City - urbana State - OHIO Country - United States
About
after a week of high 40's and low 50's weather I woke up last friday to find the ground blanketed in snow, knowing that I had a little time to kill before we were ready to go I snapped a few pictures around my in-laws farm.
It's a very pleasing image, Josh. The tracks add a very nice diagonal to the whole. To my taste the tree doesn't have a particularly pleasing overall shape and the area to the right of the tree adds nothing interesting to the scene. My suggestion, my idea below, is to crop part of the tree and all the scene to the right of it out. I think you'd end up with a more dramatic, and better framed scene. Steve
Josh: The desaturated B&W makes for a harsher, somewhat colder image since all the colors which might have been warming are absent and the whole piece reflects that colder aura which you have nicely conveyed to the viewer. The composition is great with the foreground tree and the background house being nicely bisected by the diagonal line of a single person's footprints. This very line draws the eye of the viewer into the scene and the lack of definition in the sky (by way of clouds) make yet another break apparent, where the trees separate the ground from the sky (which appears almost indentical in color and detail to the ground). I would have liked to see better light in the snow or some interesting cloud cover, but that's mother nature's fault. Possibly a tad sharper focus on the tree might have elicited a sparkle or two from the ice crystals . . . but who knows. Given another opportunity, I wonder what could have occurred had a better lighting condition or a flash been used . . . but that's just me planning on my next shot . . . which I do a lot . . . it's not a criticism of this capture. Personal preference is a funny thing. If your intention was to convey cold and quiet (moody landscape) then congratulations . . . that's been done and done well. If you wanted to convey classic landscape (as listed), then I'd say you probably could have used better light magic . . . from the sun or any source to illuminate and make magical the scene before you. The image is certainly compelling and nicely done.
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{K:101119} 3/31/2006