landscape and local 517 copy

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I'd sure like to see this without the strong and abrupt vignetting.  I think it produces a feeling of tunnel vision.  Something much lighter and more subtle might be more effective.

I have forgotten how to submit an image in the critique!!  Help!?

I figured it out..!

Janis, thanks.  Glad you figured it out -- I like to have the image like this rather than a link.  The attachment just has to be small enough.

In your original, you may have enough natural vignetting in the clouds.  Both corners have relative dark clouds, and that works to keep the viewer's eye within the frame.  If you don't think this is enough and/or you want to add some vignetting to the lower corners, I think a lighter touch would still be effective and not call as much attention to itself.

You've composed and processed this differently than I would have done if I had been standing in this spot, but that's just the difference in goals and style between different people.  I like contrast, and I would have added contrast to the clouds and probably throughout the frame.  I also often (but not always!) try to avoid centered elements as you've done with the tree, but it's hard to say if I would have tried a different composition because the clouds work well here, and I can't see what you have to work with on the left or the right.  However, adding contrast or changing the composition would greatly alter what you have here, and one or the other may compromise the mood or the message that you get from your own photo.  

Well Stephen, I was in a boat....moving!  I know the centerd rule and chose to ignore it!  The vignetting just seemd to work for me kinda adding a little drama...for the center staged tree.  Thanks for the critique...and please stop by anytime...my mind is always open~j

No crop other than the water...the left and right are sooc.  Thanks Again.

 

Actually, I think the center positioning is appropriate here and I really don't think an off-center placement would be as effective. I uderstand the vignetting as an attempt to further focus on the centered cloud and tree. As it is, it has a mysterious, almost biblical overtone, as if Jehovah himself were drawing you towards this spot. But the drama is a little underdevoped; the center a little too weak to sustain the analogy. Still, an intriguing pcture..

Hey Jack...gosh I hope so...cause this one is going on canvas for a client!  Thanks!

Love it, Janis.  I just posted some cloud shots myself.

Roads and clouds.  That's enough photography right there for a lifetime.

--Lannie

Hey Lannie...I need to hit some more roads...turns out I am a road person!

Nice to see you!

I would have chosen some vignetting somewhere between your two versions and I would have lowered the center such that the bottom corners would have showed minimal darkness compared to the upper ones. I use NIK Silver Efex to achieve this type of vignetting.

May I show you my modifications? However, I did more tweaking here than I have described above. 8~)#

NIce job Shawn....thanks!

Nice one *J*  ...... I thought for a minute it was the Dallas skyline from what Ive seen on the news today ...

Thanks Ken...nooo, that was taken on the Neches River in Beaumont.  We got some pretty strong weather but nothing like Dallas.  Good to hear from you~ j