Feedback/C+C Please

[acparsons]

Hello All,

I would appreciate your expert feedback on this photo.

DSC_3356 by Machiavelliar, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

Compositionally I really like it, but I think it would benefited greatly from the use of a polarizing filter, and the saturation (esp green/yellow) seems cranked a little too high to me.

 

[acparsons]

Trying to balance the colors didn't work out very well. So...

DSC_3356B by Machiavelliar, on Flickr

 

[WesternGuy]

Not sure if this is "expert" feedback, but it is what it is. I agree with tirediron in that it is very nice compositionally, but some of the green and yellow are a bit oversaturated. My major concern is that it is a very "cluttered" image in the sense that there is a lot of different elements in it - water, rocks, grass, bridge, pathway, white flowers, yellow flowers, red bushes, regular budding green trees, white flowering trees and some things in round white "holders" at the end of the bridge. There are probably more things that I have missed, but you get the idea. I don't think that converting it to black and white has helped. Some of the most effective imagery I have ever seen is based on the idea of simplicity. In this one, my question is - what is the subject of the image?

For example, I look at this image with these comments as background thoughts and I wonder what it would look like if the "white" trees were not there in the background - just wondering. I had a look at your Flickr page and you have two images of tulips there. The one on the right is not bad because it is simple - the background is a bit distracting, but there is no question of what the subject is.

Hope this helps.

WesternGuy

 

[acparsons]

Thank you for the feedback. The bridge is he subject of the photo, I tried to place it in the quadrant using the rule of 3rds, using the stream and grass to lead to it, and the trees in the background to show Spring.

 

[john.margetts]

You have ended up with a picture of a stream with a bridge in the background. I would have the bridge both larger and lower down in the frame. In the colour version both contrast and saturation are way too high.

 

[Tim Tucker]

Trying to balance the colors didn't work out very well.

Try to be a little more subtle in your raw editing. If you look at the raw data you have your editing thus:

That's quite a boost in saturation. Vibrance itself is just a weighted saturation slider. Also the contrast controls work on both the colour and luminance channels, which means that when you increase it it increases not only the difference in luminosity but also colour by way of increasing saturation as well.

If I reverse those we end up with something similar to your unedited raw:

Which has a histogram thus:

You see by the space on the right that the shot is a little under-exposed, which means you will have to apply extra editing to correct it altering and degrading the information further. With a stop or two extra exposure you could have captured more colour information which you would need to edit less.

If I apply a more subtle hand in Camera Raw I come up with this, which is offered only as an example and not necessarily correct:

 

[DarkShadow]

I also think the composition is very nice but the saturation and overall brightness is a bit much for my taste. I like where Tim took it, looks more natural and not as bright.

 

[acparsons]

Awesome feedback Tim.

 

[manaheim]

Go Tim Tucker. That was awesome and helpful as hell.

 

[acparsons]

This it what I have ended up with.

DSC_3356 by Machiavelliar, on Flickr

 

[manaheim]

Win.

 

[DrumsOfGrohl]

I think I'd crop a bit from the bottom out, kind of like @john.margetts mentions. The picture does look like the bridge is the background and the stream is the subject. I'd probably crop out the bottom right 5 rocks, as they're OOF anyway.