Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: amolitor on December 31, 2012, 08:28:42 am
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For your consideration. (this had a title, but I agree with chris that no title, while a bit lame, is better).
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Andrew, the composition is excellent and it's an interesting play between agriculture and industry. I really like it. I'd suggest to anyone looking at it on here that you bring it up to full size on your monitor before you judge it. For it to be most effective it would need to be printed quite large.
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I wonder in this instance whether the title becomes a misdirection. I opened it and immediately wondered what is was about the fenceline that was more intriguing than the lines created by the rows of plants or the powerlines. When I couldn't make that immediate distinction, I found myself being more critical of tonal values, dense blacks, etc. I really never like to go there if it's not necessary.
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I agree, chris, and modified the thread appropriately.
Thank you, Russ! Not only do you like it, you see what I see, so, doubly gratifying.
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My first reaction to the thumbnail was the same as Chris's. The tonal relationships in this picture are very subdued, which is why I suggest looking at the picture in as large a format as your monitor will allow. But if you look closely you'll see that there are a couple white spots that probably are a bit clipped: the tiny flowers in the left foreground and a couple equally bright spots on the fence posts. There also are some black clipped spots on the posts and at the edges of the crop lines in the middle ground. So the tonal range is there. What might strike you as a problem is the mid-tone relationships, which are very close, shading into each other in a subtle way. But then look at the whole spread of the scene. This is a picture about low tonal contrasts. There's a solid overcast above a subdued landscape further subdued by fog and haze. This picture isn't about a landscape in bright sunlight; it's about a landscape resting under a dull winter sky.
Stare at it for a while. It's a stunner. Bravo Andrew!
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I agree with Russ.
At first glance I wanted more local contrast, but I soon realized that the wonderful mood would be destroyed by more contrast.
As for the "No title": I saw a painting exhibit the other day in which one of the artists (I forget which) got tired of calling his paintings "Untitled," so right next to an "Untitled" was one called "Composition." ;)
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Thanks for posting it.
Bruce