JimKied Offline Upload & Sell: On
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Hathaway wrote:
I appreciate your efforts to find a composition when you know one is there. I find myself struggling with this from time to time at interesting locations. As for this image, I thought of a few things as I looked at it. And believe me, I am no expert in composition or landscapes so take my opinion as just my own thought.
1. This composition as presented might work better wider losing some of the foreground. Maybe a 16X9? Looks like it is a 4X6 but can't tell.
2. I might also move the bonsai to the left third of the photograph and highlight more of the sky. It seems to be the second actor in the image and a strong one at that. The sky to the right seems more interesting so if there is more to be had you could include it.
3. I like the leading lines of the dunes and I think they would still be there if you moved to the right.
4. I might try a composition moving forward and taking the dune grass out of the immediate foreground. While the shape of that mound mirrors the shape of the bonsai tree mound, it provides a lot of distraction with the dune grass reaching into the bonsai tree area. The dune grass also is distracting in the lower right and in the water to the left of the image.
As I said, I am no art or photography critic but thought I would share my amateur eye perception since you indicated you were struggling with the image and location.
Good luck and I hope you got a lot more great images from this location!
Bob...Show more →
All are great ideas. Unfortunately, I could not move further to the left like I wanted as the dune dropped off about 12 feet and there was no other higher vantage point. But I did consider your crop ideas and have done an edit that you can see below.
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JimFox wrote:
Hey Jim,
When I first looked at this shot based on your title and description, it really wasn't working too much for me. The tree is just too little in the scene and it seems to be getting lost with that area so dark.
But as I was looking at the scene, I found lot's of elements that I liked, you definitely worked hard on the composition. So with that in mind, I decided to forget any mention you had made about the bonsai tree. Once I did that, the scene actually appealed much more to me. I like the little details and lighting in this like the grass forming an X in the lower right, the way some of the grasses are being backlit in the mid to left region. And of course the sky is really wonderful. To be honest, your bonsai tree almost turns into more of a distraction. I think it would work better with the tree not quite so centered.
Anyway, hope that makes some sense. Maybe you are trying too hard with trying to get that tree into a shot? Sometimes we just have to let it come to us. That area there for sure has the makings of some wonderful shots. If your goal is to capture the bonsai tree in a compelling composition, all I can suggest at this point is that perhaps you need to get closer to it. I am thinking you are too far away from it in this shot at least.
It is cool to find trees or locations like that that appeal to us and cause us to desire to capture it. So for sure keep at it!
Jim...Show more →
Oh yeah - I was definitely trying to get that tree in the shot, so I was probably forcing it - a lot. When the clouds lit up like they did, I knew I had to capture them and I wasn't in an area where I could move around much. So I winged it. But I did do some cropping to bring more of a rule of thirds perspective to the image and this cropping also makes the tree a little more prominent - probably not enough, but I do understand your thoughts. And I can't wait to catch a break to get back out there and try some things.
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