Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: David Eckels on December 14, 2014, 12:34:20 pm

Title: Unoriginal Thinking
Post by: David Eckels on December 14, 2014, 12:34:20 pm
On a recent shoot in Death Valley, the dunes are a must see, but they were contaminated with so much foot traffic that it was impossible to point the camera in any direction without evidence of the hands (feet?) of man. I decided to make the footsteps part of the composition. Flat light conditions in case you can't tell ;) Cropped a bit to create ambiguity, high(ish) key to emphasize path. Overall, low contrast. An experiment for me in processing an original treatment of an iconic site.
Wanted to get some feedback.
Title: Re: Unoriginal Thinking
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on December 14, 2014, 12:53:26 pm
Dave, I think color in this case is unnecessary. Also, I would go for a more elongated crop, eliminating some of the upper parts, concentrating on the curved path.
Title: Re: Unoriginal Thinking
Post by: David Eckels on December 14, 2014, 01:04:33 pm
Something like this? Agree about the color, was trying B/W, and now realize it was more of a composition concern I had.
Title: Re: Unoriginal Thinking
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on December 14, 2014, 01:07:01 pm
More like it. My own sense of balance would call for a bit shorter vertical path, but that is individual, of course.
Title: Re: Unoriginal Thinking
Post by: David Eckels on December 14, 2014, 01:10:03 pm
Yet another approach; upward path on rule of thirds intersect. I could distort it in PS to get what you're thinking about and will play with that look.
Modified to show the skew you suggested.
Title: Re: Unoriginal Thinking
Post by: degrub on December 14, 2014, 02:41:35 pm
You can have a little fun if you flip it top to bottom. :D
Frank
Title: Re: Unoriginal Thinking
Post by: stamper on December 15, 2014, 04:04:32 am
The posted suggestions are taking you in the right direction. A lot of potential to work with.
Title: Re: Unoriginal Thinking
Post by: SanderKikkert on December 15, 2014, 05:33:54 am
I like the the direction you've taken it in now, especially the one with 3 in the file name. Nice Mono,

Regards, Sander