First snow

[Timo Löfgren]

Comments....

[spidermike]

My first reponse is that it looks as though too much contrast has been applied to the image - I am not sure this is the case or if it is due to my screen or the effect of the light snow on what will be the highlight areas.

[wolfnowl]

Looks WAY oversharpened... like someone took sandpaper to the image.

Mike.

[tjwilson]

Way too much happening, no distinct area of viewer focus or interest.

[Geoff Wittig]

Au, contraire.

1) You can't make any meaningful comment about sharpening from a 658K JPEG. Probably the image printed at its intended size looks appropriately sharpened.

2) I love the contrast between fresh snow and fall foliage; again, it's difficult to say much about contrast from a small sRGB JPEG, but it looks nice to me.

3) The composition isn't that bad; looks like some of Robert Glenn Ketchum's "order from chaos" images. The immediate foreground isn't doing much for the photo, though. I'd probably crop out the bottom 10% or so, to just above the base of the central shrub (sumac?). This puts the emphasis onto the sumac and pulls the viewer into the forest, rather than leaving him/her at the edge.
-just my 2 cents; go with what you like.

[wolfnowl]

You can't make any meaningful comment about sharpening from a 658K JPEG. Probably the image printed at its intended size looks appropriately sharpened.

Perhaps, but putting tongue firmly in cheek I would say that unless the OP would be willing and able to provide anyone and everyone willing to comment with an image printed at its intended size, then it MIGHT be best to sharpen this version of the image appropriately for web output... especially since this is a 'User Critiques' forum and I for one took a quick glance at the image and moved on.  

The image MAY have more merit than I was willing to give it simply because I couldn't look beyond the fact that it looked like it had been sandpapered.

Now, taking tongue out of cheek, if that's the look that Tom was going for then fine, but personally it doesn't do anything for me.  Others of course are welcome to disagree, and in my opinion it's fine to ask other people for input but eventually you have to with what speaks to you (or your client) because therein lies the final say.

Mike.

[Staples]

Timo - I found your photo of interest particularly as it's a scene typically found in Canada.  I will try and offer some constructive comments as follows:  The visual weight in the photo is mainly on the right hand side of centre - you have almost 2 photos here and I'm not sure which one you chose - seems like you chose both.  Personally I don't think that you can crop much off the bottom as the trees need 'space' around them.  I would suggest that part of the right hand side can safely be cropped but it doesn't help a great deal.  The composition remains somewhat problematic - you have the sumac dead centre and the leaves don't seem to be well defined as if they were moving in the wind.  Also you have a lone birch or poplar tree very close to the left hand edge - too close.  You need something on the left alright but it needs space.  As an aside, the colour of the grass seems to be far too blue - and far too saturated to be realistic for that time of year.   You have obviously encountered a very pleasant scene - however you need to isolate in your mind exactly what drew your attention to it and then by camera placement and perhaps with a change in perspective, place those selected elements in a more dynamic composition.
cheers
Len Staples

[Staples]

Timo - one further comment on reflection a week later.  One of the reasons that your photograph has interest is that there is a semblance of a path that we can follow from the lower right corner to the left along the bottom edge and upwards left of the sumac in the centre.  Most of this would be lost if you cropped off the bottom.  Indeed, perhaps you should have included more of this 'path' and by a different camera placement reinforced it.  One problem is that your eye continues to the fallen branch on the ground and then stops abruptly.
Len