Above shot was the from the only descent snowfall we have had so far. Indeed difficult conditions for photography but that is where you learn to adapt..
Interesting opinion... I never thought of two crops... after that you have mentioned, I do feel that I can make a separate shot of the road though.
The reason I included the road was to showcase that even in that weather a family is out, and going to go a long way together. The crop may be looking technically correct but I feel that it is loosing the story.
I really like the sketched look of the processing.
My first reaction was why did you allow more of the reds in (car, dog sweater, a bit in the boots) since a near monochrome or subtle duotone was working just fine.
It's your story so you crop, but I do think Karen's is nice and removes some of the distraction and intrusion of the parking lot.
Living in the Northeast, this scene looks so familiar, I am foolishly tempted to identify it.
And you got more than we did (but I am thinking this is NH, not suburban MA where I am too).
Scott
I rarely like photos with overall exaggerated contrast / sharpening but it works very nicely here to create a painterly pointillistic rendering that adds texture and interest to an otherwise ordinary scene in very low contrast lighting conditions.
I also like the way you composed it, splitting the tree on the left exactly down the middle to create both a frame and darker visual buffer on that side that leads into the similar shaped trees in the background. I'd suggest a similar crop on the right side along the tree to eliminate the gap between it and the edge of the photo (gaps attract attention).
That will put the people very close to the edge, but that works given the overall seen from behind, heading toward home, context of the message here. It changes the big tree on the right from a distraction into a framing element that really isn't noticed much — like your handling of the tree on the left.
A compositional technique for adding back the missing negative space in a non-distracting way it to add a complementary mat. The red trap rule is a subliminal clue to help find the red coat on the dog and also coordinates with the red accents of the red SUV and tail lights where they are headed...
Thanks Scott. It is Framingham (metrowest), MA area. We are pretty much into snow drought this year. Only one decent snowfall happened in Jan (when I took above shot).
I agree, reds can be reduced, I will try it out and I am also going to think a little bit more on the crops.
As far as processing goes, it was pretty much playing with curves, some dodge and burn, selective contrast, adding some golden light etc. Used Nik's color efex pluging for extracting some of the details from snow, people etc.
