Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: 32BT on May 11, 2012, 04:18:16 am
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Okay, given that we are in our infantile drawing period at these forums, and you are entitled to your graffiti on my pictures, I submit these images for your viewing and/or drawing pleasure.
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I like the compostion of the second better than the first, though I'd be tempted to crop the sky a bit tighter and the right side a bit more to confine the tree as the predominate focal point.
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My favorite is #2. My eyes go directly to the tree, there's no distraction, background and sky have a low contrast that doesn't compete with the tree. The tree seems to be leaning to counter the gentle slope.
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The first is a has a very western feel to it, with the more dramatic clouds and only moderate negative space. The crop of the tree on the left almost works, but I find my eye wandering off left and wishing there was more tree there.
The second looks very asian, with the nearly flat sky, with just a few wispy lines, and the lone tree. Very simple and open, it feels about right to me. The image has space to breathe without descending to dullness. I prefer it.
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The second image had my preference as well. I ended up printing that one. I remember spending a lot of time struggling with that horizon. It is funny how easy it is to judge the horizon as "incorrect". Much like the perspective corrections we had in recent images here.
I vaguely recall cropping the tree in the first image because the branches on the far left weren't interesting or somehow blended with the horizon or something to that effect. I did like the opposition between the form of the tree and the form of the light area in the sky, and in addition, it does depict context for the tree and how it was formed.
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I do not see them as an either/or choice. Both are reasonably ok-ish in their own right. Having said that, my personal preference would be #1.
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I prefer the counterbalance between the darkness of the tree and the clouds in image #1, but am put off by the fact that the tree's been chopped off on the left side.
Mike.
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I'm not especially taken with either one, but I agree with Mike that chopping off the left side of the tree killed what could have been a very good photograph in #1.
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I think there might be a crop closer to the trunk that would improve #1. To me it's not chopping off the tree that's the problem, but that it's hard to see it as done on purpose, as that side of the tree is kind of messy.
I like the trees, skies, and horizons, but dislike the foregrounds as being neither interesting nor clean enough to ignore.
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I'm not especially taken with either one, but I agree with Mike that chopping off the left side of the tree killed what could have been a very good photograph in #1.
+1
I think cutting through the left of the tree in #1 totally kills the image. I have found from much experience that first you need to frame the shot to include (on a third if possible) the thing that made you want to shoot the scene in the first place, then having found your framing, spend a moment doing a visual 360 of the edges of the frame and if something crosses the edge, then make sure it is either all the way in or all the way out of the shot by zooming or changing your position, unless you have no choice of course and in which case, try to make it look like it is cropped half in/out intentionally.
Dave
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...try to make it look like it is cropped half in/out intentionally.
Dave
It is cropped intentionally because otherwise it wouldn't juxtapose the bright area in the sky ldo. Plus specifically opting for a square format also limits the possibilities. Having said that, I am a fervent post-process-cropper, but unfortunately I don't have the original present, as it is backed up in storage. Would be interesting to know what was there to work with. I am fairly certain that the entire crown of the tree was available in the original shot.
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Ah ha! You came a cropper because you cropped.
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I'm not taken by either of the two Oscar, sorry. The tree being, I assume, the focal point in this, does not have enough character to make the photos work for me.
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Ah ha! You came a cropper because you cropped.
Okay, okay, I admit it… guilty as charged. But I haven't reached that nirvana state yet where I promote getting it right in-camera because I simply have become either too old or too lazy or most likely a combination of both to pay adequate attention to post-processing. ;)
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I'm not taken by either of the two Oscar, sorry. The tree being, I assume, the focal point in this, does not have enough character to make the photos work for me.
Or the tree does have character but I simply failed to properly capture it. Either way, never there is a reason to apologize in these threads. At least not in mine. You're entitled to your opinion, and you won't hurt my feelings as I am protected by the great wall of ignorance...
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Okay, okay, I admit it… guilty as charged. But I haven't reached that nirvana state yet where I promote getting it right in-camera because I simply have become either too old or too lazy or most likely a combination of both to pay adequate attention to post-processing. ;)
All cropping is post-processing, but not all post-processing is cropping. If you get it right in the first place post-processing almost never will involve cropping.
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All cropping is post-processing, but not all post-processing is cropping. If you get it right in the first place post-processing almost never will involve cropping.
"almost", Russ? Are you getting soft?
Jeremy
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Well, Jeremy, even HCB can't say "never" given "Behind the Gare st. Lazare" and "Cardinal Pacelli in Montmarte." But "never" always should be the objective.