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One Of My Latest For Your Review


Ricochetrider

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The more I look at this photo I shot at a local reservoir, the moreI like it. At first, I was disappointed I hadn't used a different aperture- one which would have brought the whole scene into focus. After looking at this for almost a month now, it's growing on me.

What do you all think, please?

Thanks in advance.

 

Hasselblad 500CM

80mm Planar lens

Ilford Pan F Plus 50 film

 

332908_0006.thumb.jpeg.419d4183461955b6115ff011f1a8a66c.jpeg

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The midsection and sky are graceful, the rise upward of the land, the soft tonality, texture and focus. Even the delicate and thorny branches against the sky work. The water and foreground logs and brush feel like they're from a different picture, not so much because they're in focus and the background isn't, but because they're so contrasty and in stark contrast compositionally and texturally to the midsection and background. If the photo were trying to be an expression of that sort of jarring contrast, I could appreciate that if something about the foreground would hold my interest or capture my imagination more. It does not. So I'm left longing for the feel of the background not to be marred by a foreground that I'm not invested in.
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"You talkin' to me?"

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Yes it needed longer depth of field and brighter mid-tones to bring out more detail in the dark shadows. The "Planar" sharpness and detail in the bottom quarter would look great in a color shot. The sky area is competing with the river for attention due to it's brightness. The picture has very benign subject matter and perhaps it's only saying the lake needs a clean up to clear out the dead wood.
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Like many of your photos I think it would work well in a larger context..part of a narrative presented with several photos. I like Nick's introduction of Sally Mann's collection. Both in her processing and in the context. This type of photo is often used in a body of work effectively but as a standalone it has less impact.

 

. After looking at this for almost a month now, it's growing on me

I enjoy seeing photos that have this affect.

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n e y e

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I'd crop it to a landscape format cutting some of the sky and a little of the foreground, basically emphasizing the horizontal flow of lines contrasted to the vertical contrasty rushes. Also I'd get rid of the top central twig hanging down. Properly framed it could be a good moody print at about 40" wide..
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The more I look at this photo I shot at a local reservoir, the moreI like it. At first, I was disappointed I hadn't used a different aperture- one which would have brought the whole scene into focus. After looking at this for almost a month now, it's growing on me.

What do you all think, please?

Thanks in advance.

 

Hasselblad 500CM

80mm Planar lens

Ilford Pan F Plus 50 film

 

[ATTACH=full]1349408[/ATTACH]

 

Ricochet - - All in all, I liked the image, especially its mood. To me, its low key appearance corresponds well with the volume of clouds in sky, which may dump deluge on the subject location any time. Personally, I find the jet black of the floating wood in the FG to add interest.

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Like many of your photos I think it would work well in a larger context..part of a narrative presented with several photos. I like Nick's introduction of Sally Mann's collection. Both in her processing and in the context. This type of photo is often used in a body of work effectively but as a standalone it has less impact.

 

 

I enjoy seeing photos that have this affect.

 

Thanks, and yeah. This is a standalone. Sometimes I shoot things in a bit of a series, maybe changing the exposure and settings up but this is a one-and-done. Other times, I'll shoot a whole lot of similar things, like at a car or motorcycle event or show, but nope. Not here.

 

I think the thing I like about it best is the tonal range, which more than one person has commented on the varying tones in different parts of the photo. Really it's kind of a photo of nothing, and in the end I think it has to be admitted (by me), as such. All the stuff in the foreground provokes little interest although it does somewhat dominate, the out of focus mid ground, the woods & ridgeline across the lake don't give the eye anywhere really, to go, except up to the clouds, again. more of a non thing, than they are a thing. I like the angularity of the ridge mid photo, but ultimately, this one is more a dud than anything else. That said, I think if everything in the shot was sharply focused, it'd have a lot more life in it. Oh and I like too, the pine boughs along the right edge of the shot, but as stated above, the twiggy bits coming in from the top are too much a distraction.

I think I'm on the right track, trying to provide some foreground interest and even perhaps some "framing", but in the end any or all of that needs be at least a little more interesting.

