Critique Large format landscape

Shugpug

Shugpug

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Taken on an Intrepid 4x5 Mk4 / Schneider Kreuznach 90mm f8.0 at f32 / 2 secs with a red filter. The clouds were a bugger - it was very windy, but they died as they came in to my composition - what's on here was much more dramatic when it came over the ridge 10 seconds before.

It's a bit too contrasty, but other than that, I'd be very grateful for feedback. LF, film, and landscape details are all pretty new to me!



20200317-Cedar_City_LF3 by Alex Morrison, on Flickr
 
Hi,

I don't shoot large format, so any technical critique I can offer is limited, but it looks very sharp throughout the entire scene.

In terms of general critique, I would offer the following:

  • The lighting is way too contrasty. I'm guessing that a cloud (or perhaps some other scenery) was throwing a shadow across the lower-left of the scene? This has resulted in the rocks and bushes at upper-right being over-exposed. Different timing or different conditions would help here.
  • The sky is a little bland. I know exactly the problems you had - sometimes the weather just doesn't play ball and there's nothing that can be done, so I don't blame you for still taking the photo.
  • For me (and this is subjective) the composition doesn't really work. Having some distinctive foreground interest, while maybe a bit of a landscape cliche, does really tend to work and to draw your eye into the image. Leading lines, curves, framing, layers and other compositional techniques are also good things to utilise. If it was possible (depending on terrain, tripod etc. I might have looked to get a lower angle with one of the bushes taking prominence and the outcrop rearing up behind it.
As I said above though, my views are subjective and, just because a composition doesn't work for me, that doesn't mean that you or anyone else won't adore it. My own photography is about taking photos that I like. If anyone else likes them too, then that's a bonus (I'm sure that in many cases people will wonder what the bloody hell I was thinking when I pressed the shutter! :)), but I never take photos with an aim to try and please others. For non-commercial photography, I think making photos to please yourself is always the best way to go.
 
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FishyFish said:
I think making photos to please yourself is always the best way to go.
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Headline: Absolutely this.

I quite like the image. I won't comment on the clarity because on my screen and to my eyes it looks soft. Clicking through to Flickr though shows it sharp... It's a regular problem I've noticed and must be to do with the compression here.

What I like most is the band of shadow coming across the scene. It strikes me as quite ominous and coupled with the location gives a very Steven King/The Stand "There's a storm coming" feel. The dark bushes and bright ones are almost complete opposites in term of contrast and my eye was drawn through the dark part of the image to the brighter part and settled on that tree behind the bright rock.

I'm going to agree with Nige on the sky. But it does offer contrast to that big cloud that's causing the shadow. Again, "something is coming".

FishyFish said:
If it was possible (depending on terrain, tripod etc. I might have looked to get a lower angle with one of the bushes taking prominence and the outcrop rearing up behind it.
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I'm less bothered by the composition but I see what Nige was getting at here and this is something I agree with. But I'd want to keep that contrast....

I keep thinking about LF but unfortunately fincances won't stretch at the moment. This post is no help :(
 
Thanks all - time of day was working against me - hence the contrast. Thanks for your thoughts on the composition - and agree, foreground interest would have worked better.

I'm really enjoying the prices of LF shooting - composition and set up Vs sun moving is an interesting challenge, and thankfully the scanning (via a pixel shift mirror less) isn't too painful. Editing the ridiculously large files takes a while, but overall, the process is fun!
 
Shugpug said:
t's a bit too contrasty,
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presumably you will have known prior to using a red filter that it would increase contrast?

Is there a reason why you didn't choose orange or even yellow instead?
 
Asha said:
Is there a reason why you didn't choose orange or even yellow instead?
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I was hoping the clouds would be more dramatic for a very dark sky / very white cloud photo. Weather didn't play ball. But to be fair I should have gone for a lighter filter.
 
Shugpug said:
I was hoping the clouds would be more dramatic for a very dark sky / very white cloud photo. Weather didn't play ball. But to be fair I should have gone for a lighter filter.
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Fair enough I would possibly have done similar using red filter had the sky been as you initially had it and hoped to capture.

The fact that the scene changed and that you obviously knew in your minds eye the area of that scene that would be captured ( assuming that by this stage the preview wasclosed/ filmholder inserted) then a change of filter would have been possibly prior to firing the shutter. Not unlike adjusting shutter speed /aperture a fraction if the metered light values change between making composition and actually exposing the film.

Whilst waiting for decent light the other week, I had to add a soft grad filter as deep shadows began to appear in part of the scene which wasn't initially required
Admittedly I removed the film holder and opened the preview to ensure I had the filter located correctly in the scene, however that wouldn't be becessary if only changing a colour filter .....an adustment of shutter speed to allow for the different exposure compensation would suffice.
 
Shugpug said:
Than you for the tips! 7th LF exposure - I am still very much in the learning phase!
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It can be quite a sharp learning curve for some but i've managed to learn a lot in a relatively short period of time so being a slow learner, that has to offer hope for anyone else starting out.
 
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