2019 - Image of the Week: #49

Welcome to TDP forum's "Image of the Week" competition. Each week photographers may submit their images for the titles of "Image of the Week." Weekly winners will then compete on a monthly, quarterly, and, finally, in our annual poll for the title of "TDP Forum Image of the Year."

• The Week 49 entry period will be from Monday, December 2nd through/including Sunday, December 8th.
• Please supply a title for your images.
• This is an open competition for landscape, portrait, architectural, macro, or any other appropriate photographic style.
• Images should have been either recently taken or processed.
• Enter as many times as you would like.

This week will be judged by DavidEccleston.

"Violet"
https://i.imgur.com/lwrZ7kql.jpg

"Bow River"

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5430a28f_b.jpg6S0A9474 by kayaker72, on Flickr

As we only have two entries so far, I'm going to give Zach some critique now, in case he wants to post another attempt.

The concept is great, but I personally dislike when not a single flower is fully in focus. The top two have their center bits OOF. The one below is OOF before we get to the ring of petals. I find both distracting. You need a slightly smaller aperture (lower f number) to make this one work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DavidEccleston

As we only have two entries so far, I'm going to give Zach some critique now, in case he wants to post another attempt.

The concept is great, but I personally dislike when not a single flower is fully in focus. The top two have their center bits OOF. The one below is OOF before we get to the ring of petals. I find both distracting. You need a slightly smaller aperture (lower f number) to make this one work.

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thanks for the critique David, believe me i know the focus stinks on that pic, but for some reason it appealed to me, i've got a thing for imperfect pictures, they feel real to me i guess. but your right the OOF areas are distracting, that's one reason i toned down the color and vibrancy, it helped draw the eyes off of the OOF problems, at least that what i was going for anyway.

here's the same flower but better focus, i'll let this be my second entry.

"Violet 2.0"
https://i.imgur.com/vNvBTZll.png

Startrails:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...28c16a38_k.jpgStartrails by Stephen, on Flickr

Stephen

Frosty Morning

This is a bit unusual, but I'm posting a photo from the same location as Brant's shot above. I've been coming back to this spot regularly since Brant's visit, trying to get a decent sunrise. This is today's effort, probably the best of the bunch that I've generated so far. But I have to say, I do like Brant's shot above with the dramatic clouds! Today was rather cold and it took a while for the mountains to appear through the ice fog. While waiting, I emptied my coffee mug and the batteries on my heated socks ran out... the pitfalls of the trade :)

https://photos.smugmug.com/Landscape...DIV5867-XL.jpg

Edit: In answer to a question from David, the socks I use are "Lenz 5.0", with rechargeable lithium batteries. They are rather expensive but work brilliantly (assuming you remember to charge them before you go out for a shoot). You can control the temperature with an app on your phone (how cool is that). Those of you in Canada can find them now at MEC.

Struggling to decide between Brant and Jonathan's shots.

Zach, better focus, and I like the stronger color, but I preferred the original positioning.

Stephen, nice star-trail, but I find everything else too dark. The distance hills are dark. The reflected trails are dark. If you had accumulated more shots to lengthen the trails, it likely would have brightened everything but the reflection too (I'm assuming these are an additive stack of shots). Often star-trail shots include another foreground element to add more interest to the scene. The darkness just leaves this one feeling like it's missing something.

Brant, Jonathan, based on the sky, mountain, and snow cover, you were there on different days. You both selected nearly identical framing, and you both decided to block both the bridge and the flow of the river with the tree branch. As these are both typical focal points of a landscape image, I'm really curious what compelled you both to obscure them.

Brant. I like the clouds, the texture in the water, and the clarity of the mountains.

Jonathan. I like the color, and the marginally better view of the bridge. The clouded mountains give it a bit of a mystical feel.

The color alone is really drawing me to Jonathan's image, but Brant's got the mountains, the sky, the water, and he posted first. I'm wait until I'm home where I can download the pair so I can swap back of forth on a large monitor instead of scrolling around this thread on a smaller screen before I call a winner.

Once I have them easily switchable, I can see a lot of the benefits in Jonathan image. It has a wider FOV. The color brings a lot of extra separation between the foreground tree, bridge, and water. Better separation between the bridge and the distant trees. The bare trees, which are one of the only things to stand out in Brant's image, dissolve away in Jonathan's.

Jonathan, you win week 49.

congrats Jonathan! Beautiful photo

Thanks! And thanks also for the detailed feedback. It's always useful to hear how your photos impact other people. With regards to the trees blocking the bridge, I guess I chose this spot exactly for that reason. I'm kind of a sucker for trees leaning over a river -- to me it's a cool framing element and in this case I thought that enough of the bridge was still showing to be okay. I believe there are some clearer viewpoints along the river closer to the bridge that would show the whole structure (and make it larger in the frame) so I could try that for comparison. Stay tuned -- you have given me some ideas and I appreciate that!

Congratulations Jonathan! Very deserving shot indeed.

And thanks David for the detailed reasoning behind your choices. Interesting to hear someone else's take on the photos. Regarding my foreground being dark, I actually darkened some parts of it in post. The trees and small bridge along with some of the mist on the water was actually lit up by a passing car and I thought it looked too un-natural for my tastes so I darkened it considerably. Without the lone passing car though, all the foreground would have been pretty much black (just a hillside silhouette). This location (a campground) is VERY dark on a moonlit night and there is simply not enough ambient light to show on the trees, water or hills. As for the startrails on the water, I didn't darken those at all, but there was a mist on the water which inhibited the reflections somewhat. Appreciate the feedback though!

Stephen

Congratulations Jonathan!

David-Thanks for the consideration and you are correct, very different days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DavidEccleston

You both selected nearly identical framing, and you both decided to block both the bridge and the flow of the river with the tree branch. As these are both typical focal points of a landscape image, I'm really curious what compelled you both to obscure them.

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At the time of the first day, when I got my shot, we briefly discussed how we both liked the curved tree overhanging the river as an interesting element. I do like how Jonathan positioned the tree ever so slightly lower relative to the bridge than I did. At the time I took mine, however, I was more fixated on the clouds as they were just dancing around the top of the peaks. So, I was more looking for an interesting composition where I could play with the clouds. Here I was trying to balance the river (Bow) against the mountains (side of Mt Rundle) but emphasize the clouds. The bridge was considered, but I was thinking it was more of a detail that one would pick up as they evaluated the entire frame rather than a primary focal point.

Granted, what you describe with the flow of the river, bridge and mountains as a backdrop would be a more classic picture.

Truth be told, I like the photo I submitted this week and think it is "nice" but I actually prefer the one I submitted week (#48) as it better frames the clouds dancing around the peaks. But I often put up pictures I think have merit as other people gravitate to and see scenes differently, and, I do like this weeks pic. So, appreciate the thoughts.