The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is an image I dreamed up earlier this year, after a series of storms left the slickrock potholes throughout Arches NP full of water. I’ve shot North and South Window, collectively known as The Spectacles, several times and hadn’t created an image that stood out from others I’ve seen of the area. I’ve never seen an image of them reflecting in a pothole so I set out explore the area, hoping I’d find a pothole with, a) enough water to catch a reflection and, b) a pothole in an area that allowed a full view of both arches. Obviously, I found one. ONE. That’s it, just this little guy.
I had to lie on my stomach with the camera resting on the ground, with my 14mm lens literally skimming the water, while playing Russian Roulette with the light. The sun would burst through the clouds, I’d fire off a couple frames, and then it would disappear. This went on for probably half an hour before the clouds completely blocked out the sun. Also, as you can see, there was just enough of a breeze to make it nearly impossible to record a crystal clear reflection.
Ideally, I would have liked for this to be tack sharp from front to back. Obviously, it isn’t. I was so close to the rock that I couldn’t use a small enough aperture to get the right DoF, and since I was basically balancing the camera on the ground I couldn’t shoot multiple images and stack them. Aside from that, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the image.
Specific Feedback
See above!
Technical Details
Sony A7IV
Sigma 14-24mm lens @ 14mm
f/22 @ 1/30s
ISO 200
Processed in LR
A heroic effort, well-rewarded!! I’ve never seen anything remotely close to this. You found great light and managed the technical difficulties well. The FG softness doesn’t bother me as it is in shadow and my eye goes to the reflection, which is sharp. Well done!
Hi Bret,
wow, that looks amazing. I am happy for you that you were lucky enough to find these conditions.
I agree with @Diane_Miller that the softness in the foreground is not such a big problem because the important parts (the reflected rocks) seem to be sharp.
In my opinion, I’m missing a bit of space at the bottom of the image. The very nice reflection could take a little more room to breathe.
I hope you don’t mind that I downloaded your image and made a few adjustments:
I put the image through Topaz Sharpen AI and masked the result in the foreground. The result will be much better if you do it with your original resolution.
I used some stretching and content-aware fill to add som additional space on the bottom edge. The result is definitely not perfect, but I wanted to see how the picture looks.
I cropped the image a the top.
Again, the image is really great as it is. I just had a little fun playing around with it.
Thank you, @Jens_Ober and @Diane_Miller. Happy to hear the slight OOF foreground doesn’t bother you too much.
Jens: Thank you for taking the time to share your re-work of the photo. I do wish there was a little more space on bottom - and I have some that do have it - but I was so in love w/ the sky that I wanted to put more emphasis on it rather than the FG rock. Here’s another version that has a touch more FG. Thoughts?
Wow that is truly a western beauty. I haven’t done much traveling there so it’s a real treat to see and the reflection is brilliant. Jens’s version looks interesting, but a reflection that sharp is not something we see a lot of, so your version looks a bit more believable. Excellent job in having an idea and working it through to its conclusion. Success!
Hey Bret, this is a really great image! I like how you have processed it, too. I’m with @Jens_Ober in that a touch more foreground would be nice. I almost feel like you could split the difference between your initial post and the one you have shared here. Almost cut it off right where that sweep in the rock dead center recedes. With that though, you do bring in some extra softness int he rocks which you were concerned about, so it is a trade off. Might be worth a play. Either way it is already nice!
