Dunes Abstract: Keep or Set Aside

I've been working on trying to get a website up and running, so have been going through some older files. This is a shot from GSD on a bone chilling and tripod frosting morning in March 2010. I was drawn to the marbled effect of the snow mixing with the sand in the usual windblown patterns that appear on the dunes.

Here are my questions: 1) The original photo has a certain "graininess" (sorry for the pun) from the natural texture of the sand, has some noise, and is slightly out of focus. I thought that maybe the natural contrast in the scene might overcome these technical flaws? I also tried to blur a bit of the highlights to try and add more softness. 2) Comp-I cropped this from an original that had a bit more real estate in the upper areas. In the areas I cropped, the patterns weren't as interesting, they began to fade out, and were exposed a bit more, so I rotated the scene a bit and cropped. Yay or Nay? 3) White balance and exposure. I wanted to verge on underexposure but may be a tad too much, and this may appear too red in the WB?

Any comments on the above or anything else I may be missing is appreciated. Basically I'm wondering if this is worth working and salvaging or skipping as a lost cause. Thanks in advance.

Jared;

Personally, I think scrapping an image like this would be a very bad idea. In my opinion, this represents a photographic abstraction, which leaves viewers wondering what it is, and secondly, at this size, I have no sense of scale, so that is the other mysterious aspect of the image. From a quick glance I could be viewing dunes from a helicopter - another reason why this is intriguing are the misgivings a viewer has, makes them look longer - drawing them in - a very good thing you want when showing art.

Further, when I look at the upper right corner, the scene almost appears inverted. Going back to what I mentioned about the absrtact nature of this image, that element of illusion makes it all the more compelling. Personally, I wouldn't get too involved in the technical details, such as you mention blurring - why? Also, in terms of color temperature, I think this is a fine representation of the sand dunes as they appear to have a wide array of color casts throughout a given day.

So if you were to print this image - do you think canvas would be sweet? I sure as hell do!

Good work Jared, love to see more abstractions from the dunes which we don't get to see enough of.


OH - I wanted to add something that I know is a very effective learning tool -- I once posted a photo that was one that I wanted to learn more about, and I got some responses back that were great, but one in particular struck me as a little unfortunate. A gentlemen replied 'I used to throw those [sic] bad slides away, should I have kept them?'. I never had a chance to say NO, but the answer is obvious - don't ever delete or discard anything you shoot, because its your timeline. Enough on that, I thought I'd share...

Christopher is a mighty hard act to follow with his expert analysis and advice.
All I can say is that I agree with him and strongly believe that this image has a place in your portfolio.
Oh, yeah...I like it quite a bit, too! The dark ridges give this some excellent definition.

I think you're over-thinking this. I think. It's outstanding! Sometimes an image just feels good, and any techie nits don't matter much.

Jarod, some great advice already given above, but I will try to add my 2c. The upper left corner seems a little soft/OOF? Maybe that is the crappy monitor I am on. I love the white snow mixed into the sand in this image. The WB seems a little warm, but it could be very realistic scene as well. The only other comment is to make sure you have enough pixels here after cropping that you can print it out if someone asks for a print. =) Can't wait to see your website bro.

I love the frosted ripples. Great abstract.

I just wish the upper left were as sharp as the upper right.
Depending on how much that bothers you, I would consider a slight crop from the left, or left & top if you want to maintain the current aspect ratio.

The white balance is fine. I like it warm.

I think this is fantastic as well. Great work!

Chris-I appreciate the thorough feedback. As of late, you've been providing some really good critique and insight which is very helpful and an asset to this group. My thinking on the blur was to try and compensate for the noise in the pic as I found it a bit distracting, but used a very light hand in doing so-the rest of the softness is due to the slight out of focus original photo. I'm usually not a big fan of canvas wraps, but agree that a canvas could be a good possibility for this or a pretty aggressively textures rag of some sort-thanks for the input.

Todd-there are a lot of things in life that might "feel good" but are still bad ideas

Bill-you and me both (wish the ULC was sharper)! I could BS this and say I was trying to juxtapose that soft corner with the rigid and crisp URC creating tension in the image, but I've already overthought this too much-cropping may work as well.

Thanks John, Koveh, and Jeremy for your input and the nudging to keep me from second guessing this one.

Hi Jared - I clicked on this and my first thought was that this is a really sweet image. The subject is really interesting and keeps me coming back to study it some more. I think this is an example of an image that might have a few small technical flaws, but the emotional impact overpowers those small flaws. I like the white balance and the exposure as is. I think this is definitely a keeper for your portfolio. Nice work.

I like this a lot, Jared. One of the beauties of abstracts is that we can get away with things we would normally not consider in a "normal" landscape image. I think this is a keeper.

Jared, do NOT get rid of this! I love this shot. It looks like an abstract macro of an orange-colored human brain. You could probably market it with great to success to a neurology clinic; I'm only half-joking. In my opinion, of all the landscape photographs we take, abstracts are the least dependent on the usual technical precision criteria in order to "work." This image definitely works, as is. Grain, noise, slight out-of-focus make little difference to the aesthetic of this image. Now all you need is a catchy title.

Jared, I don't know what I can add to the advice you already got from this top notch of photographers....but this is what I will say. Sometimes I think we all get TOO wrapped up in the techs of a shot. This is an ART piece is it not? If so, why do we care if it is a bit grainy or slightly out of focus? I am much more interested in your interpretation of this piece and how I feel about it. If this was some sort of image that was going to be used in a field guide to identify an animal, then I can see your dilemma, but viewing this as art and especially an abstract piece, I would not only keep it, but would print it large and display it! I like it a lot!

Jared
this really is an excellent abstract. The only variation I might try is a square crop utilizing the right side only.

What Todd said, cut out all the extra verbage it's making me spend too much time....

This is an amazing abstract image, I really like the color and texture.