Your Best Photograph from the Previous Month - Critique and Discussion Encouraged

[Jim Noel]

I'm with you Randy. I have often wondered why as I get older I tend more and more toward Pictorialism. Lately I have been using only soft focus lenses, mostly on dry plates. Anew and refreshing vision for me. Perhaps you are correct that we move toward photographing as we see, rather than always worrying about ultra-sharpness.

[Jim Noel]

Randy,
THanks for the reference to the Stieglitz article. Very interesting.

JIm

[Tin Can]

Yes, and recent.

Now watching youtube videos of John Coffer. There are quite a few. This one shows his raison d'être

https://youtu.be/-moRdlyY2hQ

Randy,
THanks for the reference to the Stieglitz article. Very interesting.

JIm

[Vaughn]

Hello Steven -
Nice scenic photograph but with such deep DOF it makes me wonder what the central focal point of the photograph is...John

I wonder the same thing. My bias is towards the light. And the representation of the light in this image would be a dichotomy to the garage image...which is a rather dull light that fits the mood of the decay. I find the light in the Steven's landscape to have promise, but it is over-powered by the sky...especially the sky that takes of the upper left quarter of the image. This portion of the sky seems to distract from rather than to add to the feeling of light of the rest of the image. Again, my bias. Here is a crop that (for me) celebrates the light.

PS -- Steven, you are posting huge files. 82M vs the 1.23M I cropped and resized.

PS #2 -- I must have been thinking of a different garage image...don't see the one I was thinking out in this thread.

[David Schaller]

Randy,
THanks for the reference to the Stieglitz article. Very interesting.

JIm

+1!

[Pieter]

Hello Steven -
Nice scenic photograph but with such deep DOF it makes me wonder what the central focal point of the photograph is -- the rocks in the foreground ( which on my monitor seem to be in focus more than anything else)?; the clouds ( which are nice but don't "pop")?; or the canyon ( seems muted )?. I think that's the hardest thing with scenic/landscape photography ( figuring out the small thing in the grande landscape to be the primary focus of the image ) and why I don't do it! The grande landscape to me is too overwhelming and hard to pick one thing, and if it is EVERYTHING its too much. I'm guessing through split contrast printing, sharp and unsharp masking, on camera filtration and PhotoshopCC "magic" it would not be a difficult endeavor to turn this from a ... scenic landscape into a scenic landscape!.

Good to see you are still having fun, cause that is the point

John

For me, the issue is contrast. It is a bit flat. Some judicious dodging and burning would lead the eye to the focal point.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Hello Steven -
Nice scenic photograph but with such deep DOF it makes me wonder what the central focal point of the photograph is -- the rocks in the foreground ( which on my monitor seem to be in focus more than anything else)?; the clouds ( which are nice but don't "pop")?; or the canyon ( seems muted )?. I think that's the hardest thing with scenic/landscape photography ( figuring out the small thing in the grande landscape to be the primary focus of the image ) and why I don't do it! The grande landscape to me is too overwhelming and hard to pick one thing, and if it is EVERYTHING its too much. I'm guessing through split contrast printing, sharp and unsharp masking, on camera filtration and PhotoshopCC "magic" it would not be a difficult endeavor to turn this from a ... scenic landscape into a scenic landscape!.

Good to see you are still having fun, cause that is the point

John

I am not a fan of the bush for sure. For me I like grand landscapes and I tend to shoot very wide. Although in this case, I am starting to question the foreground. A square crop as suggested cuts off too much of the cliffs and becomes obvious it was done to hide something. Especially since I know what is being hidden.

I do agree there is more in this image, I just need to find it.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I wonder the same thing. My bias is towards the light. And the representation of the light in this image would be a dichotomy to the garage image...which is a rather dull light that fits the mood of the decay. I find the light in the Steven's landscape to have promise, but it is over-powered by the sky...especially the sky that takes of the upper left quarter of the image. This portion of the sky seems to distract from rather than to add to the feeling of light of the rest of the image. Again, my bias. Here is a crop that (for me) celebrates the light.

The files I upload are 16mb. Not sure how they are coming in at 82mb. I alway save as jpg. Maybe this one is a png, but that shouldn't be any larger than jpg.

PS -- Steven, you are posting huge files. 82M vs the 1.23M I cropped and resized.

PS #2 -- I must have been thinking of a different garage image...don't see the one I was thinking out in this thread.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I wonder the same thing. My bias is towards the light. And the representation of the light in this image would be a dichotomy to the garage image...which is a rather dull light that fits the mood of the decay. I find the light in the Steven's landscape to have promise, but it is over-powered by the sky...especially the sky that takes of the upper left quarter of the image. This portion of the sky seems to distract from rather than to add to the feeling of light of the rest of the image. Again, my bias. Here is a crop that (for me) celebrates the light.

PS -- Steven, you are posting huge files. 82M vs the 1.23M I cropped and resized.

PS #2 -- I must have been thinking of a different garage image...don't see the one I was thinking out in this thread.

I like the crop. Perhaps I will revisit this image this week and see what I can come up with that I like based on the comments while keeping it my own.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

For me, the issue is contrast. It is a bit flat. Some judicious dodging and burning would lead the eye to the focal point.

I agree it is still a bit flat.