I live along Lake Superior and in the spring the last of the ice will often end up on the shoreline. I really enjoy the way the first light of day will light up the ice and was trying to capture that in this photo. The ‘fuzz’ on the ice is sand that has frozen to it.
Specific Feedback Requested
I have tried a number of crops on this photo. I went tighter on the formation on the left and ultimately decided to include more of the ice to the right. The ice chunk was about 2 feet across and craggy so it took some finagling to get the sun lined up in the center of that formation.
Technical Details
28mm 1/400sec f5.6 ISO100 Processed in Lightroom. I increased exposure and contrast. Added some vibrance and dehaze.
What an interesting find. I like that you found a way to place the sun in the hole in the ice. Regarding the crop it feels it a little too tight along the top edge with the ice nearly at the edge. I also wonder if you could bring out some more cool tones in the ice.
Hi Cameron, this is a really cool image. I love how the ice kind of looks like bronze or copper or some kind of metal. Or maybe even amber! And nice capture to get the sun in the middle. Also I think you’re new here, so welcome to NPN! I think you’ll really like all the feedback and helpful critiques. I can say it’s really helped me a lot in the past year as I’m fairly new to photography. Don’t be afraid to make comments on others work as well. See you around!
Thanks for the feedback Dean. I went back to it and tried to cool it down a bit and I do like how that brings out some other colors in the ice. I also feel that I would like some more space on the top, but when I did that I couldn’t line the sun up the way I wanted so I ended up with that. I’ve tried cropping down more as well but didn’t like that as much.
Cameron, this is quite the cool image. I like the composition and the colors. The sun doesn’t look blown out either so congrats on that. I agree with @DeanRoyer that it could use a bit more room on the top, but that’s really minor. Overall a great image and terrific introduction to your work. Hope to see more.
Thanks David! I appreciate the feedback. I couldn’t get the sun to line up and maintain a good distance on that top edge, so I went with the sun, but I’d like a little less off the top as well.
Hey Cameron! I have seen the ice along Lake Superior in the winter (I grew up in Wisconsin and lived in Minneapolis for a while), it is really quite something! I can see why you opted to keep the formations on the right, as I don’t think a crop would look very clean.
I think you had an inclination to go tighter on the left hand formation (and I think you were right) because that is the essence of the image - it is the most defined form, the most graceful, and the one framing the sun - it’s the reason you were pointing your camera here, I suspect!
But in this case I get hung up on the relative busyness of the rest of the frame - what should be supporting elements, or context, or space for the main subject to breathe, instead become distractions. The ice “bridge” on the right is quite straight and rigid compared to the organic “arch” formation on the left, and pretty much all the rest of the ice is out of focus and against that very dark strip of background.
So, I think you were onto something with your crop - but again, it may not have worked with just a crop alone, as the edges and balance become an issue. I know it’s a lot of change in post and everyone draws the line somewhere different with their “photo ethics”, but a crop works quite well if you’re willing to remove extraneous elements. I took a stab at it, not because I necessarily think you should do it, but as a demonstration of how effective the image could be if there weren’t so many distractions surrounding the main subject. I also expanded the canvas up and used content-aware fill to create some more sky gradient up there to give the top breathing room.
Beyond the cloning, I agree that the image should be cooled down - although when you do so, I’d be careful about the strong magenta cast that it introduces and so I’d also move the tint toward green. I also think the dark strip of background at the bottom should be lightened, as it is quite stark and it makes it harder to see the shape of the whole main formation.
Very cool image! Great job getting the sun where you wanted. Almost a little cliche placing the sun exactly there - but the redeeming factor is that the sun is critical in appreciating the glow, colors, details and textures in the ice. without the sun, it’s almost like one would want to know where the sun was that was lighting up the ice like it is!
I especially like the frozen “fuzz” on the ice - and thanks for the description.
Crop wise, agree with the consensus of the tight top. You mentioned you cropped, so hopefully you have some canvas above. Otherwise, this is a great image to easily extend the canvas enough for some breathing room.
I don’t think mentioned, but I would actually crop the only ice element on the left edge (or clone it out) but the result space on the left, I think would be just right if that’s the amount of space you had up top. The right, I think works great in helping tell the story, but I suppose there might be some crop options there.
Love the colors, sat as presented. Terrific image.
Thanks Alex. You could write a book on constructive criticism. Where did you grow up in Wisconsin? My parents grew up in Wautoma in central Wisconsin and I have spent a lot of time down there. Also lived In Minneapolis for a few years while my wife went to school there. I initially had cropped it in a similar way, but then pulled back out because in my crop I cut off the top of the ice formation. I don’t mind the cloning you did, it just adds in what was already there. That being said I’m all self taught and I don’t really know how to do that in photoshop or Lightroom. I’ll head over to Youtubr and do some studying. Thanks again for the helpful tips this week. I appreciate all the time you put in to looking at and responding to images.
Thanks for the assistance Lon. Alex did a nice re-edit that does a lot of those things. I know how to heal out spots, branches, etc in my photos but I don’t know how to clone in extra room to a photo. I’m going to have to learn about it. One of the challenges for me in the framing is that the actual photo does not have a lot of room at the top so I cropped the bottom and kept all of the top edge. Here’s the original straight off the camera.
Having seen the raw now, I think the original crop you submitted makes sense, it definitely focused the framing on the main subjects and removed a lot of extraneous space.
I should clarify that am not necessarily advocating for such extensive cloning and expanding of the canvas, etc (though I do sometimes use those tools if there’s no other way). I’m more suggesting that it be taken as a lesson for how to approach such a scene in the field next time - at the very least, thinking about what your main subject is (i.e. tightening up the framing like your first crop, but in the field while you’re shooting) and then making sure important elements have breathing room.
I would also try different perspectives and really think about how your subject sits against the background, whether distractions grow more or less prominent as you move around, etc. Composition in-camera is far more important than post-processing, but processing is all I can do from my end to demonstrate as I critique.
I grew up in Hudson, about as close to Minneapolis as you can be without being in Minnesota.
