Aaron from Georgia sent me this winter scene for a critique. Here’s what he had to say:
“Hi. I would like a critique on this image. This is one of the better images I have captured for a seasonal winter album. Like all the other pictures in this set, when I squeezed the shutter button, I was attempting to convey a sense of loneliness, cold and mystery. I took about 30 frames at this road near a farm in Eatonton, Ga. On each frame I was looking to use the road and fences as lines to pull a viewer’s eyes into the fog. (Each frame was a little different in composition.) I used a very selective depth of field, focusing on the first fence post on the bottom right of the frame. The image is photo shopped – In ACR, I adjusted exposure, increased the blacks, contrast and clarity. I also sharpened (what little depth of field there is) with ACR. In Photoshop I adjusted the levels.
So my question is: Does this photo convey the feelings of loneliness, cold and mystery well?”
Aaron, although it’s a very nice photo, I can only wonder what it looked like before all the post processing work??????? I also wonder what you would have done before the days of the digital era and specifically Photoshop???? It sort of reminds me of a conversation I had a while back with a student of mine in the class I teach with the BPSOP. She had a similar photo, not as far as a winter scene like yours, but a similar photo with quite a bit of post work. I told her that her photo reminded me of a woman I went out with once (and I do mean once).
Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that in order for her to look good, she would put on high heels (for additional height), a padded bra, fake eyelashes, colored contact lens, and extensions for her dyed hair. It just struck me funny when you mentioned all the things you did to this photo to make it look good. I realize that this is the way it is now with the digital age and so many photographers that have only seen and composed through a digital camera, are thinking about Photoshop as a way of making their photo look better. I wonder what your photo looked like before you worked on it? I wonder if I could have taken this same photo and made it look good the way I would if I was still printing in my darkroom simply by burning and dodging, the right initial exposure, and the right grade of paper?
Hummm, but I digress!!!
Ok, the first thing I wonder is what lens you used, and what aperture you had it set on. The reason I ask is because you said you used a shallow depth of field, but it seems as if all of this composition is in focus. If you had used a wide angle lens and you had it focused at infinity, then everything would have been sharp no matter what you had it set on. To me, it feels like the fog is making everything look soft.
As far as it looking cold, this kind of fog happens any time of the year just about anywhere in the country. I’ve taught a workshop where we had this exact light and fog most of the week. It was very sad since back then the name of my workshop was called “The Poetry of Light”. The class had a T-shirt made for me that said my class was now called “The Poetry of Fog. This was in August.
If you want to say cold, without being there to tell the viewer that it was indeed cold, you have to say it visually. You know it was cold because you were there, but will someone else that wasn’t there?
You do achieve a sense of Mystery and certainly Loneliness simply because of the fog, and the fact that you can’t see what’s over the hill. Loneliness also comes into play since there’s no one around.
The best part of this photo is the way you used Continuance (a concept of Gestalt) to lead the viewer down the road and fence line. You absolutely achieved that. The fence line is a very strong directional element that is very close to being a Vanishing Point which has created a sense of depth.
It’s a good photo Aaron, and thanks for submitting it to me.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule, and come shoot with me sometime
JoeB
