I won't let you go!

Please help a beginner with your critique.

You've got a great subject there. I hope that it's close to you so that you can go and shoot it again, because this could use some improvement. First of all, I would shoot it in B&W because the color is really not a major player here, and with B&W you will get that special look that you don't get when shooting a "greyscale" subject w/ color film. Also, Royal Gold 100 is not a very fine film in terms of resolution and such, I would shoot with "pro" color film if you're going to shoot color. Another thing I would do is crop it so that the trees in the background are out of the picture (because they are the only very colored thing, and they stand out), or reshoot with a narrower depth of field so that they are very out of focus. Lastly I would take several new shots from different angles; the bottom to middle of this shot is great but near the top of the rock it gets confusing as to what is what, and there is probably a better angle for that so it makes more visual sense. This is very good considering your beginner status, but I think that you may find you come out with a better shot if you try my advice. Keep on shootin'!

I agree that this is a great subject; your title for the image makes it all the more better. I also agree with the previous comment that shooting this in B& W would be more striking than what you have now.

 

However, I still think that color is the way to go with this picture... but not any color. Although the image is definitely heavy in gray tones, the green accents provided by the moss/lichen on the stone gives a voice to the scene. I think that shooting the subject with a saturated slide film (i.e. Velvia, E100VS) would bring that green out a lot better while still maintaing the cool gray tones throughout. It's worth a try I'd think. Just check out the web site here and look at what Velvia and such do to greens in comparison to other films. You'll be amazed with the color it pulls from this scene.

 

If you would rather stay with print film, try Fuji Reala; I've found it to be better - for me at least - with "outdoor" colorsmn than Royal Gold 100.

 

As for the composition, I like the hint of trees in the background but I do think that the upper part of the picture needs to be cleaned up a bit. As you are shooting with a 28-80 zoom, try getting up close to the subject and shooting it at th 28mm end. If the place is nearby you can always experiment with it a bit more to see what you like best. All in all, I think you picked a great subject and you did it justice.

I highly apreciate your comments. Yes you're right, the background stands out too much. Cropping could help, but now I see that camera would be in better position if moved a little bit left and up. I guess, blurring background is better that just cutting it out. Unfortunately, the subject is far from me and I won't be able to come back there at least till november.

Thank you both for advising on films. erik, thanks for the hints about focal range.