Schwarze Glacier

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 23, 201789 views9 comments

This was taken from near the Gornergrat station on the cog railway above Zermatt, Switzerland. Got lucky with some clouds blocking out parts of the sunset. Possibly the image is too dark overall (?) but my goal was to capture some of the drama and mood of the light hitting the glacier, so the dark seems important to emphasize the light. At the same time I like the detail on the ice so I couldn't really make it any brighter overall without losing some of that. Any and all feedback appreciated.

ISO 100, 75mm, f/11, 1/60 sec, handheld
Canon 5D, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on September 23, 2017 at 6:31 PM

I see that this is your first post. Welcome to NPN, Ben! We are happy you are here, and look forward to your continued participation.

First: The large version better resolves the subtle detail in the image, especially in the darks. I love the light here. The texture in the ice is excellent, and the color looks realistic.

My only suggestion would be to experiment with different crops that will make the ice (and it's nice light and texture) be the star of the show.
--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Stanton on September 23, 2017 at 11:42 PM

The light on the ice is very special. The fringe look along the side of the glacier looks like fleece. While some details show up in the large version on the left side. I would agree about cropping some of that side or bringing up the shadows in the area. Welcome aboard NPN Ben.

Registered on March 1, 2015, 54 Posts, 453 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on September 24, 2017 at 7:37 PM

Welcome aboard! I am really liking this. Great light and abstract lines. I would agree with the crop thoughts of Preston and Stephan. Taking some off the left side would really zero in the attention on the glacier, the heart of the image. I am looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on September 24, 2017 at 11:29 PM

Welcome to NPN Ben. Wonderful mysterious light. I agree with the others that a crop from the left may help hilight the glacier light.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Mattia Oliviero on September 25, 2017 at 8:36 AM

Great light on the glacier, Ben. And welcome from me, too.

Registered on August 24, 2016, 43 Posts, 254 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Williams on September 25, 2017 at 11:18 AM

Welcome to NPN Ben. This is a nice moody shot of the glacier and the rock. I love the detail in both the glacier and the rock, but I would like to see some of the shadows lifted a bit more.

Registered on December 28, 2010, 636 Posts, 3499 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on September 25, 2017 at 5:31 PM

Ben,

First of all, welcome to NPN! A fine first post. There is a great deal of mystery and intrigue with this, even though in the larger view it's quite evident what this is. Perhaps it's the viewpoint, but I think more because of the darkness and then the light striking the glacier.

The way images are displayed here sometimes, the larger view typically provides better shadow deatil - which is important with this image. While I agree with cropping some, I wouldn't crop very much, maybe less than 10%, or just to get past the small patches of snow in the ULC, upper left corner. but I like the "fan" detail as well as some of the soft colors. And it's not so much a distractin since it's much darker on the left and the main show is the light on the glacier, and the fascinating shapes, lines and detail.

I suppose one could play with contrast and things, but this holds up nicely as presented.

Thanks for sharing and we look forward to your images and participation.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Ben Samuel on September 26, 2017 at 12:16 PM

Thanks everyone for your comments, suggestions and welcomes. I will have a play with cropping the left hand side and perhaps bringing up the shadows a tad.

Ben

Registered on September 23, 2017, 1 Posts, 2 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on September 28, 2017 at 1:37 PM

I've looking at this for a while now and have decided that, as presented, this is best viewed not as a glacier but as an abstract. It's best to just let the tones and shapes let you take them where they may. As such, I'm not sure that bringing out more definition from the darks makes sense since it's all about the interpretation that you wish to convey. If you wish to have this be about a land with a glacier then yes, you could do more processing to make those subjects more recognizable.

I think this is a wonderful first post because it shows your creativity and thinking out of the box. Looking forward to more of your work.

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments