Tought I'd share some of these shots from a recent trip to Yosemite. I visit 2-3 times a year (one for each season) and always try to go when weather, light, and clouds are working well together.
A winter storm blew in a few weeks ago and I drove up there at night, slept in my truck, and waited for the clouds to come out. Here are some shots. The rains definitely reinvigorated the falls.
All the images were shot on a Sony A7rII with two Canon lenses (24-70 2.8L II and 70-200 2.8L II) as well as the Voigtlander 15mm III (it is super sharp). All RAWs were processed and edited in Lightroom and Photoshop by hand (no filters or presets were used).
You have some nice creativity here. A few thoughts for you.
#1 is the best shot here, very well seen and captured.
#2 is too off balanced and doesn't work. The mind just knows what the rest of Half Dome looks like, so to cut the dome in half, just doesn't work at all. There is some cool spot lighting on the side of it, but cutting the dome in half just won't work.
#3 is too dark, and what happened with the weird red in the trees. You definitely over photoshopped this one. It's lost all sense of realism with that red topped trees. Just being different doesn't always make it good. For me, this one also doesn't work.
#4 would be cool if you corrected the odd color cast in it. Using odd color casts in Landscape shots doesn't really work for most of us. There is some nice light in it, I would love to see that one with some correct color.
#5, the same thing. The color is off slightly in this, the blue doesn't look natural.
Don't mistake a dark image with a moody image. Most of these images look underexposed, that doesn't make an image good though, or truly moody.
You have some nice creativity here. A few thoughts for you.
#1 is the best shot here, very well seen and captured.
#2 is too off balanced and doesn't work. The mind just knows what the rest of Half Dome looks like, so to cut the dome in half, just doesn't work at all. There is some cool spot lighting on the side of it, but cutting the dome in half just won't work.
#3 is too dark, and what happened with the weird red in the trees. You definitely over photoshopped this one. It's lost all sense of realism with that red topped trees. Just being different doesn't always make it good. For me, this one also doesn't work.
#4 would be cool if you corrected the odd color cast in it. Using odd color casts in Landscape shots doesn't really work for most of us. There is some nice light in it, I would love to see that one with some correct color.
#5, the same thing. The color is off slightly in this, the blue doesn't look natural.
Don't mistake a dark image with a moody image. Most of these images look underexposed, that doesn't make an image good though, or truly moody.
#2) The focal point of the Half Dome shot is that light on the rock and the trees to the right. I had no intention of actually showing a fullon shot of Half Dome on this one. I was waiting the clouds to clear and saw the light hit the side and the clearing of the trees which I found quite beautiful.
#3) Yes, the tunnel view shot is photoshopped. All of these are. I even said that at the beginning. Is there a rule on this forum where I cannot photoshop? You messaged saying I could not post more than five and you edited out one (I honestly did not know this). If I cannot use photoshop I won't post here. I was just sharing my images.
Also, in terms of color - there is no right or wrong way to interpret a landscape - Have you ever seen a Monet? Or a Van Gogh?
#4) You only see the color cast because color is relative - and the images are being shown with the other shots gives you the impression of the biased cast towards purple. Yes, I did intentionally do this. I can guarantee that if you took that image and I displayed it to you as a single shot with a neutral or dark background without any of those other images next to it, the "color cast" would not be as noticeable.
Again, I understand your comments. But for me, your tips are very very left brained. They are also very obvious (you are simply stating things that I intentionally did. As someone who is critiquing, might I suggest maybe ask WHY I did those things before commenting further?)
I am an artist with an art degree, and my point is not to necessarily show you clinically, but to make you FEEL what I feel when I see something as wonderful as Yosemite.
If, for example, you said "your reds are not working with your blues and could be less saturated and maybe you can dodge it to lighten the value in the Tunnel view shot", then yeah, that is something I can take into consideration but your tips for me are very typical left brained comments.
I'm absolutely fascinated by your series, John. Especially #2 and #3 are among the best landscape photos I've seen for a long while as they offer a different and new view of this overly photographed location. Congrats!
#2) The focal point of the Half Dome shot is that light on the rock and the trees to the right. I had no intention of actually showing a fullon shot of Half Dome on this one. I was waiting the clouds to clear and saw the light hit the side and the clearing of the trees which I found quite beautiful.
#3) Yes, the tunnel view shot is photoshopped. All of these are. I even said that at the beginning. Is there a rule on this forum where I cannot photoshop? You messaged saying I could not post more than five and you edited out one (I honestly did not know this). If I cannot use photoshop I won't post here. I was just sharing my images.
Also, in terms of color - there is no right or wrong way to interpret a landscape - Have you ever seen a Monet? Or a Van Gogh?
#4) You only see the color cast because color is relative - and the images are being shown with the other shots gives you the impression of the biased cast towards purple. Yes, I did intentionally do this. I can guarantee that if you took that image and I displayed it to you as a single shot with a neutral or dark background without any of those other images next to it, the "color cast" would not be as noticeable.
Again, I understand your comments. But for me, your tips are very very left brained. I am an artist with an art degree, and my point is not to necessarily show you clinically, but to make you FEEL what I feel when I see something as wonderful as Yosemite.
If, for example, you said "your reds are not working with your blues and could be less saturated and maybe you can dodge it to lighten the value in the Tunnel view shot", then yeah, that is something I can take into consideration but your tips for me are very typical left brained comments. ...Show more →
Real quick John.
Of course most of us use Photoshop, I was using it in the sense when someone has gone overboard with it. Sorry for the confusion here with that term.
As to your interpretation to the scene, that's awesome. As a viewer, I was simply telling you how I was responding to it. Hopefully that's okay?
We have a wide variety of styles in here, but I will say that in general, this forum leans towards realism. Not that people don't post photos where the artist has taken liberties, because people do.
So yes, there is no right or wrong to a person's vision. But since you are new to us, it may take a time or two to get used to your style as an artist. And then in general we will (or I will) respond with that in mind. But I still reserve the right to voice if something doesn't work for me.
Very nice set! I especially like the first image. FWIW, the colors on the fourth image look off to me too. Again, great set - thanks for sharing!
Keith W.
kwilliam8 wrote:
Very nice set! I especially like the first image. FWIW, the colors on the fourth image look off to me too. Again, great set - thanks for sharing!
Keith W.
Thanks kwilliam
The cast was on purpose. Even though the image itself (if you viewed it as a B+W image) is majestic, I wanted to ground it more. Make it somewhat humorous, give it some character. Hence the title, hence the color cast
I'd give you a suggestion, after reading the below. Get off your high horse. Jim is a "truth teller" here, and some appreciate that and some don't. Being an "Artist" however does not a landscape photographer make. You sound "very very" arrogant and defensive. You also don't get to pick and choose how you would like your criticism structured on an open forum. If you are confident, I'd just think "yeah, whatever..."
All I see happening to otherwise nice pictures is a heavy hand on the white balance and exposure sliders.
No real comments necessary on these pictures as you have it all figured out.
johntruong wrote:
Again, I understand your comments. But for me, your tips are very very left brained. They are also very obvious (you are simply stating things that I intentionally did. As someone who is critiquing, might I suggest maybe ask WHY I did those things before commenting further?)
I am an artist with an art degree, and my point is not to necessarily show you clinically, but to make you FEEL what I feel when I see something as wonderful as Yosemite.
If, for example, you said "your reds are not working with your blues and could be less saturated and maybe you can dodge it to lighten the value in the Tunnel view shot", then yeah, that is something I can take into consideration but your tips for me are very typical left brained comments. ...Show more →
I think the first image is fantastic. It is very well captured technically and well edited and strikes me with a sense of realism and evokes a strong emotion. It gives a strong sense of the power that can be felt in Yosemite Valley. Well done.
The rest just look fake, and when I see something I can't believe as true to nature (especially in landscape photography) all emotion goes out the window.
And as an artist, I respect your attempt at styling these images to your liking...but unfortunately it just isn't working for me.
I love the creativity in these pictures. They are different than how I have seen others shoot this location. The fog, snow and the cool blue hue work well together to give it the stark look, I assume you are going for. Although I am not a big fan of the purple hue in the 4th pic. My 2 cents. I would love to see some of your work in B+W, I bet they would look real cool. Thank you for sharing.
ckcarr wrote:
I'd give you a suggestion, after reading the below. Get off your high horse. Jim is a "truth teller" here, and some appreciate that and some don't. Being an "Artist" however does not a landscape photographer make. You sound "very very" arrogant and defensive. You also don't get to pick and choose how you would like your criticism structured on an open forum. If you are confident, I'd just think "yeah, whatever..."
All I see happening to otherwise nice pictures is a heavy hand on the white balance and exposure sliders.
No real comments necessary on these pictures as you have it all figured out.
Wow, I share landscape images on this forum hoping others would enjoy what I saw, and I honestly did not expect to get this kind of response.
I'll explain what happened from my point of view. I post on this forum for the first time. Jim PMs me reprimanding I cannot put more than 5 images (there is no sticky on this rule and I honestly did not know that, and he did not go into detail why), so he said he edited my post and took out images. I responded to him politely and told him thanks. No welcome to the forum, no explanation why, just a quick scolding.
Then he makes comments on my images. Which, again, I have no issues with.
But what I saw at that point was just a moderator throwing his ego around putting a new person in his place.
Does Jim sincerely want to help me improve my work?
I certainly do not know everything, but I have been photographing and making art all my life, I went to school both undergrad and masters - I have sat in countless critiques where an art professor has verbally ripped up my work up in front of many students - so when I post an image - I usually have a reason for why I did something. I was never asked that. I was given a knee jerk response with tips that were both obvious and condescending from someone I have never spoken with.
One of the etiquettes of any critique is that you must ask WHY before you start to assume and give a response.
I was being nice earlier with my response to Jim, but since you are bringing this up again - Jim's "truth teller" tips are obvious. I KNOW the trees are red haha. I KNOW I put the cast on there, because I purposely did that.
Rohanban wrote:
I love the creativity in these pictures. They are different than how I have seen others shoot this location. The fog, snow and the cool blue hue work well together to give it the stark look, I assume you are going for. Although I am not a big fan of the purple hue in the 4th pic. My 2 cents. I would love to see some of your work in B+W, I bet they would look real cool. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Rohanban.
I actually edit all my images in BW before flipping to color. You can look at my work on flickr. My subject matter and color is pretty diverse and I love to shoot everything.
I didn't see John specifically ask for C&C. Obviously that doesn't mean that none can be given, but it does make Jim's post a bit out of line IMHO. It struck me as rudely direct and pretty condescending. This is simply not a civil way to interact with someone, especially someone new.
I don't blame John for responding the way he did.
Great photographs, btw. Nice to see some shots that break a few rules, and take some risks.
Interesting to see a more artistic take on these iconic locations. #1 is my favorite here. They all have a very cinematic feel to them, I can easily imagine them being scenes in a big budget fantasy movie (Lord of the Rings, etc).
You'll find there are some people on this forum who can dish it out but can't take it themselves when it comes to criticism. There is also a fair bit of dogmatism about what makes a good landscape photo.
Please keep posting here, it's great to see something unique and different.
johntruong wrote:
Wow, I share landscape images on this forum hoping others would enjoy what I saw, and I honestly did not expect to get this kind of response.
Welcome to the forum John .
For what it's worth, I enjoyed the different takes on these scenes, particularly the first two which have an almost cinematic feel to them. (Side note: I don't think Jim could be me wrong about #2.. I love what you've done with it).
Look forward to seeing more of your work. There are plenty here who will view and enjoy it as presented. Don't let the "truth teller" and his white knight affect that.
