Snow on dirt piles

[Katherine Enns]

Well folks, I was out a few years ago near this time of year with the my old Canon Rebel and shot this with the 24-105, can not tell you much more, but this was processed in Nik Efex, using the midnight filter, and a soft focus, shifting the color slightly to take some blue out. These are literally dirt piles, in a public park here where the city stockpiles fill, covered in a good layer of snow. Which we have a lot of to spare. It is kind of plebian I know.

I havent cropped the flat BG out. Comments welcome of course. ke

[Robert Amoruso]

On the BG I suggest cropping to just above the two top mounds and cloning out the footprints. Or clone to just below the footprints.

On the FG, I would crop midway up on the front mound.

I like the processing effects. Good choice with this subject.

[Katherine Enns]

Corrected version, clone stamp removal and crop. I just noticed that some of the remaining pattern in the snow looks like I missed the footprints, but that is just not so. :)

[Dave Mills]

Hi Katherine, I like your repost with Roberts crop suggestions. I feel the tracks on the rt side are hurting the image. It's a harmonious pattern you captured but the tracks are having a tendancy in breaking that harmony and pulling ones eye over in that direction...

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Katherine, I much prefer the repost. I like the processing effect you have created too. I agree with Dave on the remaining footprints on the right side.

[Robert Amoruso]

Wow, I have got to be careful of these iPad horizontal crops, I didi not even see the tracks on the right as I did not slid the image over.

Kat, what I see on the iPad is a browser crop of the right just before the track show up. That crop on the repost looks real good.

[Katherine Enns]

If I cropped the tracks on the right I would lose the "interest"...(lol!), I was expecting you guys to tell me to make sure I get them one third across and not so close to the edge.

Thanks for taking the time to even look at this!

[Jay Sheinfield]

Great shot...........love the shapes and patterns. The re-post is even better. I think the tracks might be interesting if they extended across all the mounds.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Kat,
I love the textures and look to this. For me, this is about the shape/shadow/ and textures and the comp they form....so footprints detract! I like the repost......but either cropping off the footprints or a careful digital clean up (my preference) will make this shine!

[Nick Palmieri]

I would agree that the tracks are distracting. It would be nice if they pulled you into or across the image but as presented you end up losing yourself off the right side of the image. Nice job otherwise, I like it a lot!

[Katherine Enns]

I think that was the idea actually, but yeah.

If I could have a bit more tracks, it would have been better but the dirt piles (and tracks) ended abruptly at the right edge of the photo. I keep thinking that rules make photographs too similar but gosh darn it, when I follow them, sometimes photographs improve.

Analogously, I could have used "More BARN!!! " Neil Young once yelled from his boat when he had huge Kelly Deyon speakers in a sound check, one set from his barn on the left and the other from the house on the right, aimed out across the lake. If you know what I mean here.

Thanks again. This photograph has gained way more attention than it honestly deserves.

kat