Solitude...

[Don Railton]

Hello all

I have had an image like this in mind for some time and its my first serious attempt at b&W... I am not particularly happy with this effort but would love to get any feedback anyway. It is of fog lifting off a river in the town I was bought up in in New Zealand. The town is dying slowly after the main industry closed down many years ago...This image is surpose to express the gloom felt whenever i go back, added this time by the passing of my mother...Sorry if thats all a bit heavy but its the mood I tried to insert into this image, so how did I go???


1D4 + 50mmF 1.4
2 sec @ F22
ISO 125
On tripod, manual eval, full frame.

processed in cs6...

DON

[Jim Michael]

I tend to like my prints on the dark side, but maybe not quite this dark. I find the little pointy part of the shore down at the bottom a little distracting, as it seems to conflict with the soft feeling the image evokes. I get the sense that something is about to come down the river. Interesting.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Don - sorry to hear about your mother. This is in such stark contrast to my memories of my trip to New Zealand, a beautiful country. I feel the gloom and like the fog but feel it would have been better to point the camera up a bit. The empty sand in the fg doesn't add much IMHO. A crop from the bottom to just where the lighter area in the water starts might enhance it.

TFS,
Rachel

[Don Railton]

Thank Jim and Rachel for your much valued comments... I have played with this image and a few others taken at the same place and I agree it is a bit too dark and is better cropped from the bottom. I have another that is shot wide and that looks much better again.

Rachel, yes, NZ has a lot to offer the photographer and all in a relatively small space, ie not a lot of travelling. I did spend a day fishing on the beach and the varity of sea birds I saw was quite amazing...

DON

[Grady Weed]

... I have played with this image and a few others taken at the same place and I agree it is a bit too dark and is better cropped from the bottom. I have another that is shot wide and that looks much better again....

I think your on the right track with those adjustments. TFS.

[Robert Amoruso]

Don,

I understand the personal meaning here, but this does not work for me on a number of levels.

The first being other than the correctly composed curving river (leading line), not much in the image is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The tonal separations leave too much black that trap the viewer at the image's borders.

I have no idea what the town looks like but perhaps a study of the town's condition would better tell that story of decline.

[Don Railton]

Thanks Robert and Grady, more valued input... I knew the image was not right, but I was not sure why. You guys have helped sort that out in my head...



DON

[Morkel Erasmus]

Late to this one, Don...Robert's critique pretty much sums up what I would have said...
I get where you were coming from...but it's not rocking my boat as posted...:e3