What’s Your Preference?

milosh · #1 (**permalink**) 06-01-2011, 10:40 AM

This is a photo I took several days ago, we went to Krupa na Vrbasu town just outside Banja Luka and on our way there, I noticed small fog forming over Vrbas river. When we got there I saw the same kind of fog over Krupa river (a really small river) and I took my tripod and spotted this stone with light rays breaking through trees and fog. I quickly composed and took this shot. Only 5 minutes later the rays were gone. It was only slightly edited, just tweaked wb, added some contrast using curves and sharpened.

I would mainly like to hear what do you think about aesthetical appeal of this photo, what is your overall impression? Second, do you find this composition effective and if not, why?
Btw, it looks better when viewed in lightbox in large resolution.

Thanks

Exif:
Camera: Nikon D60
Lens: Nikon 18-105mm @ 28mm
Aperture: f/16
Shutter speed: 1/6
ISO: 100

Light breaking through fog over Krupa river _ DSC_3945_1024_high_II

Here's a guestpass if you would like to comment:
http://flickr.com/gp/26469995@N03/n6KCa1

Jinks · #2 (**permalink**) 06-01-2011, 03:38 PM

I love the effect of the light on the rock in the foreground and as it penetrates the tree canopy. I think you've caught the rays and their impact really well and from that aspect it's a very aesthetically pleasing image.

From a personal viewpoint I found I kept being drawn to the dark mass behind the direct sunlight in the centre and trying to work out what it is which spoiled it a little for me. I looked at the Flickr page to see if the higher resolution would make a difference but it's still a dark mass which took too much of my attention away from the good bits.

MeAgain · #3 (**permalink**) 06-01-2011, 04:56 PM

I'm a big RPGer. Yeah, I'm one of "those guys" and I usually play a Druid. This shot brings a lot of my gaming world to real life. For me it has a very ethereal, fantasy feel and I love it.

I think the shot is perfect just as it is.

Krusty79 · #4 (**permalink**) 06-01-2011, 10:04 PM

Nice shot - I almost always like these type of shots with the sun beams. I prefer the more thinner beams on the left over the thick one on the right, but that was not under your control. I find myself wanting to move back so I can see a little wider field of view. I was also going to suggest cropping some off the right part of the image, but I think that area creates a sense of space behind the rock. I wonder if it might look better if you crop out a little on the top to eliminate some of the blown out sun.

milosh · #5 (**permalink**) 06-03-2011, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jinks

I love the effect of the light on the rock in the foreground and as it penetrates the tree canopy. I think you've caught the rays and their impact really well and from that aspect it's a very aesthetically pleasing image.

From a personal viewpoint I found I kept being drawn to the dark mass behind the direct sunlight in the centre and trying to work out what it is which spoiled it a little for me. I looked at the Flickr page to see if the higher resolution would make a difference but it's still a dark mass which took too much of my attention away from the good bits.

Thanks for the critique. This is a very interesting point, since I never thought a viewer could be drawn to those rocks in the background. I don't feel about them that way and I thought no one would, since they're not completely black. This illustrates how we all have different perceptions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeAgain

I'm a big RPGer. Yeah, I'm one of "those guys" and I usually play a Druid. This shot brings a lot of my gaming world to real life. For me it has a very ethereal, fantasy feel and I love it.

I think the shot is perfect just as it is.

Hey, thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krusty79

Nice shot - I almost always like these type of shots with the sun beams. I prefer the more thinner beams on the left over the thick one on the right, but that was not under your control. I find myself wanting to move back so I can see a little wider field of view. I was also going to suggest cropping some off the right part of the image, but I think that area creates a sense of space behind the rock. I wonder if it might look better if you crop out a little on the top to eliminate some of the blown out sun.

Thanks for the comments. I tried the crop you suggested and I think it's better now. I think the cropping makes it a bit easier to focus on the rock and the rays, which is a bit more difficult in the original version since the Sun is also drawing some attention. Please let me know what you think. I'm afraid if it has lost any depth due to cropping? Here's the original and the cropped version as attachment, so you can easily compare them.

SwissJon · #6 (**permalink**) 06-03-2011, 12:19 PM

I think the problem with the dark rocks is that they're pretty central.. A different crop may have made them less noticeable.

I love the rear lighting on the foreground rock, brings the moss up like a rear flash on hair in a portrait. I wonder if you could have used a fill flash to bring out some of the detail a little.. I know you can do it in PP, but I think experimenting with the flash in unusual situations is something I don't do enough of.

I think there's too little going on on the right hand side, and that leaves you with an unbalanced picture. Maybe you can bring out some detail there..

I would also be tempted to flip this photo horizontally as I find 2 things.. My eye fights with the natural flow of the picture, and my eye falls off the edge on the right side in the dimness.

Other than that, it's a lovely atmospheric photo. I'm jealous!

milosh · #7 (**permalink**) 06-03-2011, 04:37 PM

Thanks Jon,

I have already brightened the stone in while still in raw, and I tried flipping it horizontally as you suggested but it just works better for me this way.

I'm still having doubts about the crop, can you or others comment on that?
I have a feeling the cropped one is slightly better but I'm just lazy right now to crop, resize and re-upload it again.

Krusty79 · #8 (**permalink**) 06-03-2011, 04:43 PM

I think the cropped version emphasizes the foreground rock more and the uncropped version emphasizes the sun and strong beam below it more. So, I guess that leaves it up to personal preference. Both are cool.

milosh · #9 (**permalink**) 06-04-2011, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krusty79

I think the cropped version emphasizes the foreground rock more and the uncropped version emphasizes the sun and strong beam below it more. So, I guess that leaves it up to personal preference. Both are cool.

Thanks Krusty, I agree, those were exactly my feelings. I'm gonna crop and re-upload it.

milosh · #10 (**permalink**) 06-04-2011, 07:01 PM

Ok, I cropped the photo and uploaded it, but the quality was nowhere near the original one. I therefore decided to keep the original one, the one already uploaded to Flickr.

I'm making this post only in order to show you something, please take a look at how these two photos differ, the second is way softer than the first one. You know what's the difference between them, nothing, only the crop. I opened the full res. 16bit psd file and just cropped the photo. I then repeated the exact same steps I took to downsize and save the original one, same resolution, same method of resizing, same export format, same jpeg quality. Can you believe the difference?

The original: