Trees & Balsamroots

....from Thom McCall Preserve, a week ago. Very slight increase in saturation, otherwise direct copy of scanned film.

Eric,
Maybe a lower angle with some balsomroot in the immediate foreground might be nice. I feel like I need to see something to lead me into the image. I also hate to say it but you can definitly see the shortcomings of scanning film with this image. I would love to see some of your shots shooting digital raw.

Eric,

I'm not an expert by any means but I'm having a difficult time seeing what you were going for here. There doesn't seem to be main focal point in this for me. There's a lot going on here and to be honest me eyes don't know where to start or stop. Simplifying things might help a bit.

I have a feeling you are probably loosing something in translation with the scans also. I know my 120s look a lot better on the light table than when I scan them. Hope I'm not coming off as being overly harsh, just throwing my $0.02 out there

Dave

Thanks for the posts. David, you have actually told me that I achieved what I wanted to. I find that when the eye bounces around an image, it can find new things to rest on and return to, while if there is a single dominant feature the eye goes there and then may have nowhere else to go. Anyone know any essays or ?? that speak to this? Erik, thinking back on it, I remember thinking that the LLC flowers might lead in to the frame, but I can see they're certainly not a "close up."

Thanks again. Maybe more soon.

Eric, compositionally speaking this just dosen't work, and much for the same reasons others noted. Unless the image is intentionally abstract, the eye shouldn't just bounce around. Viewers quickly loose interest unless there's some other intriguing element. That, by no means, means an image should have a single dominating feature. The more interesting elements the better, but if they don't draw you in, they don't do much good. This is not something that can be fully taught or explained. The photographic eye isn't something everyone has.

Technically speaking, this needs a tremendous amout of work. It's coming across extremely soft, too dark, and the scanner failed to resolve a lot of details in the blacks.