Ancient, wild, rough... lovely. 'The White Road' *Large d/l

NeilL

1 Take me somewhere...




2 Spires and domes...




3 Time tattooed and pierced...




4 Food only for thought...




5 Dark matter, dark energy, dark artistry...




6 Wait, something is going to appear...




7 Intricacy at all scales, a fractal-saturated landscape...




8 The white road...







North-eastern Tasmania, Australia, September 2008

Canon 40D, 24-70mm


Neil

justThorne

The White Road analysis
Wonderful work - I'm quite enchanted with the majority of these.

Some individual thoughts:

In #1, I feel almost as if the road is leading us away from where we want to go, rather than toward it, as if the real "treasure" is up that little hill to the right (and yet blocked by the strong verticals to the right of the image). To be clear, I regard this effect as pleasing, atypical, a subtle unexpectedness that deepens the image beneath cliche. (I also, incidentally, think the cream hue of the road is marvelous - there's something very charismatic about that.)

#2 is nice, especially the softness of distance up there. But compositionally, I'd be careful in the future to frame more "margin" in at the top when shooting. This might be a general tendency of yours that concerns me, to shoot too tight, but I'm not sure, just thinking aloud. The grey of the sky is lovely in this one.

Fabulous texture on #3. This represents a compositional challenge that doesn't seem quite beaten yet - we should (and very nearly get) a sense that our scene is falling back over onto us, and this would be great to pull off, but I'm not sure how we could go the last mile with it. Perhaps this IS about the best we could do? Regardless, the placement of the gap (and the tree that we see through it) is perfect. I wonder how it would look if the left side were shaved a bit tighter? (About a third of the width of the sky at the bottom left?)

I like #4 very much. It reflects a common compositional dynamic in flower photography and repopulates it in a much more interesting fashion. Great depth, of course. I would only suggest softening that edge against the sky in the upper right. (I use Lens Blur rather than Gaussian Blur for that specific purpose, masked or History Brushed in where necessary.) There's also a little bokeh strangeness upper left - was that in your source shot or aggravated by postwork? Anyway, good comp - there's a halfway distant plant on the right side that really seals the deal.

#5 is perhaps the strangest of the lot. The color is fantastic. I feel neutral about the composition - it feels quite aimless to me. It has a dreamy lack of depth as if it had been shot with a flash? That's not all bad - dreamy can be good! But it might all benefit if the browns of wood were a bit darker tonally (and create/push more negative space into the middle). Regardless of all these nitpicks, the detail and color make this among the most breathtaking of the whole batch.

#6, on the other, has no obvious compositional flaws, but is the least interesting to me. Your title/caption makes me wonder if you see something that I don't (which would be fine), but I don't see any tension whatsoever.

#7 would benefit from being placed higher up in the order - the color suffers, but only relatively to the two we've just reviewed. I frankly find more and more to love about this one with time, and it might scale up into a large print most surprisingly well (over the more obviously large-scaled 1 and 2). You're certainly not amiss to attach the word "fractal" to this. I'm most nuts for the straight trunks to the left that transition into gnarly clusters of conflict to the right (and the corresponding threshold beneath them that emphasizes this). I also continuously like the "fossilized head of the mammoth" right at the front. We've got a little regrettable loss of depth behind the trees, but the depth of the mountainscape more than makes up for it (especially in its harmony with the sky).

#8 is a fitting conclusion for the visual adventure, but relatively lackluster on its own merits. It's not a "portfolio piece," unlike the numerous outstanding and borderline-outstanding images above. It's certainly not "bad," however. It's a nice accomplishment of depth over distance, and I really like that "valkyrie" element upper right.

I expect you did a lot of work on these, and it really shows. Fabulous detail throughout, excellent white balance and generally strong color, and at least half of these really transport us to an alien place. I think #1 tells the best story, #2 is "the obviously majestic big print," #4 most artfully combines familiarity with unfamiliarity, #5 most pleasingly alien and unearthly, and #7 the most likely to reward persistent viewing and return visits (particularly for a hallucinogen-prone eye like mine).

And beyond all these specifics, your shots really make me want to travel to these places, which is certainly a desirable accomplishment of photography.

Tango

wow NeilL, i really enjoy your series , specifically #7 & 8

spechtal

I like this series very much.

NeilL

justThorne wrote:

Wonderful work - I'm quite enchanted with the majority of these.

Some individual thoughts:

In #1, I feel almost as if the road is leading us away from where we want to go, rather than toward it, as if the real "treasure" is up that little hill to the right (and yet blocked by the strong verticals to the right of the image). To be clear, I regard this effect as pleasing, atypical, a subtle unexpectedness that deepens the image beneath cliche. (I also, incidentally, think the cream hue of the road is marvelous - there's something very charismatic about that.)

- I did indeed take that little track off to the right. It skirted the mountain, so I left it and tunneled my way on foot up to the base of the rocks.

#2 is nice, especially the softness of distance up there. But compositionally, I'd be careful in the future to frame more "margin" in at the top when shooting. This might be a general tendency of yours that concerns me, to shoot too tight, but I'm not sure, just thinking aloud. The grey of the sky is lovely in this one.

- There was a lot of white sky which wasn't going to do much for the shot, in fact give me trouble. The gradient fill worked out well for the amount of sky I had to deal with. I hate to crop, so maybe that forces my hand when I am sizing up in the viewfinder. Also, I feel the bulk of compositional decisions are most profitably done in the viewfinder, which takes a lot of experience, but I want that experience. So, I want less to leave composition to the crop tool.

