great as a personal greeting card, let's say:

"Hoping you have peace in the New Year" above the horses.

And beneath the horses:

"All our love from the seeyas jr. member family in N.C."

What is your name anyway? Alan.
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: deeyas on December 27, 2010, 10:16:48 pm: Thanks for the comments! I do like the first image better than the cropped one; I think the horizontal orientation and empty space add to the image. I find posting alternatives helpful as it enables me to understand other members' perspective.
The bands at the bottom of the first image were barbed wire. While composing the shot, I though that it would add to the image, but the particular shot I selected from the sequence was taken at f/2.0, rendering the barbed wire out of focus. I've tried to remove it from the image and also scaled back on the grain. Here is another shot from the day.

- Sayeed

(https://files.me.com/deeyas/08t5c2) (https://files.me.com/deeyas/ztgo6p)
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on December 27, 2010, 11:19:56 pm: Quote from: fredjeang on December 27, 2010, 05:56:51 pm
Russ, I always have a good laugh when I read your remarks about the croppers.

I imagine you, in front of an american door house with a gun and instead of the sign "no trepassing", it's written "no cropping".

Ha!… We won't tolerate this... I say: croppers of the world, unite… and fight this anti-cropping imperialism!
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Alan Klein on December 28, 2010, 12:14:34 am: I like the third too. The 4th the fence bothers me a little. Alan
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: degrub on December 28, 2010, 12:24:52 am: +1 for # 3
The fence is visually disturbing to my eyes.

Frank
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: stamper on December 28, 2010, 03:52:09 am: The problem with the white areas in the first three is that they don't look like snow. Too white and no sign of anything disturbing the area. The grain looks like snow so it adds to the scene. I don't suggest cropping the white areas but what about a guillotine? :)
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Rob C on December 28, 2010, 04:20:08 am: Quote from: stamper on December 28, 2010, 03:52:09 am
The problem with the white areas in the first three is that they don't look like snow. Too white and no sign of anything disturbing the area. The grain looks like snow so it adds to the scene. I don't suggest cropping the white areas but what about a guillotine? :)

There you are: politics will out!

Happy New Year, stamper.

Rob C
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: RSL on December 28, 2010, 05:59:21 am: Quote from: deeyas on December 27, 2010, 10:16:48 pm
I do like the first image better than the cropped one...

See!
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: stamper on December 28, 2010, 06:25:40 am: There you are: politics will out!

Happy New Year, stamper.

Rob C

But a good shot/subject and I prefer the first rendition.

Rob C

You started the politics with your rendition post? ;) ;D

Happy New year to you and the rest when it comes :)
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on December 28, 2010, 12:33:43 pm: Quote from: stamper on December 28, 2010, 03:52:09 am
I don't suggest cropping the white areas but what about a guillotine? :)
For cropping off heads? The croppers cropped or the non-croppers shown how to crop?

Jeremy
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: alainbriot on December 28, 2010, 01:56:14 pm: Do we really need that much white? Sometimes, less is more in my opinion:

(http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/OPP/horses-5974-4-AB.jpg)
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on December 28, 2010, 02:42:17 pm: As a certified cropper, I could not resist… I also think that converting to b&w makes more sense of the grain, and square format depicts serenity of the scene the best:
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: RSL on December 28, 2010, 03:24:18 pm: Since Sayeed is no novice I have a feeling he saw the picture as a vertical with the horizon in the center and shot it that way. If he'd seen it as a horizontal with most of the foreground gone he'd have shot it that way. If he'd seen it as a B&W with half the sky and foreground chopped out he'd have shot it that way. The crops are all fairly good pictures but they're not Sayeed's picture. I think Sayeed saw it the right way in the first place and shot it the way he saw it, then played with a horizontal crop but rejected the result. The very large blank areas and the mid-frame horizon give the picture a feeling of stability and peace, which I suspect is what Sayeed saw. I once bought a similar painting in Taos. It hung in my living room for many years until I gave it to one of my kids, who had admired it. The horse and the grasses it was grazing were a small splash across the middle of the very large, blank canvas. It was very effective. Sayeed's vertical is very effective. It's still effective cropped, but less so.

What say you, Sayeed?
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on December 28, 2010, 04:39:23 pm: Quote from: RSL on December 28, 2010, 03:24:18 pm
The horse and the grasses it was grazing were a small splash across the middle of the very large, blank canvas. It was very effective. Sayeed's vertical is very effective. It's still effective cropped, but less so.

What say you, Sayeed?
Well, I'm not Sayeed but I agree with you. I liked the original photo with the original (non-)crop; despite being an avid b&w enthusiast, I very much liked the splash of colour - the only colour in the shot - provided by the horses and for me that huge expanse of white with very little detail jsut worked. I didn't like the one with the fence in it for pretty much the same reasons.

Jeremy

Damn - that's the second time recently that I've sided with the non-croppers. Are you sending something infectious through my keyboard, Russ?
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: langier on December 29, 2010, 10:48:11 am: I concur with Alain.

The original images are very static with the centered horizons and too much white. Less is more...

As I say to people, your camera isn't a gun to be aimed for the bull's eye!

Take a look at his version. IMO, it's close to being a winner!
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: RSL on December 29, 2010, 12:13:30 pm: Quote from: langier on December 29, 2010, 10:48:11 am
IMO, it's close to being a winner!

IMO the word that accurately describes it is "mundane." The whole point of Sayeed's original picture was the relatively small, colored horses, munching away in a very large, quiet world of white. The expanse of the field and the widespread sound-suppressing snow are essential elements of what that picture was about. With those elements gone the picture is pretty much what any passing tourist might shoot.

Also, I've seen enough of Alain's work to know he can do a lot better than that.
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: RSL on December 29, 2010, 05:34:39 pm: Quote from: kikashi on December 28, 2010, 04:39:23 pm
Damn - that's the second time recently that I've sided with the non-croppers. Are you sending something infectious through my keyboard, Russ?

Jeremy, No, it's nothing I'm doing. It's the onset of what Eastern philosophers call "enlightenment."
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on December 29, 2010, 07:13:23 pm: Quote from: RSL on December 29, 2010, 05:34:39 pm
Jeremy, No, it's nothing I'm doing. It's the onset of what Eastern philosophers call "enlightenment."
;D
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: deeyas on December 29, 2010, 08:10:51 pm: Thank you all for your insightful comments! The main reason I post on forums is to get the various perspectives of seasoned photographers; this website and forum has certainly shaped my photographic knowledge and interests over the years.

I do like the landscape orientation that Alain posted; that is something that I hadn't visualized while shooting. After a side-by-side comparison of the vertical Vs. Horizontal, I am still attracted to the vertical one. I did think (and try) B&W, but the hint of color in the branches and the horses is what attracted me to the scene in the first place, so I decided to stick with it. The reason I had stopped and gotten out of the car in the slush was to somehow capture the minimal color in the vast white expanse. I've scaled back on the grain further (I wish I could add grain with the adjustment brush to give the snow more texture) and will play with the other levels while printing.
Title: Re: An attempt at landscape ... and horses!
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on January 01, 2011, 04:54:49 am: Quote from: RSL on December 29, 2010, 05:34:39 pm
Jeremy, No, it's nothing I'm doing. It's the onset of what Eastern philosophers call "enlightenment."
Touché!

Jeremy