Taking the advise of several of the good folks here on NPN I reworked the intimate landscape image that I took last Saturday on the red rocks trail in Boulder. I like the new and improved image a lot and just wanted to share with everyone and pass along my thanks once again.
I love the tension between Tree and Stone but what is the Blue and White at the bottom? Ohhh Wait Snow! I almost had a Marbleize feel or a Blurred Sky in a Mirror look. Wow Had me fooled for a moment.
It Adds even more tension because I feel as though I'm looking at two images not one and my mind wants to argue which one I should be paying the most attention to.
Posted by Rod Chandler on April 1, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Steven, I am probably in the minority but I find the snow with the blue shadow very distracting. What is the subject here? The tree struggling for survival in a diffiuclt spot. I don't think the snow adds a thing to that beautiful story of survival. Delete the snow and I think you have a beautiful, powerful image.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I am glad that it is appearing most find the reworked image improved as well.
Rod,
You agree with me that the subject is the pondo pine growing out of the rocks. And you have a good point on the snow and I examined this part of an image for a while.
I worked with the image and tried taking out the snow, but did not like it as much. I feel it needs the blue sky reflected in the snow for a better color balance. Also without the snow at the bottom the cracks give a strong top left to bottom right motion without a counter balance.
If I left a little snow in the image it was really confusing as to what the stuff at the bottom was. Therefore, I left a lot of the snow in the image to keep the blue color in the shadow and allow the viewer to understand what it was at the bottom. Also, buy having the large amount of snow there are lines from bottom left up to the right. Combined with the cracks in the rocks there is a "rotated thirds pattern" in the image which should help the overall composition.
Of course, this tree begs for additional work and I will return for a more captures in the future. Your suggestion of a close-up and personal capture will need to be one of those captures.
Discussion
7 repliesC&C is welcome.
It Adds even more tension because I feel as though I'm looking at two images not one and my mind wants to argue which one I should be paying the most attention to.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I am glad that it is appearing most find the reworked image improved as well.
Rod,
You agree with me that the subject is the pondo pine growing out of the rocks. And you have a good point on the snow and I examined this part of an image for a while.
I worked with the image and tried taking out the snow, but did not like it as much. I feel it needs the blue sky reflected in the snow for a better color balance. Also without the snow at the bottom the cracks give a strong top left to bottom right motion without a counter balance.
If I left a little snow in the image it was really confusing as to what the stuff at the bottom was. Therefore, I left a lot of the snow in the image to keep the blue color in the shadow and allow the viewer to understand what it was at the bottom. Also, buy having the large amount of snow there are lines from bottom left up to the right. Combined with the cracks in the rocks there is a "rotated thirds pattern" in the image which should help the overall composition.
Of course, this tree begs for additional work and I will return for a more captures in the future. Your suggestion of a close-up and personal capture will need to be one of those captures.