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Author Topic: giants Cup  (Read 1428 times)

Heinz

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giants Cup
« on: April 16, 2011, 08:41:28 am »

This was taken in Underberg a little while ago, i was on my way home from Port St Johns.
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John R Smith

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Re: giants Cup
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2011, 10:28:54 am »

Heinz

This is a very competent landscape, with good framing and plenty of interest to lead the eye through the scene. A great sky, too. However, on my not terribly good laptop monitor here it seems to have an overall lack of sparkle and "punch", which is probably down to soft light at the scene. I would think that a bit more work on local contrast in the riverbank vegetation might help. And the other thing I would certainly do is get rid of that bright top left-hand corner, either by cloning some cloud into it or by burning it in. Weak corners are pretty much always a Bad Thing.

But I do really like the mood of it, a lot.

John
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wolfnowl

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Re: giants Cup
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2011, 11:09:32 am »

I'm with John here - good potential but a little tweaking might help.

Mike.
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popnfresh

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Re: giants Cup
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2011, 09:34:40 am »

Several things are going on here that detract from the overall composition. The light is very flat, giving the whole thing a dull appearance. There's a lack of detail in the low values. I'm not crazy about the trees in the upper right. I think a more judicious vantage point would have helped. The sky is not terribly interesting. The only things that are interesting to me are the subtly shaded mountains on the horizon, but they're not enough to redeem the image as a whole.
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RSL

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Re: giants Cup
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2011, 09:56:58 am »

I don't usually comment on landscapes because I believe it's impossible for a photograph even to begin to come up to the standards set by some of history's great landscape painters. Photography does a number of things much better than paint can do them, but landscape isn't one of them.

But that said, I need to take issue with Pop's comments. Strange, because I usually agree with Pop. But I like this picture.

Yes, the light is flat, but it's a hazy day and the light is always flat on hazy days. The flatness of the light is part of why the picture is good. Yes, there's a lack of detail in the low values, but in a small image at 72ppi on a computer monitor there's always a lack of detail in properly exposed low values. I'd love to see the thing properly printed at a reasonable size.

I hate to talk in terms of formal composition rules, but it's true that rules often work. Seems to me that the dark trees in the upper right combine with the river and the bushes on the left bank to split the picture into two distinct triangles. The viewer's eye moves naturally from triangle to triangle. In addition, the dark upper cloud and the lower dark triangle focus the viewer on the distant mountains. I agree with Pop about the subtly shaded mountains, and I think they're the heart of the picture. The mid tones seem good, though I'd be reluctant to pass judgment on that in a small monitor image considering the subtleties of the tones.

All in all, I'd call it good work. Wish I could see a 17 x 22 print.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: giants Cup
« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2011, 10:33:23 am »

.... And the other thing I would certainly do is get rid of that bright top left-hand corner, either by cloning some cloud into it or by burning it in. Weak corners are pretty much always a Bad Thing...

John, I can not believe you did not suggest (strong) vignetting (and not just for that corner)!?  ;)

John R Smith

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Re: giants Cup
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2011, 01:47:12 pm »

John, I can not believe you did not suggest (strong) vignetting (and not just for that corner)!?  ;)

Well, you know me, Slobodan . . . I would have hit that Vignette tool and cranked up the volume  ;)

We would have ended up with something out of a Vincent Price movie  - but it's unfair to pass my own addiction onto another innocent photographer, as yet pure and unsullied by the temptations of Lightroom.

John
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Heinz

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Re: giants Cup
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2011, 04:33:29 pm »

Thanks guy's. Some good feed back. Must admit, I did not notice the corner (consider my self rapped over the knuckles) :-[

Cheers
Heinz
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