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Author Topic: Quindio  (Read 13498 times)

Andres Bonilla

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Quindio
« on: February 27, 2008, 10:34:36 pm »

I was wondering if there is too much going on with this photo, I liked because it shows the greenery of the countryside but is it too busy?
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DarkPenguin

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Quindio
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2008, 10:58:09 pm »

How big are you printing it?

I'm not a fan of the dead trees on the right or the big intrusive ones leaning in on the left.   (The wise landscape photographer always caries a chain saw.)   But the image still works for me.  Even at this size.  But I'm thinking it could be really cool printed big.

You might consider cloning out the tuft of grass (or leaves or whatever they are) just in the center bottom edge of the image to give the viewer an obvious path down into the image.

Very nice.
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jule

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Quindio
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2008, 01:33:29 am »

Sorry Andres. The dead tree just kills the image for me. Love them when I am walking through the bush and would never cut them down because of their ecological importance, but compositionally - it just doesn't seem to work.

There also seems to be some halos around the tree into the clouds on the left.

Julie
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larkvi

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Quindio
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2008, 01:53:12 am »

The combination of the composition and the wierd contrast makes the whole image jarring and gives no entrance for the eye to start scanning the image. The only thing that really holds the eye is the dead tree, and that is a distraction rather than a help. Holding my hand over the dead tree, there is still a lot that detracts from the centre of the scene, especially the heavy blacks in the bottom left.

Not to be a downer, but I don't think this one is a winner, much as I have liked some of your previous images.
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-Sean [ we

Andres Bonilla

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Quindio
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2008, 11:23:15 am »

Thank you guys! Yes, there is probably too much going on. I have not noticed the dead tree to be honest. I am glad you pointed it out.  My question is about the weird contrast, why is it weird? Some one once told me that halos are fixed in Photoshop with a couple of clicks, I have no idea how to do this.

Thanks for all your help.

Andres
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larkvi

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Quindio
« Reply #5 on: February 29, 2008, 01:31:30 am »

To my eye it looks like the contrast is very flat until it suddenly falls right into the shadows, which are heavy and blocked up--that's why I called it weird. (Is the curve inverse, with lowered highlights?) I know some people try for this as an aesthetic, but I don't think it suited to the kind of landscape you are presenting here. I don't know how intelligible that it, but I hope that explains what I meant by weird.
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-Sean [ we

Geoff Wittig

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Quindio
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2008, 09:43:55 am »

Quote
To my eye it looks like the contrast is very flat until it suddenly falls right into the shadows, which are heavy and blocked up--that's why I called it weird. (Is the curve inverse, with lowered highlights?) I know some people try for this as an aesthetic, but I don't think it suited to the kind of landscape you are presenting here. I don't know how intelligible that it, but I hope that explains what I meant by weird.
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Too much shadow/highlight adjustment?
Aggressive use of shadow/highlight or of HDR technique seems to be very popular these days. It can give an image an unsual appearance, but they all seem to look the same after a while, sort of like cross-processing or super-high contrast techniques.
Just my 2 cents.
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condit79

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Quindio
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2008, 02:37:17 am »

try adding a bit of a vignette to bring the eye more to the center and to bring down the illumination of the trees on the edges of the shot.  There is some interesting framing, but like with a physical frame you don´t want the frame to distract from the focal point of the image.
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Andres Bonilla

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Quindio
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2008, 12:56:54 pm »

Quote
Too much shadow/highlight adjustment?
Aggressive use of shadow/highlight or of HDR technique seems to be very popular these days. It can give an image an unsual appearance, but they all seem to look the same after a while, sort of like cross-processing or super-high contrast techniques.
Just my 2 cents.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=179030\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Hi Geoff, no it is not a HDR technique or Shadow/highligt adjustments, I did not have CS2 at the time, I think I played with the curves too much?I have seen the Photomatix shots and they really look different, it works for some shots and it others is weird.

Thanks,

Andres
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Andres Bonilla

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Quindio
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2008, 12:57:53 pm »

Quote
try adding a bit of a vignette to bring the eye more to the center and to bring down the illumination of the trees on the edges of the shot.  There is some interesting framing, but like with a physical frame you don´t want the frame to distract from the focal point of the image.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=179505\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks, by vignette do you mean like darkening the edges?
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JRandallNichols

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Quindio
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2008, 10:17:58 pm »

Funny, when I first saw this come up I thought it was a book illustration, not a photograph.  Actually I think it is potentially a very good one.  What we need is some focal action in the center--a child wandering, an animal in distress, whatever.  No, I am not being facetious.  This is a marvelous "canvass" for the illustrator to work from.  The dead tree which some object to is part of the mystery of this "hidden valley."

Oh well, just an appreciative thought!
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Randy

ChrisS

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Quindio
« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2008, 03:00:57 pm »

As a newcomer to digital photography, I certainly couldn't comment with authority on the technical achievement of the photograph. But I'd say that since Gursky, I don't know how there can be 'too much going on with [any] photo' - at least not one in which there is so much that coheres in terms of the subject and space as this one. I'm not trying to say it's a great photo, as I don't have a clue what makes a great photo, but I certainly don't see how business or complexity (I'm not sure which term applies best here) reduces the value of the work. In fact, the business or complexity of the image is, I think, a real strength. The presence of a dead tree might diminish the picture's standing on conventional photographic compositional terms, but as an intrusion of death at the margin, I think it's quite powerful.

The point that lies behind these comments is this:

the fact that a photograph doesn't fit easily with photographic convention - here, typical conventions of landscape format - isn't reason to underestimate its achievement as a photograph, or a work of art. The history of 20th century photography show us this...
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Andres Bonilla

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Quindio
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2008, 12:30:16 am »

Thanks Chris and Randall for your comments!
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Jack Varney

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Quindio
« Reply #13 on: April 08, 2008, 08:29:55 pm »

I think this is an image that calls for a large presentation. It is a scene represented so that you can "walk into it" visually. Blow it up to full screen and it is very good, I think.
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Jack Varney

popnfresh

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Quindio
« Reply #14 on: April 09, 2008, 03:55:08 pm »

I like the distant landscape and the sky and clouds. The lighting is intriguing. The problem I have with the composition is that there's nothing interesting in the foreground. There are trees in the foreground on either side of the frame, but they're boring. In the end, they only get in the way of the more interesting stuff in the background. The picture needs something compelling in the foreground.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2008, 03:56:22 pm by popnfresh »
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