Waterfall Kaaterskill Mountain Trailby
Gabe1211Comment by snaffles: Greetings from the Critique Club!
Initial impression: A good in-focus shot, but the yellow shirt really detracts from the waterfall...and both waterfall and shirt detract from the trees.
Technical: Like the pov, clean shot, the shadows help lead the eye up. And there the wheels fall off, because the eye is zinging around from the yellow shirt to the waterfall and finally, to the trees. Not sure if the bright, somewhat flat colours used in trees and shirt help the shot at all.
Artistic: I would say you're trying to do too much here. This is a good shot of a waterfall, so the fact it was entered in Trees makes it look like a bit of a shoehorn. The tree is an afterthought, clinging for dear life to the the far edge of the frame. Interpretation of challenge subjects tends to be quite literal. If need be, go for a fill-the-frame shot.
FWIW: The desat does work well, but having two spots of strong, opposing colours simply doesn't work, and a more natural colour to the trees would have helped. The challenge subject is what we want to see.
Overall not a bad attempt. Read tutorials on this site on composition, or if nothing else, try this: choose a challenge, start at the LAST page, and scroll through to the first page. You'll see the pictures getting stronger in terms of composition and greater use of the KISS principle.
Feel free to PM me with any questions,
Susan
Photographer found comment helpful.