Hello from the Critique Club!
I have viewed your image at a few different resolutions and on two different monitors. First off, I like the image and the scene it presents. The grain in the sky definitely helps this image and would make the image a lot stronger if the same amount of grain was evident in the whole image. But that is for the challenge requirements.
Composition/perspective - the shot seems to be balanced between sky and hillside almost to the center line. In my opinion it would be stronger if the crop was tighter on the bottom and the tree to the left of the pic was cropped so the trunk that is cut off of the pic was cropped at the division between the leaves of the two parts of the tree. Your angle of approach is quite good though. I like the upward view and think that the processing in black and white helps this perspective quite a bit.
Lighting - obviously natural light, but well controlled. There are no blown out reflections on the rocks and the sky looks to be well within a controllable range - well done. Especially since this appears to have been shot in full daylight. Not sure, but a polarizer seems to have been used based on the gradient tone in the sky which is ok and does not detract from the image at all, rather it adds to it quite nicely.
The focus and detail are excellent. The scene is long in nature so some detail should be expected to be lost, the grass in the foreground and clear definition of the rocks makes up for that. Perhaps a little more sharpening after resizing would compensate and help bring out more details in the trees on the horizon line.
Challenge requirements - your application of grain seems to be lost in the foreground and only evident in the sky. This could either be in the post processing or the in camera processing. Either way, if it was more evident in the foreground it would be much stronger for the challenge. I don't think it would have hurt the detail in the rocks or grass. In fact I think it would have added to it...given it an 'old west' kind of feel. As it is I can see myself sitting on a horse looking at this hill and thinking 'I should find another way' and that is a good thing. Pictures that make you think, even if the thoughts are different than the photographers, are always stronger in my book.
Overall, well done image. Very nice perspective and composition. Perhaps a tad more grain in the foreground would make it stronger for the challenge, but as it it is a very nice capture! Slight adjustments in contrast and levels would bring out more of the rock detail, but that would be more a matter of taste. |
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