OutsideTheNorm

This really just doesn't cut it for my eye as a photo - as a piece of art though, perhaps - the first impression of the colors is aesthetically pleasing.

 

As a photo, this seems like too many pieces that don't make a good whole. The reflection that doesn't match the sky, the colors are off - both in the sky and the moss on the rocks. Looking at full size, the moss seems over sharpened and there's both banding and noise evident in the sky. It feels overall as though you're trying to pull too much out of a photo that just doesn't have it there.

Definitely a lot I like about this shot... however a few things that stand out and detract - the yellow tone; the slant (lines that should be horizontal aren't), and the feeling of over-exposure on the bright areas of the columns. Work on these details and you could have a very compelling image.

Hi Rolf,

 

No particular idea - just playing around, as I do with so much of what I shoot.

rolf,

Just a bit of a play down by the ocean with some steel wool, led light boxes and a couple of models - clone the idiot (me) out of the image because I wasn't in full black.

Absolutely lovely spot and a wonderful day to shoot.

The composition feels like it's missing something though. First we have all the buildings clustered into the center of the image - and as they are really the focus here, I would like to see them spread out a bit more through the frame - either zooming in, or getting closer and shooting with a wider angle. Then, while I can appreciate the attempt a 'rule of thirds' with clouds, hills and water, I just feel that there's a bit too much 'visually dead' are in the water (had this been a sunny day where the tower cast a strong reflection, there would be more interest). Rather than just cropping it out, if you'd lowered the camera toward the water level more, you could continue to show the water, but without letting it dominate your image.

 

Just wonderful.

 

My eye gets caught at two little spots though, just on the bottom of the frame - the first in the water on the far left, just a bit of dark that seems to not have context and my eye would either clone it out or crop in slightly. The second is about 3/4 of the way over, just two little bits of plant that break the smooth bit of snow on the bottom. Purely tiny details in an otherwise superb image - well worth braving the cold to create!

Michael,

As you asked directly for critique on this image from me to help improve your photography, here are my thoughts:

As this image is titled "View from the top" I presume that the main subject of the image is meant to be the view itself - however we're left with so many visual distractions to that view that the image looks instead like a snapshot, and not a crafted image.

Everything about the porch that you're on that shows up in this image distracts from the view itself - the roof is dark and annoying, the pillars cut off and hide trees. The porch is in much sharper focus than the clouds or trees. If, as it seems, the image is more about the porch than the view - you really need to find a way to get more shadow detail in the roof especially.

If this is supposed to be about the view - take a few steps forward to leave the porch behind. Ensure that you aren't placing are thinking about the composition in terms of thirds, and make sure you expose and focus for the clouds - which right now are so out of focus as to have no detail.

From what I can see of the scene, take about three steps forward, two to the right - frame between the trees, shooting from a tripod or stable base, focusing at the hyperfocal point, taking 3 exposures for a gentle HDR combination in order to highlight some detail in the clouds as well as showing the rolling view out.

 

Wonderful rock formations, and nice to have the moon in the shot. This really cries out though for a much more manual control of light to actually present a better image and something more akin to what the eye would see. Right now, the underside of the rock looks almost like a black blob in contrast to the sky around it and the moon is an overexposed white blob.

 

If you have the opportunity to return to this location, think about the timing relative to the moon - can you get it closer to the wonderful structure of rock for a tighter crop? Can you get there at night and create an astro-photography shot highlighting the rock with light painting. I just have a feeling that you can create a really compelling image from this location, but what you've managed here is really an average shot.

Such a beautiful way to decorate - I can't help but to think this would work better with a much tighter crop (and probably landscape). As it is, the image has too much softness, and too much distraction. Crop tighter and with greater depth of field and you'd have a great abstract.

Jason,

While there may be nothing 'real' about a photograph, when creating a scene through manipulation - whether starting with a camera or a canvas, there is a sense of cohesiveness in the scene that a viewer would like to see. This creation doesn't have that, hence is fake to the eye and displeasing to several at least. Blend the elements together better and you could achieve a better result, but right now the sky and moon are obviously separate parts added with a heavy hand.

