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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Thanks Bob. I fully enjoyed your backyard and have a few more to share. I have the film back now, so I can start scanning those too. |
Aug 29th |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Thanks Cheryl. All good comments. I've been working on another try at it based on everyone's comments, but I'm not going to get it done to post this month. I am trying for a lower contrast version, but one that still highlights the leading line without being too dramatically dark overall. I think I need to preserve a lightness to the image. I'm having a lot of challenges getting the tones exactly where I want them. I may repost a future month when I get things right. |
Aug 29th |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Thanks Gloria. I think the story of the "adventure" is difficult to convey in the image - I don't know how I'd do that. I am happy with it conveying a special moment in time. I was very fortunate to find the conditions I did. But the adventure part can be special to me even if others don't share that part.
I agree with you and the others that I need to back off to softer tones. I think Haru has taken a nice cut at that and I will try my hand at a similar subtle approach. |
Aug 20th |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Hi Haru. Thank you for the comments, particularly on the unnatural warm light. I like what you've done with the original. You have succeeded in giving it more 3D depth while preserving the clean whites. I am not sure whether or not I wouldn't still call the lighting flat - cause let's be honest, it was when I shot it. I will play around some more taking your and Dan's directions, and will think a little more whether it works with the mid-afternoon lighting. I'm really kicking myself for not going back for better light. |
Aug 20th |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Reply |
Thanks Dan. Admittedly this was a quick process, but I think I was worried that the light was just too harsh period, and this was not really salvageable as a fine art shot no matter what I did. I ought to have gotten the nerve to climb back up there in the dark for sunrise (or descend in the dark after sunset), ideally with my 4x5. Hopefully next time.
I will try your overall quick fix of blending with the original. But I may also try just starting over with a better idea of what I want to do and not do. Remains to be seen if anything not over processed has interesting enough light.
Thanks for your comments. Hope you are through the COVID thing and doing better.
|
Aug 20th |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
Hi Bob. I think Haru has it correct that the right side - the structure itself is the interesting part of the image. The roof is indeed pretty interesting both visually and intellectually (makes me want to understand how it is constructed). For me though I am not sure the structure is enough. I keep wanting to see something interesting through the framing it provides. Haru's sky replacement helps - I was thinking even beyond that, such as a stormy downpour. But I think that puts the pagoda in a supporting role and makes something the subject which is not even in the photo right now. So if you indeed do a series, I'd look for ways to make the pagoda a stronger subject on its own. |
Aug 20th |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
Hi Cheryl. Interestingly, while the right side of the image is the intended "business" side as Dan points out, I find myself drawn to the left side. I find the left side less busy and more "peaceful". I was immediately drawn to the rock in the water - the rock seems like it has peaceful figured out. But I am also drawn to the trees behind the rock - the layers of tonality in the layered canopy as well as the subtle warm tones in the trunks. I am not sure whether there is enough there for an image of just the left side. I think it is all about subtly and would take time to bring out the subtle beauty without destroying the peacefulness. I started down that path, but didn't have the patience - I wasn't getting it to work.
The right side - or the image as it stands overall - is beautiful, but to me, like Haru, a little busy. I think the challenge is to retain the beauty and strong colors while simplifying. Haru has suggested one direction. I can imagine others. But again, it will be about subtly and patience to walk through and emphasize and de-emphasize elements once you've decided what sings and what doesn't. I don't know if I am actually being much help. With I had a more specific suggestion.
|
Aug 20th |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
Hi Haru. This is a very pretty scene. I love the delicate colors and textures of the horsetails. But as Dan points out, they are in a supporting choral role in this particular composition. So I like the direction in your thread with Dan. Although I have an irrational difficulty with square formats, I like the final image there best.
I wouldn't go B&W as I think the colors are part of what makes this image for me.
I picked up where you left off with Dan and did some small subtle things. I cleaned up some bright spots - maybe a dozen or so - that I thought just contributed visual clutter. I brightened the darker areas of the stream so it would not be as buried as a supporting element. I also cooled the stream down a bit to give a little contrast. And I warmed the butterbur with a radial mask to make it pop a little more as the subject. I also lightly applied color contrast and polarization in Nik Effects to similarly make this subject pop a little more. Finally I did some edge burning. Small stuff, but those would be my other thoughts for your consideration. Very beautiful scene. It is not easy to pull simple elegance out of complex woodland scenes, so very well done. |
Aug 20th |
 |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
Hi Gloria. This is an amazing image! I don't know if this sort of weather happens all the time in Miami, but capturing it seems pretty special. Add incredible light and colors and this is truly the sort of image that would be selling from a gallery.
My suggestion would be along the lines of the others, namely regarding the crop. I like the original where you have not cropped in as it provides more breathing room around the storm cloud. I'd keep everything on the bottom as others have suggested, but I'd keep the sides and top too.
Then there are a few subtle things you could consider. I took a cut below of what I'd do. I burned the top darker; also darkened the whole thing a bit. Enhanced the pink color a bit, and tried to bring out the light on the right leading edge (toward the light) of the storm cloud. I darkened the lower left and right corners and painted in a little color in the lower right, picked from the pink highlights. On the bottom I cloned out the foreground poking in on the left, and then tried to bring out the lights in the city. A lot of this is artistic choice, so just some thoughts to consider. It is an amazing image in any case.
|
Aug 20th |
 |
| 96 |
Aug 22 |
Comment |
Hi Dan. I appreciate your story on this one. For me the experience is similarly a big part of what a morning with the camera is about. The photos I connected with are the ones where that experience is most memorable - although that may not come across, nor may they be my best images.
You have amazing composition and form in this one, as you do all of your images. Like Haru, I particularly like the distant rock centered between the stacks. I am not as love with the colors in this image as much as many of yours. They work, but don't contribute in quite as strong a way. Of course the form is strong enough here, the colors don't matter as much. I think this would look equally good in B&W.
Like others, I think the vignette is quite strong. I wondered whether this was from the lens or whether you added it. And if the later, why so strong? At the bottom it works though quite apparent, but it seems fairly heavy handed at the top.
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Aug 14th |
5 comments - 5 replies for Group 96
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5 comments - 5 replies Total
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