Critique Dawn over the Dent Blanche

alastairb

alastairb

Messages
1,106
Name
Alastair
Edit My Images
Yes
After a bit of a posting hiatus I am wanting to reinvigorate my photography interest, and improve my composition and editing.

I took this photo while climbing the Zinalrothorn (blog post: http://mp-m.uk/ZXnTY) a few weeks ago in the Swiss alps. I really like the colours in the photo, and the clarity in the air but feel that it is maybe missing something.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what could improve the photo from either a composition or editing point of view I would really appreciate the advice.



Dawn view of the Matterhorn, Ober Gabelhorn and the Dent Blanche by Alastair Begley, on Flickr

thanks in advance

Al
 
OK, tried 2 different edits: lightroom
not my picture1-.jpg

Warmed to areas of the peaks in sunlight, boosted clarity & shadows in the valley, boosted magenta & dropped highlights in the sky.


On1 PhotoRaw effects.

not my photo 2.jpg

Use a 'sunrise' preset that increased micro-contrast, balanced up tones & boosted highlights, added magenta filter.

Personally I prefer the first as truer to your original. There was quite a lot that could be done, depending on the endpoint you wanted & time available.

They also look like poo in their shrunken size. :(
 
I've been in the Alps a few times and such scenery looks very familiar but not from that exact location, which looks very interesting.

I would say the photo looks very faithful and genuine representation of the early dusk colours. The purples last for only a few minutes in the sky. You may as well boost the saturation a little bit to make the most of it, and maybe a tiny bit of contrast or clarity. Anything more substantial may look interesting but not very accurate, depending which route you intend to go.

I think it could be cropped from the right a little bit, and obviously there are some great regular 3x2 and 5x4 compositions to be had of the central peak.

Needless to say it must be printed very very large, pretty much across the whole wall on a nice ultra gloss or even metallic surface. That's probably the best option.
 
I really like it, but I think your 'missing something' could be the bright bottom right corner slightly distracting. You could try different crops to emphasise that prominent middle peak and remove some of the right hand side. Great as it is though, made me stare at it for several minutes which doesn't happen much!
 
Scirocco_09 said:
I really like it, but I think your 'missing something' could be the bright bottom right corner slightly distracting. You could try different crops to emphasise that prominent middle peak and remove some of the right hand side. Great as it is though, made me stare at it for several minutes which doesn't happen much!
Click to expand...

Agree - but I have come back to it several times today- just to gaze and wonder. It really is a wonderful wonderful image and I think taking some off the right edge loses some of the distant view but focuses the viewer more on the closer view to the peaks in the middle.

Hard one.
 
thanks for taking the time to provide some constructive criticism. I certainly prefer keeping the more realistic colours, we didn't get the classic alpenglow, probably because the Zinalrothorn was blocking the initial sun in the morning.

I have made another edit with a different crop, I am unsure as to which I prefer. As has been noticed it may well be the brightness of the bottom right which is distracting, but I like the view to the distant mountains on the RHS.


Dawn view of the Matterhorn, Ober Gabelhorn and the Dent Blanche by Alastair Begley, on Flickr
 
alastairb said:
thanks for taking the time to provide some constructive criticism. I certainly prefer keeping the more realistic colours, we didn't get the classic alpenglow, probably because the Zinalrothorn was blocking the initial sun in the morning.

I have made another edit with a different crop, I am unsure as to which I prefer. As has been noticed it may well be the brightness of the bottom right which is distracting, but I like the view to the distant mountains on the RHS.


Dawn view of the Matterhorn, Ober Gabelhorn and the Dent Blanche by Alastair Begley, on Flickr
Click to expand...

I think the crop has gone a little bit too far. The middle peak should be around the middle for sure. And leave the bottom as is.

What I would also do is brighten the glacier bit below the big peak very slightly
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top