minniev Loc: MIssissippi

This area is nearby, accessible when the road isn't too muddy so I should have ample opportunity for reshoot -please give me feedback on the shot, the crop, the pp, composition, or whatever would make it better.

I have shot several ways over the years, was out this day with just basic wide zoom and no tele. The water was backed up and I couldn't get as close as I'd like so I shot knowing I'd have to crop and developed it with a kind of Orton-effect processing to try to make the most of the light and the little bit of fog at dawn.

my edit


original photo

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I like what you have done with the color, and the fog adds some interest, but I would like to see a more distinct point of interest.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Oddly, I like it for the lack of a focal point which in itself becomes one. I think it is the use of the atmosphere that allows it to work.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

I like your edit very much including the way you cropped and toned it. I am in the camp that doesn't believe it needs any more point of interest. The panoramic scene is enough. I really like looking at it and in fact I'm going to go back and look at it some more. Wish it could be seen larger.

Nightski

Minnie I like what you have done with the color and the crop. I think the image as a whole is the point of interest. Images don't always have to have one little point of interest. These images are harder to pull off, but I think you've managed it here.

jonsommer Loc: Usually, somewhere on the U.S. west coast.

I feel like I'm there - I really like this panorama and wouldn't change a thing - and you don't need any more center of interest than you already have, I might play with the crop and add just a sliver more foreground, if I were you, to add just a little more 'visual weight' to the scene - but, like I said, I wouldn't change a thing. I like how my eye wanders around the scene, kind of like going for a walk through it, and all I have to worry about is getting mud on my shoes. Great job.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

HooBoy! This is the hard part ..... trying to say something cogent about a photograph I don't like. But we all react subjectively to things before our eyes and here's what I saw (or didn't see): Subject matter: dead, stark trees against an indistinguishable background? Had there been a pattern or syncopation to the trees, I might have become interested, but these seem haphazard. I've seen fog photos I like, but usually when the fog has some sort of pattern to it as it interacts with subjects in the foreground. I'm sorry, but I just don't see that here. Secondly, the coloration ...... I have never been in favor of off-yellow, because it reminds me of faded newspapers. I almost think of this photo as an exercise to make a swan out of an ugly duckling. It reminds me of the adage, "We have done so much, with so little, for so long, that now they expect us to do everything with nothing."

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

That's how I feel about this kind of photo. The viewer (me) can mentally project being inside this kind of photo, take a little walk around and absorb the atmosphere of a different place. It's peaceful. There doesn't need to be one thing that grabs the viewer's attention. Sometimes it's good to just relax.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Amen!

carlysue Loc: Columbus

Minniev, I really love all those shades of gold! So much depth, love all those horizontal levels. I think your edit is right on,you've removed excess foreground and extraneous sky and made a mundane scene worthy of pondering and admiration!

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Reply to multiple responders:

Country's Mama - you're right, it doesn't not have a single center of interest. I think it is closer to being an abstract that an landscape. Once I almost got an alligator near these trees but he wouldn't be still long enough.

St3v3M, HT, Nightski, jonsommer, and Carlysue - thanks for the encouragement. It is an "atmosphere" type capture. I am prone to take a lot of pictures of (a) too much stuff or (b) nothing. This may be a little of both. So I never know, with these kinds of photos. They appeal to some people, but not all. If they appeal to some folks, maybe it means (I hope) they are not badly conceptualized or captured, just not appealing to all, which is fine. This forum is a very interesting way to learn about our own photos and our own taste!

Bob - I didn't think you'd like this one. But I've got plenty of the kind that you tinker so wonderfully with to make them more than I'd ever hoped. More to come...