What did you compose at Waters Edge?

[Ken Lee]

Thanks guys; it's appreciated. I was considering cranking the contrast a little (bring the white-point down to the trees' highlights) but the left crop didn't occur to me. I'm intrigued that you both cut the dirt from the foreground whereas I would have kept it as a "floor" to the image. Any particular reasoning for cropping it there?

I've uploaded a new version now, taking into account your suggestions. It should appear in my old post.

Critiques can stimulate us to see as others do, and there are many ways to make a nice photo. If you've been opened to a different option, that's probably time well spent.

(I like to put my photos away for a long time, to forget all about what I experienced at the scene, before printing them. That way I'm more likely to see the photo as others do.)

Some people like to explain how and why a particular crop of change of tones affects things. I prefer to let the eyes do the talking, so to speak. This is akin to the way Edward Weston used to give critiques, according to Merg Ross, one of our esteemed forum members:

"Edward Weston... would shuffle through a group of prints separating them into two piles. All of this was in silence. At the conclusion, he would point to one pile and utter: These I like."

[dsim]

Thank you for the compliment! I used incident on the meter here. However, regarding the spot reading on this meter, I've been fortunate that I've not had any issues with mine at all.

Thank you Robert.

[Vaughn]

Of the three versions, the original is still the strongest for me. The composition is dynamically balanced...by which I mean that at first it seems too heavily weighted on the right, but there is a visual pull from right to upper left that actively resolves the balance issue.

I prefer the way the two areas of water that are reflecting the light of the sky are both completely contained within the image -- which allows them to work together along with the shape of the sky, as important elements of the composition. There is a progression in size and shape of these three light areas that moves nicely from the bottom to the top of the image.

I like this image. I prefer it to the color image, as the B&W image seems to tell me more about Place, whereas the color image is more subject orientated.

Vaughn

[mdm]

You are a star Vaughn. None of us have any right to tamper with his picture, it is what it is. Critics dont make art.

[Heroique]

And here we go with my first ever LF chrome. The scan is a little darker than the slide appears in person.

Looks like you’ve surprised a Brontosaurus at Water’s Edge.

Whoops, sorry, make that Apatosaurus!

Does your back-lighted chrome show texture in the black holes? That would have worried me if I had metered such difficult lighting for a chrome, but you may have wanted it to appear this way. If your metering allows you to say, I’d love to know what ev readings you got for the scene’s various elements.

A fun, scary shot.

[polyglot]

thanks everyone. Vaughn: the "original" one in my post now has a bit of a crop to the left applied, as suggested by Ken. There was some wasted space.

Heroique: yes there is detail there but less than I'd like. I could get it out with my MF scanner (Nikon 8000) but my LF scanner (Sprintscan 45U) isn't that good in the dynamic range department. I metered to put the tree highlights at +1.75 and the shadow in the middle of the tree is at about -2. There's plenty more detail in the ground.

I should probably have another go with multiple scan exposures.

[Vaughn]

...None of us have any right to tamper with his picture, it is what it is. ...

True

In this case, the photographer welcomes critical responses. Which often includes suggesting crops, etc. I was drawn to your crop at first because it gave the visual possibility of more water off to the left, and it seemed to balance the right better. But I decided that limiting the amount of water by including the left edge of the upper pool probably was a truer representation of the place and as I mentioned earlier, I found the original composition to be well balanced.

PS -- I think I have been working off the re-do in the original post.

And I will toss another "Water's Edge" image, but perhaps it is a better "Above-the-Water" image!

Lost Man Creek
Redwood National Park
8x10 Platinum/Palladium Print

300mm lens on a Zone VI 8x10

[vinny]

Untitled by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/62218065@N0

near virginia creek settlement, eastern sierras
135mm sironar s
fuji 50d expired 1996

[Vaughn]

Great, Vinny!

[John Rodriguez]

[QUOTE=vinny;826802]
Untitled by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/62218065@N0

near virginia creek settlement, eastern sierras
135mm sironar s
fuji 50d expired 1996[/QUOTE]

Beautiful tonality Vinny.