Thursday, March 23, 2006

Near Wingham, Kent

I took this image on the same weekend I took the ones of Deal Pier. We were out walking, and I saw this nice scene, with curving river, fence, tree, reflection and it all seemed to work. It was not great in colour, due to the harsh light, but I thought it may work in B/W.

Comments welcomed as usual.

4 comments:

Critical Light said...

Ivan,

I would have liked to have seen a larger image (cannot click on the image) to give this a better critique but here goes.

When I first saw this photo and in fact everytime I look at this photo it comes across as a painting which gives the photo a nice feel. I am not sure what qualities can create this sense; the light adds to it and so does the texture of the various parts of the photo such as the grass along the river, the prominent tree and the fence in the foreground. It is also very well composed and this might be the main reason for its painting effect.

The light is very nice. I can see some real brightness in the photo striking the grass along the river bank, and this adds warmth to the BW image.

It works very well in BW and there is the full spectrum of BW tones. There is also a nice 'path' for the eye to follow: it starts at the river which leads the eye to the main feature, the tree and its reflection. From here the eye moves to the other trees and then to the fence. The sky is interesting but doesn't distract the eye. There is also a sense of movement in the river because of the ripples.

So in all, the photo creates a very nice, pleasing, calming, slightly soft image. The only real criticism is that I would have liked to have seen a little more of the bank on the right side of the river. To me it feels a little cut off; a bit too tight.

This photo ranks along side the photo of the Cambridge punt.

Damian

Anonymous said...

Thanks Damian - I agree about the tight crop on the right, but leaving more of the right in would have meant more empty foreground, due to the portrait format. I should have tried one in landscape too, and this would have allowed more rhs without empty foreground.

Critical Light said...

It's hard to say whether this image would work in landscape format. The trees and likely the fence would make it work but the river might get lost which is the main focus of this image.

The addition of more of the RH bank is me being very finicky. All I would like to see is just slightly more of the bank. Adding in more foreground is an issue but not a big one since the river itself has interest with the calm and rippled areas.

One question. What qualities of this photo do you think make it look like a painting, assuming that you think it does. In otherwords, how does one shoot an image to make it look like a painting. If you bite, I will extend this discussion by showing a photo that I took on Sable which also has a painting quality to it.

Anonymous said...

It looks like a typical country scene, just like you'd see in a painting. But, I think it also has a kind of unreal look to it, almost kind of glowing or shimmering or something..I did a blend mode (before flattening) that I think was either "screen" or "lighten", and I think that has given it an other-worldly look about it.