Calendars Are Pointless

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
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PRH_8525-3.jpg
PRH_8525-3.jpg2048×1365 2.57 MB

Critique Style Requested: In-depth

The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.

Self Critique

I’m pretty happy with the image overall, but I didnt even see the power lines when I was there! In this image, I have not done anything with them, but in working with it further, I am having a heck of a time with the longer runs at the right. None of the three modes in the healing module in Lightroom completely get rid of them.

Creative direction

Definitely loved the frigid look of the scene with the long early morning shadows

Specific Feedback

Open to all critique, beyond the part about the power lines too

Technical Details

Nikon D850
Sigma Art 14-24mm f/2.8
ISO 64, f/13, 1/2500th, 16mm

Highlight reduction, shadow lightening, and a bit of extra contrast

Description

Unless you’re from mountain country, you’d never believe that this scene, shot at 1ºf was captured today, April the 7th. I grew up in the mountains so I have learned that the calendar is nothing more than a formal way to know what the date is. It has nothing to do with seasons or weather! What a peaceful morning though, along the banks of the Madison River near West Yellowstone, Montana. A fog rolling gently off the open water of the river, which is slightly warmed by the thermal features in the Park, mingles with the blue sky to add a soft contrast to the more harsh evidence of frigid temperatures. There is still a lot of snow up here to melt before we experience anything that even closely resembles Spring. I’ll take it though, in the hope that a snowy April will help keep the skies clear of wildfire smoke in August!

2 Likes
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Even with the power lines, this is a beautiful shot. The sunstar and the shadows of the bushes make for some nice lines throughout and the dusting of snow or frost is really special. The fog makes it look as though its near the ocean even though it’s very far away. I get a bit of an ocean or at least Great Lake vibe there.

So I see you tried w/Lr to remove the wires, have you tried in Photoshop? I ask because the subscription from Adobe often includes both. When I can’t make something disappear in Lr I usually can get it done in Ps.

1 Like
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I love those shadows Paul!, and kudos on the courage to shoot straight into the sun. That’s a lot of dynamic range to handle.

The crisp light and the fog help with the frigid look you were after, but the upper left 25% feels a little dark to me. Those bottom shadows are great, so I would leave those, but brightening the top half of the left side might be worth playing with. (There’s a tad of haloing in those dark trees on the left, and it would reduce their impact as well.)

Power lines are a headache. I agree with @Kris_Smith ; I would work on these in Photoshop. I usually have to use a combination of Content-aware Fill and Clone Stamping.

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What a stunning backlit scene that feels very cold and bright! The diagonal shadows combined with the sun star create a dramatic energy. I concur with Kris about PS having the better clone tool for more easily dispensing with the powerlines, although I probably wouldn’t have noticed them. :slight_smile: My only other thought is you could afford to lose a bit of sky up top and the far left side if you wanted to experiment with a crop to draw the scene in closer and possibly intensify the frigid feeling. Nice capture!

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The long shadows, sun star, and fog are wonderful Paul. I also agree to try PS to remove the power lines.