Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: William Walker on March 13, 2011, 11:00:49 am

Title: Karoo Clouds
Post by: William Walker on March 13, 2011, 11:00:49 am

Hi

Once again, I would be interested to see what you think...

Title: Re: Karoo Clouds
Post by: degrub on March 13, 2011, 12:54:52 pm

What is the subject of the photo ?

Title: Re: Karoo Clouds
Post by: Christoph C. Feldhaim on March 13, 2011, 01:10:22 pm

I like the photo, but believe it requires a huge print - really huge ....
And a b/w conversion might be interesting.

Title: Re: Karoo Clouds
Post by: wolfnowl on March 13, 2011, 02:58:07 pm

I agree with Christoph... I think the image is good, but subtle, and looking at it in a small frame makes one ask the question, "What is the subject here?"  Printed large there would be enough visible detail to make it more interesting.

Mike,

Title: Re: Karoo Clouds
Post by: William Walker on March 14, 2011, 01:50:28 am

Quote from: Christoph C. Feldhaim on March 13, 2011, 01:10:22 pm

I like the photo, but believe it requires a huge print - really huge ....
And a b/w conversion might be interesting.

I have printed it as big as I can (17X22) and I really like it. The idea of the picture is to emphasize the part of my country where the terrain is generally flat with huge skies. You have that look - big sky - 360 degrees! I tried to give the picture as much depth as I could and wondered if you sensed that?

My heart sings when I am there.

Title: Re: Karoo Clouds
Post by: mahleu on March 14, 2011, 08:59:35 am

I need to go back to the Karoo. If the space is what you're trying to convey then it does need to be printed big. Or it needs something to give a sense of scale, which limits you to a farmhouse or a sheep in the Karoo...

Title: Re: Karoo Clouds
Post by: degrub on March 14, 2011, 09:29:27 am

i agree, a huge print would allow me to "immerse" in the image. That being said, at this scale, i found my eye immediately drawn to the white cloud and i lost that feeling.

Frank

Title: Re: Karoo Clouds
Post by: John R Smith on March 14, 2011, 09:47:13 am

Frank has once again hit the nail on the head.

Basically, our eye is usually drawn to the lightest part of the picture. If we compose and tone-map things effectively, we can make that work for us, but it does not do so here. We don't see the picture as a whole, just that little white cloud. Essentially, what you have is a sky shot with a strip of landscape at the bottom to anchor it. Any of us can do this, and it will end up looking much the same - and unless the cloudscape is really special (which this one is not), the picture will have little merit especially in portrait format. Conceived in landscape format it would have a somewhat better chance of success. I am sure that Karoo is a very special place, but I think that you could convey its essence much more effectively with a different approach.

John

Title: Re: Karoo Clouds
Post by: William Walker on March 15, 2011, 01:36:55 am

Many thanks to those of you who took the time to comment - I really appreciate it.