Snow and light: C&C please

[dcclark]

Hello all -- the story is simple: I snowshoed around a bend in our University trails, and there was this combination of snow and light streaming over a bank.

General C&C is welcome -- I'm considering using this as a portfolio piece, so feel free to be hard on it. A specific question: Are the lit branches in the background distracting? I'm imagining trouble with trying to clone them out, so what could I do?

 

[dcclark]

I'm bumping this in hopes of critiques. Is the photo "meh" enough that nobody wants to say anything after a day?

 

[Dragonfly..shotz]

Hi, was not sure at first. Found it hard to make out what was going on. Have you tried flipping it horizontally? I think you will find it will flow better from left to right. Just a thought.

 

[AverageJoe]

Are the lit branches in the background distracting?

Yes, and it would be a tough crop to get rid of the black bar towards the top, it really throws the image off, can you re-shoot?

 

[dcclark]

Yes, and it would be a tough crop to get rid of the black bar towards the top, it really throws the image off, can you re-shoot?

Hm, unfortunately a reshoot is unlikely -- unless we get a windy, sunny day when I can get outside at the right time. I can definitely tone down the most distracting branch in the background and flip it horizontally -- we'll see how that looks.

 

[dcclark]

Here is a slightly changed version: flipped, and the most distracting shiny branches have been toned down. The big black trees are just about impossible though...

 

[SpaceNut]

I like the flipped version better

 

[Dragonfly..shotz]

I feel that works better and cloning out the branch makes the trunks of the trees become a part of the image with a glimpse of blue sky. I like it.

 

[dcclark]

Thanks both. I wouldn't have thought to flip the image -- do you suppose it "reads" better because we are used to reading left-to-right?

 

[Eldrich]

Very interesting, I somehow like it better flipped, I have no idea why.

But to be blatantly honest, I don't really get much out of this. I like the idea, but I wish that there were more in the frame, there's nothing really to keep your eye on the photo.

 

[dcclark]

Eldrich -- thanks for the honesty. (I think that the flipping helps because of the sense of action, and how we usually read left to right -- just my idea.)

Would it be fair to rephrase your criticism as "there is no strong subject in this photo"?

 

[Eldrich]

yes thats pretty much what I was thinking. For me, the blowing snow is just a little too much of a blur to be the only thing in the photo. Which is why I think I would like it much more if the subject were the snow blowing off of a recognizable roof, rather than mostly being the snow...but thats just me