I really want to like this, but I just can't it's far too fake.

A pretty spot to shoot, but I don't think you brought it to it's potential. One of the things that grabs my eye first is the two over-exposed spots in the water where you've completely lost the detail. From there I'd think about the composition - I have a feeling the image would be stronger (from this angle) cropped a bit lower - my eye wants to hang out at the top of the image in the detail and lines - so I'd bring the top of frame down to the water line. I'd also look at something with the little bit of plant life growing from the rock just below and left of image center - either remove it (before the shot, or after), or feature it - false color perhaps against the almost monochromatic nature of the rest of the image.

Overall the image has a feel bordering on the 'too dark', so adjusting curves to bring out a little more could be interesting, and in a quick play, pushing the blues a bit more brought a nice stark coldness to the image as well.

Not knowing what was possible on site, I'd probably try to bring the camera more left so there's more of a feeling of looking up the water to the fall, rather than hiding the water behind the rock outcropping.

Nice image and I love the texture in the sand and the spread of it on her, but I think it's held back by a few details. First - the composition - with her reaching like that, you want to leave a little bit of space for her to be reaching into, not practically cutting off her finger tips. Second thing that stands out is that the makeup is out of place , both with her expression, as well as the mood that the rest of the image is conveying - change the imagine to black and white, and you eliminate the impact of this. Last detail that really bothers me here is her left eye - seeing the white under her iris in the image is somewhat off-putting, and I'd look to adjust that in post to move her iris down and give a more natural appearance here (and certainly match it better with her right eye's appearance).

I'm sad that you think it's a composition Andreas - it is single exposure on location. While I may sometimes blend exposures to bring out detail that would otherwise be lost in a single exposure, I don't composite shots as you seem to believe. The model was on location and a nice large aperture leaves her sharp and the trees well behind her pleasingly soft. Wonderful and cursed cloudy day leaves no sunlight on her and a light from behind where the sun has bounced off the clouds. No reflector at all - simply me, a camera, a model and work to spot what would make a pleasing image.

Honestly, I would suck at trying the kind of compositing that you think I've done because I just have never found it necessary or appealing.

From dark barren stone

Springs in struggle eternal

Natural Bonsai

And that is a dolphin in the background.

Nope, no flash fill. Did a bit of exposure blend off the raw. With the dusty smokey sky, the direct view of the sun wasn't that far off the fill provided to the model and environment from the rest of the sky.

Processing more typical than a vintage feel.

Going for a slightly vintage feel in processing here.

Jim,

The horizon in the shot is actually straight. This was a sand beach with a slope. I considered a rotation in editing, but decided against it for two reasons - one being that it leaves more power in her shoulders and head position, and leaves her naturally looking level and out to the sea (implied, but there is a bit of the water there). The second is that the angle leaves a bit more of a nice leading diagonal in the image for me.

Appreciate the thought though and glad you enjoyed.

Norm

This seems just way too saturated and is visually cluttered - what do you want a viewer to look at and see?

Wonderful looking location, can't help but think that the shot would have been helped with a circular polarizer or shooting around golden hour to put a bit more emphasis on the mountain.

The darkness of the water on the right really leaves this feeling unbalanced to the eye - and especially awkward with such a definite line to the difference.

Dave,

 

Titles of work are spur of the moment for me and hold little significance, so feel free to think of it as brooding instead. At the moment of titling I was struck by the idea that she was longing for better weather to take a swim in. I do take issue with your assumption that she was PP in - while there was a good bit of post work on this (and all of my images), I don't add someone to a location - I get out and bring the models with me.

Nice pose and composition, however, I think the shot would be stronger with her eyes open and a bit more detail in the hair on the top of her head - it blends too much into the background. Her hair is a touch messy down her back as well which detracts from the simplicity and elegance which the image seems to be otherwise striving for.