 

Thanks to all you tho for gamely putting your minds and energy into critiquing this. Really appreciate it. I find that submitting photos for critique does help me to understand my shots- now if I can only translate that into also helping create my shots! Hey one step at a time, tho, yes?

 

Oh, I still need to seek out Sally Mann's work to see how that fits into this equation. OfF to the WWW I go. AND EDIT: WOW! I'd seen Ms Mann's photos of her family & children but not seen all her work- well she has a lot of stuff up other site, so I've not seen ALL per se but she's showing us a lot. Nick D's evocation of Ms Mann's work is spot on. A good call there for sure.

 

Can't take any credit for that tho, any resemblance is purely incidental!

 

Thanks again everyone! Just got a pile of scans in so maybe I can find something else to put up here.

Tom

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Ricochet - - All in all, I liked the image, especially its mood. To me, its low key appearance corresponds well with the volume of clouds in sky, which may dump deluge on the subject location any time. Personally, I find the jet black of the floating wood in the FG to add interest.

 

Thanks, Michael I think you're feeling the same things I was when I decided I liked this enough to post it here. Thanks much for your critique!

 

The midsection and sky are graceful, the rise upward of the land, the soft tonality, texture and focus. Even the delicate and thorny branches against the sky work. The water and foreground logs and brush feel like they're from a different picture, not so much because they're in focus and the background isn't, but because they're so contrasty and in stark contrast compositionally and texturally to the midsection and background. If the photo were trying to be an expression of that sort of jarring contrast, I could appreciate that if something about the foreground would hold my interest or capture my imagination more. It does not. So I'm left longing for the feel of the background not to be marred by a foreground that I'm not invested in.

 

Thanks Sam. I like your use of the phrase "jarring contrast". This Ilford Pan F Plus 50, I'm seeing, can be like that. There are times when I certainly like stark contrast, and I'm finding more and more that I like these sorts of ranges of tones in black and white photography- and this film really delivers the goods. Sometimes, a bit too enthusiastically, I'm afraid!

 

Thanks again for taking the time.

Tom

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[the] mid ground, the woods & ridgeline across the lake don't give the eye anywhere really, to go, except up to the clouds, again. more of a non thing, than they are a thing.

Sometimes a non thing can be just the thing. Mood, atmosphere, je ne sais quoi, where the quoi remains somewhat undefined yet felt richly via a clever approach to the ne sais.

 

LINK

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"You talkin' to me?"

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Sometimes a non thing can be just the thing. Mood, atmosphere, je ne sais quoi, where the quoi remains somewhat undefined yet felt richly via a clever approach to the ne sais.

 

LINK

 

 

Nice.

 

What I like about this photo is that everything. in it is related and balanced All the hard elements are trees, or parts of trees, with some plants mixed n in the foreground. The clouds and the lake are related, as clouds are made of water. I like the progression of texture in the. surface of the lake water, from smooth, to rippled, to more rippled farther out,; It leads the eye outward and feels symmetrical with the receding ridgeline which also serves to lead the eye away, giving the shot. some sense of depth or dimension.

 

By the time I had arrived at liking this photo, it didn't matter any more that the trees and ridge are out of focus, I liked it as much for the feel of it as for any of the visual elements. Even the reflections of the far shore, clearly seen, are indistinct, but their horizontal lines add layers of depth. as do the. areas of light and cloud shadows on the mountain.

 

The big black "star" of the base of the fallen tree. in the foreground anchors the shot and the trunk of that downed tree leads the eye out in the same direction- away- as the receding ridge. The reflection of the clouds in the calm water in the foreground provides another symmetrical element as it balances the clouds at the top of the frame, and even the twiggy bits, as I called them earlier, have an airy light feel to them and seem to emulate the contours of the clouds and yet provide a counterpoint to them as well.

 

Sometimes I struggle with the square format but here it seems to work well. What I really like about this is that nothing is blown out, everything is adequately (or better) lit and visible. The fine grain of this iso 50 film can be the exquisite and stark.The general qualities of this Ilford film really shine here, IMO.

 

What I really like and appreciate is that from this shot of mine, you guys have drawn parallels to other fine photographic works. It's humbling, and gratifying too.

 

Thanks very much.

Tom

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