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Time to make the syrup
Mar 21, 2023 08:42:10   #
Robin Dessureau
 
Nikon Cool-pix pocket camera with12x zoom lens, post processed in Smart Photo Editor. do notice purple fringe caused by the zoom lenses and the camera's small sensor.



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Mar 22, 2023 06:31:36   #
dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida
 
Great photo of a scene that in a few years will be a condo building complex. Robin, you are lucky to get this in time.

The puddle in foreground speaks an echo of the scene... very good, keep. IMO the photo should end on the right a hair beyond the tall tree. That tree is there to stop our looking further. We do not need to see beyond that into small trees. The top can be cropped just above the stack.

IMO, a better alternative is a building close up... after all, the mud & building are the story. Clone out the stack and make the photo tighter on right close to the building and bring down closer to the top. The message of this photo in my view is the mud and the building. The stack adds nothing... it is an artifact. Quoting my photo club professional judge, "that which does not add, detracts."

PS: clean the mud off your boots before getting into your car.

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Mar 22, 2023 06:51:44   #
tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.
 
Robin Dessureau wrote:
Nikon Cool-pix pocket camera with12x zoom lens, post processed in Smart Photo Editor. do notice purple fringe caused by the zoom lenses and the camera's small sensor.



I like the photo, apparently won't be good enough for some people. Thanks BE SAFE!!

Tom

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Mar 22, 2023 08:30:26   #
joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ
 
Beautifully composed and presented, Robin.

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Mar 22, 2023 08:48:09   #
Robin Dessureau
 
Thanks for the reply, along with my army of many cameras of various sizes, the Nikon Coolpix pocket camera 5600 is about the size of a smartphone but has an amazing 12X zoom a good camera to have with you all the time. The Sugar Shack is on some private land surrounded by Maple trees and located on a Family farm for many years the chance of a Condo in a few years would be very slim, as Vermonters love their outdoors, and the land we have pretty good laws of what, when, where people can be built.

The reason to include the sky was to give you a taste of what the weather is like during mud season and for me what would have added is steam coming out of the roof. Vermont has a short late Spring most years, unlike a longer one further south.

Part of the reason for taking the photo was I like the reflection of the water it gives the photo another level of not just a snapshot which would have made the shot appear flat.

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Mar 23, 2023 01:57:46   #
dat2ra Loc: Sacramento
 
Since this is a requested critique, I like the scene for sure, but find the colors off, especially the magenta-purplish snow and sky. IF desired, this could be removed in PS Curves, desaturating the blue because there is not much significant blue in the photo. That would bring out the whites as they actually are.

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Mar 23, 2023 20:52:31   #
Hip Coyote
 
Thank you for posting in the critique section.

The ups: It is fun and an adventure to use small sensor cameras and try to overcome the technical flaws they produce. it is kind of like driving a Mazda MX5 fast...a capable car but its no Corvette. You saw an interesting sight, and probably have some personal knowledge of syrup making. This is a scene that warranted some exploration.

The maybe for next time: I am not a fan of the composition of this photograph. If the water were important, then focus on the water. If the muddy road were the focus, then you may have wanted to put more of it in the scene. The main distraction of the shot is the large tree. Snow and dark surfaces are very tough to shoot...and your camera did not help..so that is understandable. The white is basically blown. If syrup was indeed your intention to capture, then the hoses and other technical aspects of syrup making should have been in the shot. I understand that you probably captured the scene as it occurred to you, it is not like you are doing a photo shoot for some syrup farm where you spend day after day trying to get the exact right shot.

What you have here is a scene of a muddy road, a cabin with wood and a pretty deep muddy road. I see this as a nice memory but not a more artistic piece worthy of a wall hanging.

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Mar 29, 2023 22:02:06   #
dustie Loc: Nose to the grindstone
 
Robin Dessureau wrote:
Nikon Cool-pix pocket camera with12x zoom lens, post processed in Smart Photo Editor. do notice purple fringe caused by the zoom lenses and the camera's small sensor.


Your experience and skill in photography far exceeds mine, yet if I may, I'd like to give an observation or two. Probably none of what I say is new to you and may not be significant at all.

The content of a photo (what's seen) is objective, just a showing of what the photographer is presenting for viewers.

The intent of a photo (what's meant, or what it's about), in the opinions of viewers, is subjective; affected by personal tastes, likes/dislikes, acquired teaching and/or experiences, interests, knowledge (or lack thereof) of the subject, "how I would have done it", current state of viewer's self-classification of personal skill level, and other possible inputs.
The range of subjective conclusions following the evaluations of photos can potentially be vast and diametrically conflicting. Maybe not always. Maybe sometimes a photo can be so simple in its content and intent that conclusions don't widely differ.

In this beginner's opinion (maybe not widely held), the subjective conclusions pertaining to the intent of the photo strongly affect the decisions people make on how they would do editing to it.
Are they viewing it as a photo to be edited as a technically purist example of photography technique/training/sterile clinical example, or trying to render it as close as possible to the actual reality of the moment in the scene -- (or somewhere in between)?

You have included enough elements in the photo to give viewers a nice idea of the environment, its conditions and various details of the natural and manmade elements (in this beginner's opinion).
Only the color of dead leaves and the firewood and pallet at the shack, to me seem a bit unnaturally bright orange.

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