latest uploads Mountain Godess

Do you think it has anything going. Or...?

First of all - don't you love critique request - by that I mean you ask but rarely get a critique - (-;

 

Well it has a great sky and a nice foreground. It reminded me of a similar image I've been working on - to no avail. It has a nice sky but I can't seem to breath any life into the foreground. I think it's one of those images I really want to work - but no cigars ........ (-;

 

I suspect this is also an image you want to work but .......

 

I just did a quick PS to my attachment here - and blew out the highlights trying to bring some 'life' to the foreground - given some more time, I'm sure I could really screw it up in Photoshop ...... )-;

its soo nice... :-)...To be serious; Thanks for you input ken. Honestly speaking, I did not expect a lot of attention on this one.. and in fact even lower ratings, by the people passing by. But this is an image i would really like to get some inputs on... because I like this shot myself... better than many others i have, probably much due to the fact that i think the sky seems like a (female) person performing a kind of dance,wich i feel makes this a bit different. And In this setting i like the dull foreground wich i feel might emphazise the desolate feel here, (a nature photographer encounter the Mountain gods.).... The midplacement works in such a setting...because its confronts the viewer... more directly. The problem of course, is the sign of a road passing by.... :-) however i strongly suspect that im the only one that sees this cloud formation... and i guess most others might see just a colorful cloud.. and i dont blame them for that...could be that my imagination is goin wild...? I guess that its necceseary to see this cloud figure to appreciate this. Regarding the scan its not great, but kinda works. how do you see this cloud Ken?

Yesss I see it now - ponder the attachment while I write a more serious reply - (-;

Yes, I didn't see the woman in the cloud till you mentioned it. I do see it now. Two things come to mind: Number 1 - I've been on PN too long and don't look as carefully as I should. Perhaps I will from now on - thanks .......... Number 2 - You live in such a majestic location, that I can imagine seeing and feeling what you describe - but capturing that on film and conveying it to others would be difficult. Sometimes I use the title to direct attention - your title 'Mountain Goddess' leads my attention to the Earth - not the sky. 'Goddess in the Sky' might have directed my attention more to that part of the image. And I realize there are those who feel an image should stand alone without a title. Sometimes I agree with that - other times I don't ........

 

And then Atle - there is what I call 'Reverse Appreciation Syndrom' (RAS)......... I have noticed more than once - that the *more* I personally like one of my images - the *less* others seem to like it. And by the same token, some of my images that I think are *just Ok* - others seem to like a *great deal* ....... So just by liking it alot yourself - you've essentually killed it - big smile. Sounds silly but it's happened to me many times this way - so I gave it a name 'RAS' ........ lol

 

For example, my highest rated image on the site I'm not all that impressed with ...... and several of my lowest rated images are my personal favorites. I suspect you've seen this with some of your own work. It's not always true - but quite often it is .....

 

It's 3am where you are - 6pm here - I'll ponder this some more and return later ........ smile.

are you drinkin too... lol. A corona for me too.. with a piece of lime. Like to comment on your 2 points here: 1. you are not the only one that might not look carefully enough :-)...2. beauty are everywhere. If i cant convey what i shoot to others... its my fault. My impression is that many photographers personal favorites are far from the most commercial they produce...not that this is among my absolut favorites.....but u know

what i mean. Now... i take a corona...with 2 slices of lime :-)

EDIT:didnt notice your additional commenting....so i wrote something very similar... and yes thats spot on....its late here but im playin poker...online

LOL ......... unfortunately that was my sober response - still lol ...

 

#1 - very good - that was exactly my point - others may be becoming numb by viewing so many images over time that we fail to look close - and ponder ....

 

#2 - I agree - it's your fault ........... but what you describe was more than visual - it was a *feeling* you had viewing this scene - a harder thing to convey than visual beauty - still your fault but more difficult I think ....

 

Now discard those 3 aces and go for a Royal Flush ..... be bold my Viking friend - lol

Here - with lime .......... I didn't realize my Norwegian friend was familiar with Mexican beer - smile ....

