[gfonso]

When I introduced myself in this forum, some users showed interest in seeing some of my mountain photos (that was very kind, thank you). Sorry, this is not a mountain photo (although it was taken in the mountains), but I feel the need to expose it to your critique because it has me puzzled, and I hope you can help me figure it out.

On one hand, I feel I really like it, it captures my attention everytime time I browse throught the set that I took on that hike, but I don't know why. I can't find a reason why it may be good, I see all kinds of compositional problems, and yet I feel attracted to it. It brings me that feeling of the joy of Autumn, that I was trying to capture, and it does so in a powerful way. But then I think I'm biased...

I would like to know what's your opinion. Does it work for you? Whether yes or no, why?

This is a JPEG straight out of camera, with some levels adjustment (very quick) and resizing in GIMP. I do have the RAW version, and a part of me wants to do something with it, while "the other me" says it's not worth the time.

Attached Images

 

[Ash]

What I like about this image is the complementary elements that invoke some emotion of the autumn scene. Where this photo doesn't 'do it' for me is the cluttering appearance of the foreground foliage, the harsh and unbalanced lighting in the scene and ordinary perspective.

Experimenting with different settings and perspectives around the subject of interest may give you more opportunity to encapsulate the essence of what you saw when you were there.

Yes it's very cluttered, there's no obvious point of focus and it's way too bright. For autumn colours, you need diffused lighting, like on a cloudy day.
The only positive thing I can say about it is that the branch makes a nice diagonal coming out of the corner of the frame, it just doesn't lead the eye to anything.

[gfonso]

Thanks for the comments. I agree wholeheartedly on the "clutter" you both have mentioned, it's one of the compositional problems that I alluded to. I am a little surprised about the dislike of the lighting. While I agree that it is quite harsh (it was noon) I find it somewhat pleasing, in fact I thought it was one of the things that appealed to me. Maybe because I thought it enhances the colours, and maybe because I know how hard the actual light was, I thought it was kind of under control. But of course the viewer doesn't have to think "well, taking into account the difficult conditions, this isn't that bad". Either it is good or it's not.

This is one of the biggest drawbacks of trying to do photography while hiking, you can't stop and wait for the right light, in this case I still had 8 hours and 1300 meters of ascent left

Anyway I see that this is a failed image, but I still want to learn from it. I'd appreciate further comments on a couple of things:

- Does the flowing water in the background add to the photo? I tried to compensate the warmth (or harshness) of the image by adding something cold.

- Would it work better with a wider aperture for a more blurred background? I thought about it but I wanted the creek to be somewhat in focus.

- What would you have done to improve it? (or you wouldn't have bothered with it?)

Again, thanks for taking the time to look and comment!

Thanks for the comments. I agree wholeheartedly on the "clutter" you both have mentioned, it's one of the compositional problems that I alluded to. I am a little surprised about the dislike of the lighting. While I agree that it is quite harsh (it was noon) I find it somewhat pleasing, in fact I thought it was one of the things that appealed to me. Maybe because I thought it enhances the colours, and maybe because I know how hard the actual light was, I thought it was kind of under control. But of course the viewer doesn't have to think "well, taking into account the difficult conditions, this isn't that bad". Either it is good or it's not.
Bright light doesn't enhance colours, it washes them out. Bright light equals High Contrast which means bright areas and dark areas and not much in between. The object isn't to take pictures of what you can when you're hiking, those kind of pictures are snapshots and don't need critique, other than that, photography is about choosing your subjects and shooting them in the right light.


This is one of the biggest drawbacks of trying to do photography while hiking, you can't stop and wait for the right light, in this case I still had 8 hours and 1300 meters of ascent left
See above.

Anyway I see that this is a failed image, but I still want to learn from it. I'd appreciate further comments on a couple of things:
You learn more from your failures.

- Does the flowing water in the background add to the photo? I tried to compensate the warmth (or harshness) of the image by adding something cold.


- Would it work better with a wider aperture for a more blurred background? I thought about it but I wanted the creek to be somewhat in focus.

- What would you have done to improve it? (or you wouldn't have bothered with it?)
We've already said what we think about the photo, you yourself have said it's a failure, continuing to look for redeeming features in it isn't going to help you, move on. You've learnt from this one, take that on board, post another picture and learn some more.



Again, thanks for taking the time to look and comment!

You're welcome.

[gfonso]

Harsh but true. Thank you.

...I still aim to blend hiking and photography, and I hope to one day do more than snapshots

Harsh but true. Thank you.

...I still aim to blend hiking and photography, and I hope to one day do more than snapshots

I'm sure you will, just take pictures of stuff suitable for high contrast in the middle of the day (ie stuff where the colour doesn't matter or isn't desired even) and save the colourful stuff for earlier and later and when it's cloudy or you are in the shade.

[gfonso]

Thanks, I'll keep that advice in mind.

(you must be sick of me thanking you, so I'll stop for now )