Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: dwood on July 20, 2009, 11:04:09 am

Title: The old bones
Post by: dwood on July 20, 2009, 11:04:09 am: The shot was taken where the sea meets the land, in Maine.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2443/3738565645_58c2b78f88_o.jpg)
Title: The old bones
Post by: MR.FEESH on July 20, 2009, 12:09:16 pm: Is it possible to do a re-shoot? (Not that the first one is bad)
I feel light you could do more with the lighting. Like the picture would be more powerful at sunrise, or if there is enough ambient light, sunset. Just something other than very bright white light.
Really no complaints, otherwise.

Elby
Title: The old bones
Post by: dwood on July 20, 2009, 05:11:24 pm: Quote from: MR.FEESH
Is it possible to do a re-shoot? (Not that the first one is bad)
I feel light you could do more with the lighting. Like the picture would be more powerful at sunrise, or if there is enough ambient light, sunset. Just something other than very bright white light.
Really no complaints, otherwise.

Elby

Thanks for your input.
Title: The old bones
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 20, 2009, 06:35:31 pm: Quote from: dwood
The shot was taken where the sea meets the land, in Maine.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2443/3738565645_58c2b78f88_o.jpg)
I like it, but I wonder if it wouldn't be better in b&w: there really isn't enough colour to be useful. If you made it b&w, you could really go to town on the detail in the wood. I'd lose a bit of the rock at the left as well.

IMHO, as ever.

Jeremy
Title: The old bones
Post by: dwood on July 20, 2009, 07:06:28 pm: Quote from: kikashi
I like it, but I wonder if it wouldn't be better in b&w: there really isn't enough colour to be useful. If you made it b&w, you could really go to town on the detail in the wood. I'd lose a bit of the rock at the left as well.

IMHO, as ever.

Jeremy

My first thought was that this might work better in b&w too. I did the conversion and started playing with it a bit but in the end, this particular image simply works better for me in color. The colors are muted, for sure, but I think that's partly why I'm drawn to this picture.

Thanks for your feedback.
Title: The old bones
Post by: John R on July 20, 2009, 07:50:32 pm: I like muted tones. We are inundated with 'pop' colour photos; and I am just as guilty, at least in the past. So it is nice to see images with restrained colours. My one comment is that I really like the curvature of the roots at the bottom and think that the image could have benefitted from including more of the last curved roots to give them a nice sweep. Having said that, I could be altogether wrong and maybe there was something present that made you choose this visual crop, or maybe the roots did not extend as I imagine.

JMR
Title: The old bones
Post by: DarkPenguin on July 20, 2009, 10:46:41 pm: I quite like it. The rock on the left is not balanced on the right. It really has the only interesting bit of color. There is something happening with that rock in the lower right but it isn't enough to balance it. The tree is nicely captured. But I do stop on the rock on the left for a bit before I move on.
Title: The old bones
Post by: wolfnowl on July 21, 2009, 02:50:15 am: I can see the potential for B&W, but although muted, I prefer it in colour. Overall, I like it. Well done!

Mike.
Title: The old bones
Post by: walter.sk on July 21, 2009, 10:03:02 am: Quote from: dwood
The shot was taken where the sea meets the land, in Maine.
I think the shapes and textures are very interesting, and make a good study. I did notice a couple of areas that would be worth pursuing, maybe witha macro lens, and I have circled them on your image. I think they are the essence of what made you think of the "bones" of the tree.

[attachment=15576:37385656...orMacros.jpg]
Title: The old bones
Post by: button on July 21, 2009, 12:13:28 pm: I think you've chosen an outstanding subject. I've looked at this several times, and although I think you've included the rocks for framing purposes, I just don't think I can make them work for me in this context.

I know that "I would do this" posts annoy some folks, but perhaps a reshoot of just the roots, either with macro or closeup wideangle would make for a stronger shot. I would personally love to shoot these roots and try to make something work, as the contours and colors are incredible- I think your decision to leave this in color was the correct one.

John
Title: The old bones
Post by: dwood on July 21, 2009, 01:07:00 pm: I appreciate everyone's comments...interesting and useful. Here's a different shot of the subject. I'd be interested to know if any of you have a preference for this one over the orig. or vice-versa.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/3742645901_ae5d203286_o.jpg)
Title: The old bones
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on July 21, 2009, 02:59:36 pm: Quote from: dwood
I appreciate everyone's comments...interesting and useful. Here's a different shot of the subject. I'd be interested to know if any of you have a preference for this one over the orig. or vice-versa.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/3742645901_ae5d203286_o.jpg)
I prefer the framing, leaving out the rocks, but for me the roots looked much more interesting in the first one.

Jeremy
Title: The old bones
Post by: button on July 21, 2009, 03:46:40 pm: Quote from: kikashi
I prefer the framing, leaving out the rocks, but for me the roots looked much more interesting in the first one.

Jeremy

Agreed.

John
Title: The old bones
Post by: wolfnowl on July 21, 2009, 04:35:54 pm: Yes the composition of the roots in the first image is much better.

Mike.
Title: The old bones
Post by: dwood on July 21, 2009, 05:06:01 pm: Quote from: wolfnowl
Yes the composition of the roots in the first image is much better.

Mike.

I agree.
Title: The old bones
Post by: RSL on July 21, 2009, 05:18:46 pm: Quote from: dwood
The shot was taken where the sea meets the land, in Maine.

Doug, Gnarled trees and tree trunks always make interesting subjects, but I'd really like to see more of this one's surroundings. I can't criticize what you've done because I don't know what else was there to be framed along with the tree. I'm afraid that even though the gnarled roots are good wabi sabi I get a sort of "so what" effect from the close cropping and wonder what else there is in this tree's rocky home that could be played off against him. I certainly prefer the first version where at least there's one rock to give us an idea of where the tree lives.
Title: The old bones
Post by: cmi on July 21, 2009, 05:23:23 pm: Quote from: dwood
I appreciate everyone's comments...interesting and useful. Here's a different shot of the subject. I'd be interested to know if any of you have a preference for this one over the orig. or vice-versa.

Maybe if you want and have, show us a total, an overview of the whole scene. That way you might get even more suggestions concerning a different approach.