 

Maybe I can get Michael Chang to pay us a visit if I offer him a chinese beer ...... he is more intellectual about these things ..... (-;

Have discarded aces all night long....did not do me any good..... :-)

Lovely shot you got there....could easily be used for commercial purposes... no kidding. where is it taken...mexico or on one of the carribian islands? ....yes now i know...its Norwexico

Atle, I've looked at this shot a couple of times now, and having just read your comments, have worked out where I think that it is missing. This shot is really about the sky but it only occupies about a third of the shot. Why not a crop to emphasise the sky. I hate going around suggesting crops all over the place, but I think that this would help.

i like the dancing cloud and foreground. Greenery registered neutral so i tried push it towards green. Attached is an attempt to shift color balance and introduce more contrast in the fgnd area. Regards,

Jeff is by all means right: too many nice white flowers to get lost in and ignore the dancing goddes, this shot needs less foreground.

 

The problem I have in being struck by the dancing goddes is the location of the sun: as it is now, mostly to her side, takes lots of my attention, I get focussed on it and then -instead of looking at the goddess- I follow the great sky of cirrocumuli and almost with the goddess and her courting clouds to the right were not there at all! Had the sun been straight behind the goddess, instead, or had a symmetric light being on both her sides to silhouette her, I think this would have worked much stronger since we would have been struck by the shape.

 

Now, this looks to be a wide angle, so maybe a frantic run to your right might have brought some more favourable alignement of sun and goddess... or not?

 

Best, s.

Yes I was trying not to crop it based on what you had written was the intent of the size of the foreground but it needed something along the lines of Jeff's suggestion. I really like Pawel's version best I think. You could also 'dodge' the highlights on the right side of the goddess and incorporate all these ideas .....

 

The last time I saw you in a frantic run you had forgotten to set the brake on your car - as it slowly rolled toward the fjord ..... (-;

 

We're gonna need another 6-pack aren't we ? Hmmmmm ...... Glad to see you getting the feedback you seek.

Thanks guys! I have tried a bottom crop, that took most of the FG away, but that didnt work...but i have to say that jeff's crop looks good. Must admit i never saw this one... i tried a crop where i took away most of the FG, but it did not work, so i got back to this one. And Pavel's tonal adjustment is closer to the slide than this version..(scanned with epson 3200)Without the magenta cast present in this version , and the tone of leads more attention to the "goddess" wich is gold, since "she" is not so easy to dectect. Perhaps the best would be a combination of the 2 suggestions. Salvatore is right when noticing that the bright sun area takes to much of the atttention...And it should be symmetric as the main overall comp is, but as the situasion was... this was the best i could get. To my right there was two "elements" First.. my cousin wich also photographed... and second a mountain water further to the right...so there was no opportunities to move enough to the right to make a difference. Havent tried to dodge the right side, but perhaps that would neutralize the left side enough to give a more symmetric appearance. Will take it into PS and work it according to the suggestions. Ken.... Regarding the breakes... when one forget to put them on...it would not help to run... the car is not rolling slowly towards the fjord....:-) Sixpack... are u reffering to my belly...lol...ohh forgot... more coronas... im in, as long there is enough lime ;-) Ken... the feedback i got is top notch.. from "only" 4 persons, four persons with great knowledge in photography wich make it worth much more than the comments most of the present top rated images get theese days... unless... "7/7.. masterpiece" is the desired comment(s).

I like Jeff's crop, but I also really like the 'static' proportions of your original framing, Atle. That's an amazing top half. I would only suggest a little more punch in the bottom half. Regards, Leigh.

The sky is plainly fascinating and so yes, I also prefer the crop to let the clouds have more of their space, since the ground (being so dark) is only an anchor... Jiri

This is quite interesting to read what some good photographers would do. Maybe I am a bit oversensitive, but I see a nice crosstalk of the goddess` shape with the flowers in the foreground. By no means I would crop the foreground, if it were mine. Agree with Leigh on the tones there, I would try to make the foreground less dull (careful not to overdo that, the contrast of luminous tones of the flowers against the ground should be maintained).