Canefire

ajroahkni

We get a lot of these as sugar is the #1 ag crop on the island. It's ecologically horrible & beautiful at the same time.

It's been given a slight accentuation on highlights to get some detail in the cloud.

Angle, composition, crop, whatever else I'm missing - can you guys help whip me into shape?



Thanks

cgguido

Hi John,

I have never whipped anyone before (here or in real life) so you get to be my guinea pig :-)

The event is very dramatic, for sure. Yet I find overall the picture lacks drama. It feels more like a snapshot than a thought out photograph. (If I saw that stuff going down, I'd snap away too...)

I think the foreground and midground are distracting. Especially the palm tree...

While I hope you don't get a chance to do it over, I think I would have tried a vertical shot to accentuate the smoke going up...

As far as cropping the current shot, I would go kinda extreme and do this:



You wouldn't print it or anything, but as far as conveying the scale of the event.. I think it kinda gets the message across....

Anyway, I'd like to hear what you think of my analysis... and hope you take it in the spirit in which it was written.

G

DavidTO

I've moved this from the Whipping Post, since the purpose of the WP is not to "whip your shot into shape", but to provide critique on your best work. From your comments about your own image, I get that you think this needs work, that it's not your best work. Feel free to let me know if you disagree.

schmoo

Wow talk about drama!

I didn't think of it myself but I think cgguido has a great idea. The cloud really stands out on it's own and unfortunately there's a lot of tree and stuff in the foreground that breaks up the view.

This shot certainly made me look two, three, four times.

ajroahkni

Thanks guys.


C - that's a different crop for sure. More impact, less material. I like it.

I agree and understand that this isn't whipping post material. We get the fires almost daily in different areas of the island - I think it's an 18 month cycle per field and there's a whole lot of field on the island, so I'm sure I'll get a few more chances to get my head into it and be able to better compose a shot. This was shot from the back porch (lazy).


John

kdog

I strongly prefer the original. The foreground elements add context. You could lose a little off the bottom, maybe. However, I would urge you to keep the entire cloud formation -- there's your drama. The fires have created a perfect thunderhead which shows the scope and impact of the fire on the environment. It's also beautiful. It would be criminal to lose it.

-joel

Jack'll do

I agree with kdog about the impact provided by the entire cloud column. I would have cropped it this way and cloned out the the top of the tall tree on the right.