Photo Critique #122

Photo Critique #122

on Feb 3rd 2012 with 19 comments

Friday Photo Critique is our weekly community project, where we publish a photograph submitted by one of our wonderful readers, then ask you all to offer constructive feedback on the image. It’s a great way to learn more about photography, express your viewpoint, and have your own image critiqued!

Quick Ground Rules

  1. Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen photographs that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
  2. Feel free to offer any type of advice – composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
  3. You can also link to photographs that you feel offer a great example of this type of image shot exceptionally well.

Without further ado, here is this week’s candidate for Friday Photo Critique!

The Photograph

Photo Details & Inspiration

  • Canon T2i
  • 50mm
  • f/10
  • 1/400, 1/800, 1/1000
  • ISO 100
  • Three Exposures, Tonemapped

On the way to Tahoe last spring, I stopped at a turnout and took some pictures. I used bracketing because of the contrast between the snow and the trees. This was my favorite of the set because the peak on the right dwarfs the rest of the photograph, especially the bird seen on the left.

Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached the scene or taken the photo differently? A massive thank you to everyone who commented last week.

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own photo? You can do so here!

 
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Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

I was raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. After high school, I left for Western Kentucky University where I obtained degrees in photojournalism and cultural anthropology. I am currently employed by CityBeat, an arts and entertainment weekly in Cincinnati. The work I am doing here is very rewarding and I suspect it will continue to be. I am available for freelance work in all areas of photography.  

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  • http://www.fredericlouis.be Fréderic Louis

    Talking about a breathtaking view and picture. Great job you did there, works well in b/w.

  • Red

    Very Nice photo! My eye is drawn up the mountain, then over to the wisp of clud, which then sends me right over to that spec (bird) on the other side. The picture would be so much better if that was removed, since it is not the subject of the photo.Nice use of thirds. -Red

  • Red

    Very Nice photo! My eye is drawn up the mountain, then over to the wisp of cloud, which then sends me right over to that spec (bird) on the other side. The picture would be so much better if that was removed, since it is not the subject of the photo.Nice use of thirds. -Red

  • fast eddie

    The tones of this photo are very nice, great job. I’d like to see more of the right side of the peak, but it’s not in the frame.

    What I would have done differently is:

    1. Use a 35mm lens, or at least frame using the rule of thirds by panning down and to the right a bit to get the peak in the top right intersection of the thirds grid
    2. Close the aperture to f/16 to get more detail and sharpness, maybe use ISO 200
    3. Slow the shutter speed down while bracketing the exposure
    4. Avoid trying to get the bird in the shot, it’s so small it looks like a dirt spot on the sensor

  • http://eicheworldview.blogspot.com Joe E

    Doing this in black and white was an excellent choice and the range of tones captured in this image are excellent. Choosing to do this as a 3 exposure fusion to cover the range of contrast in this photo was an excellent choice in techniques. Bottomline, the exposure and tonemapping is well done.

    From the standpoint of composition I would have liked to see less sky and more mountain. Don’t get me wrong, the sky is a nice deep gray color that is pleasing to the eye but it probably should have only occupied the top 1/3rd or less. Moving the mountain on the right slightly to the left would have prevented it from spilling off the frame while still keeping it in the right 1/3rd of the photo if you were concerned with that.

    ISO, Av and Tv are fine with me as the areas the I would work on are compositional and not exposure related.

    Overall this is a pleasing image that is enjoyable to look at.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitin_pai/ nitinpai

    Hi,

    Although I am a beginner, I would hang my neck out for commenting this capture from what I have learnt so far.

    A B&W capture should focus its subject right on spot without leaving space for anything else to divert attention. This is basically because in a B&W capture there is no room for colors to depict the emotions. So having other elements in the scene will make the interpretation dull.

    Coming to this capture, I feel the sky is taking exactly 50% of the image without conveying much. It makes the stunning mountain look dull and lose the details of its terrain. The picture would have been much fuller if the terrain had been captured more than the sky or maybe cropped to suit accordingly.

    Also the clouds required some touch up since the top layer of the cloud seems to have cut halfway through by editing. Apart from this the bird need to be done away with and a higher constrast will instill more life in this pic.

    Hope I made sense. :)

  • Ethan C.