Fabulous texture on #3. This represents a compositional challenge that doesn't seem quite beaten yet - we should (and very nearly get) a sense that our scene is falling back over onto us, and this would be great to pull off, but I'm not sure how we could go the last mile with it. Perhaps this IS about the best we could do? Regardless, the placement of the gap (and the tree that we see through it) is perfect. I wonder how it would look if the left side were shaved a bit tighter? (About a third of the width of the sky at the bottom left?)

- Now you put that falling back over us idea in my head I can see it and it's nice, and yes I think I would have tried for more of it. I remember that mainly I was trying to balance getting close enough to get good detail with having to get enough of the rocks to make an interesting composition.

I like #4 very much. It reflects a common compositional dynamic in flower photography and repopulates it in a much more interesting fashion. Great depth, of course. I would only suggest softening that edge against the sky in the upper right. (I use Lens Blur rather than Gaussian Blur for that specific purpose, masked or History Brushed in where necessary.) There's also a little bokeh strangeness upper left - was that in your source shot or aggravated by postwork? Anyway, good comp - there's a halfway distant plant on the right side that really seals the deal.

- I did use a blur vignette, but yes it didn't quite diffuse that edge enough. It might have been that vignette that made the bokeh a little unusual. I like your association with the flower photography style.

#5 is perhaps the strangest of the lot. The color is fantastic. I feel neutral about the composition - it feels quite aimless to me. It has a dreamy lack of depth as if it had been shot with a flash? That's not all bad - dreamy can be good! But it might all benefit if the browns of wood were a bit darker tonally (and create/push more negative space into the middle). Regardless of all these nitpicks, the detail and color make this among the most breathtaking of the whole batch.

- I did use camera flash (I hiked without my SpeedLite. My assessment of the SpeedLite has changed as a result of these and the Mumbai birthday party shots from being an optional to an essential piece of equipment. So I'll be carrying it from now on!). I wonder if a dark vignette would help this photo? I thought also of darkening that thicket in the background to push the rotting log forward. I don't mind it being a bit flat because I was thinking of it in terms of a colorist/fauvist abstract.

#6, on the other, has no obvious compositional flaws, but is the least interesting to me. Your title/caption makes me wonder if you see something that I don't (which would be fine), but I don't see any tension whatsoever.

- I am a sucker for the whole fantasy premise, and this looked like a stage on which the elves and fairies of the bush (but that is a horrid hybrid to make with the Australian bush, which is SO unEuropean in character) might dance, if I hadn't frightened them away Another, even nicer, association, but still antithetical to the Australian bush, is that totally enchanting Arcadian painting/engraving by William Blake of the flute player and ring of dancing youths and maidens. In any case, I wanted another intimate glimpse of the forest underworld.

#7 would benefit from being placed higher up in the order - the color suffers, but only relatively to the two we've just reviewed. I frankly find more and more to love about this one with time, and it might scale up into a large print most surprisingly well (over the more obviously large-scaled 1 and 2). You're certainly not amiss to attach the word "fractal" to this. I'm most nuts for the straight trunks to the left that transition into gnarly clusters of conflict to the right (and the corresponding threshold beneath them that emphasizes this). I also continuously like the "fossilized head of the mammoth" right at the front. We've got a little regrettable loss of depth behind the trees, but the depth of the mountainscape more than makes up for it (especially in its harmony with the sky).

- You and your mammoth head, now that's what I see ! If you look at this series in reverse order it softens that jolt from strong to subtler color. I wouldn't have been surprised, contrarian that you are, if you had looked at them in reverse order as a matter of course Part of the reason for the apparent loss of depth detail behind the trees is that the perspective is not uniform and continuous. You are looking not only into the distance but over the ridge of a mountain side. The transition of view is broken by the edge of that higher slope, so the trees beyond that are in fact a lot further away and on a lower plane.

#8 is a fitting conclusion for the visual adventure, but relatively lackluster on its own merits. It's not a "portfolio piece," unlike the numerous outstanding and borderline-outstanding images above. It's certainly not "bad," however. It's a nice accomplishment of depth over distance, and I really like that "valkyrie" element upper right.

- Yes, I agree that it's not particularly compelling as a composition, but I think it's a nice tonal and textural effect. Nicely atmospheric and moody, too, don't you think?

I expect you did a lot of work on these, and it really shows. Fabulous detail throughout, excellent white balance and generally strong color, and at least half of these really transport us to an alien place. I think #1 tells the best story, #2 is "the obviously majestic big print," #4 most artfully combines familiarity with unfamiliarity, #5 most pleasingly alien and unearthly, and #7 the most likely to reward persistent viewing and return visits (particularly for a hallucinogen-prone eye like mine).

- Yep, that's pretty much my summing up, too. In the development I mainly used the techniques you taught me, so to the extent it was successful and effective be prepared to take the credit

And beyond all these specifics, your shots really make me want to travel to these places, which is certainly a desirable accomplishment of photography.

Great critique, justThorne, I got a lot from it

Some responses in-line above.

Neil

Jack'll do

Some very nice images here! I particularly like #4,5,& 6 thumb

NeilL

AaronNelson wrote:

wow NeilL, i really enjoy your series , specifically #7 & 8

Hey, Aaron, Nice to hear from you! Thanks!

NeilL

spechtal wrote:

I like this series very much.

Thanks, Angela!

NeilL

Jack'll do wrote:

Some very nice images here! I particularly like #4,5,& 6 thumb

Much appreciated, John!