I need a critique of this Photo

[awldune]

If you have an emotional attachment to this image, you might try to get a better scan to get more shadow detail. The 4490 is not especially known for its Dmax, is it? You might also try two-pass scanning.

[Jon Shiu]

I think the photo is fine, no cropping needed. It is a bit dark and harsh feeling, though. Just use a little Photoshop Highlight/Shadow adjustment.

Jon

[Greg Miller]

Sorry to nitpick, but the image has an odd color cast to it as well. That bothers me more than the blocked up shadows. The water on the far left has 0% yellow and the yellowish water in the middle has 0% magenta. The yellow leaves have 0% blue. 0% of a primary color is highly unusual in nature. My guess is you got a bit overzealous with the saturation slider.

I agree with Policar. The scene has too much contrast for slide film. Go back on a bright but overcast day and shoot again.

[Brett Laker]

A bit late in the day......

I played around with the cropping and felt that more emphasis was needed on where the water meets the trees in the distance. So I cropped down. I used curves to bring up the shadow areas a little on the rock area in foreground and middle distance undergrowth. I burnt the water down a bit towards the foreground. Finally I boosted contrast and saturation on the leaves in foreground on rock to break up this dark area further. I slightly altered the colours of the leaves-taking the green out and making them redder to harmonise with the foreground leaves.

OK I have tampered a lot with the picture, but it was fun doing it.

Brett

[Noah A]

I don't think your scanner will be able to pull all of the available detail out of the dense shadows. A drum scan is definitely the way to go, especially if you plan to print large.

The color in general seems a bit off to me.

If you lighten up the lower right corner, then I think the composition would work better because there would be detail there instead of dark, blocked-up areas.