    Agreed on all counts, Yeah the mountain looks unfulfilled on the right. I’m a real stickler about getting the whole mountain in the shot because it somehow brings unity to the rest of the composition. Also, I think that f/16 for the aperture would be great clarity and coherence. Well done with the T2i by the way.

  • bryan

    i dont see anything wrong with this photo… i personaly like the bird at the side and the composition theres more goin on. i dont think you need to move the peak to where the thirds intersect. yeah the rule of thirds work but dont always think you need to do it for a good picture. its devided into 3 up right land clouds and then sky.

  • Scott

    Crop the photo to include just the bottom right quadrant. Most interesting aspect of the photo is clouds coming off of the top of the mountain. The glaciers that would be in the bottom left of the cropped photo lead your eye to the top of the mountain.

  • earthrokk

    The exposure is sound and the shot looks great. Just from a quick glance:

    1. Remove the bird, looks like a spec of dirt.
    2. Convert image to greyscale. This was RGB and was causing color shifts.
    3. Push the contrast up in the landscape more.
    4. Turn the sky photo black.
    5. Clean sensor dust.
    6. Sharpen final output based on destination.

    In Photoshop, a gradient map adjustment layer would do the trick. You have to add a mid-tone point to the gradient and sample the gray in the top of the image. Once the midtone is defined, slide the point to the right to darken that range towards super grey/black and the black slider slightly to the right to taste to sharpen contrast. The original is just a little flat.

    My quick edit is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsp606/6814245443/

    Good job.

    • fast eddie

      Naw, dude. Your version is way too contrasty. The original shot is better.

  • Pete

    Quite frankly, I like it just the way it is.

  • Robert

    Tone mapping is pleasing — not overworked.

    The black and white and strong contrast gives a shout out to old Ansel.

    Nice movement and energy in the clouds.

    My main criticism is your composition. The peak is way to far frame right and also in the middle horizontally speaking. Basic rule of thirds would have propelled this shot into a serious keeper. Perhaps a wider angle lens would open up the space more. I would also spot remove the bird it does nothing to help the composition nor is it significant enough to play a part of the scene. It reads like a dust spot.

  • Max

    I like the shot, especially the composition. After reading PhotoTuts and other sites for several month, I sort of got bored by “rule-of-thirds” pics and comments. Don’t get me wrong, I use it myself quite often (sometimes on purpose, sometimes accidently), and it mostly works. But I love the mountain line in this picture drawing the attention to the peak. This is exactly how it needs to be shot in my opinion as a hiker. You can’t simply say the peak is the most important part, cut off the sky. It’s rather the interaction between mountain and sky (natural skyline so to speak) which makes those places breathtaking and this is neither a flat line nor can it be put in the top third or the lower third line. Actually it seems to me, that the average of the heights of the mountains is pretty much at one third ;)
    So: good job on the composition! (imho)
    Still, there are some things I’d do differently:
    1. The bird has to go ;)
    2. I’d edit the pic a little like earthrokk did, but rather something in between.

    • fast eddie

      ^^^ No. Just, no.

      • Max

        Would you care to elaborate your comment? I’d be curious to read a little more than “no.” This whole average thing was of course not to be taken seriously, the rest of my comment is simply my opinion and deserves either no commenting at all or a little more detailed criticism.

  • krishna

    Lovely pic.But a little distracted with darkness in the lower left corner.In the lower middle the snow appears to blown.
    When I look form the dark part to mountain in right side it seems too bright.

  • Fast Eddie

    You seem to be letting your opinion as a hiker get in the way of good composition judgment. How mad are you right now, because your opinion is being questioned?

    • Max

      I’m actually not mad at all, I was only a little confused by the short comment which I didn’t know how to understand. I mean, making comments on that platform is useful for all of us, not only for the original photographer. But for that, I need to understand your comment in order to learn from it ;)
      Maybe I should have clarified: I’m a passionate hiker as well as an amateur, but quite experienced photographer. And – imho – the composition is the most important and effective way of the photographer to show the scene as he/she saw it. So in the end, my opinion as a hiker and as a photographer should not be different (and isn’t), that’s why I wrote it. So, if you want to keep this conversation going (I’d be happy), please explain why this is a bad thing. And: good composition is still a matter of taste and depending on the subject. Of course there are certain guidelines (I don’t like to call them rules) but they sometimes just don’t work or – in this case – don’t work well enough.