Winter Scene

by Lori Arnold
(Salt Lake City, Utah USA)

Valley of the Gods, Colorado

This is a photo I am proud of! It has won an award in framing.

You are professionals though; just want to know what you think about it as well.

Photography is my passion, I want to become better, so any critiques are welcome as learning is the process to become better.

This was taken in the Valley of the Gods, Colorado.



Well, we’re not surprised to learn that this photo has won an award – it’s terrific!

As we always do on this section of the site, rather than just say it’s terrific and move on, let’s look at what makes it a terrific photo so that everyone can learn a little.

Our eyes are initially drawn to the dramatic landscape. It certainly helps if the subject matter is full of interest; but don’t be thinking that you can’t take great photos unless you live near Colorado.

A good photographer will seek out interest. Some folks can live in an area for years and not know what is just around the corner. If that’s you – start looking! Maybe just a short drive away you will find some photo worthy material.

If you really have nothing near you, look more critically at what you do have. Also, try to visit places at different times of the day and in different seasons – for example, New England looks ok for most of the year, but looks stunning in the fall (or ‘autumn’ as we say here!).

Anyway, back to Lori’s photo. She has not only found a great scene, but has also looked to see if it can be photographed a bit more creatively. In this regard she has found a tree that curls round to make a frame for the mountain.

Framing a photo like this is a good technique to try out. As I said on another submission this month, the frame could be anything from rusty pieces of metal, to dramatic rock formations.

The snow is a good element of this photo too – and illustrates that the time of year can really make a difference a picture. But there’s more I’d like to say about the snow.

Snow can confuse camera metering systems – they tend to under-expose snowy photos. To combat this, choose the ‘snow’ setting on your camera (if you have one), or over-expose your photo a bit. Click to read more about understanding exposure.

Other great elements here include the mountain, nicely framed by the circle of the tree. Lori has arrived at a good time in the day – I’ll bet it was taken in the 'golden hour'.

The golden hour is the time around an hour before sunset, or an hour after sunrise. The light at this time of the day is rich, and colours are more saturated. It’s a great time to be out taking scenic shots like this one.

As a final note on the good parts of this photo, I am thinking of the post-processing. I’ve said this once already this month – don’t be afraid to tweak photos a little using software. Photographers have been doing it for years in darkrooms. So don’t feel bad about using software to achieve the same effects.

It looks to me like this photo may have been tweaked just a little to improve the colours, and to sharpen it a touch. And the amount of adjustment is perfect! Just enough to get the colours looking like the real thing, but not too much so that it looks 'over-processed'.

Of course, I’m known for being picky – sometimes over picky! So is there anything that I’d change.

Well, only one thing here – and it’s a small thing. The framing and positioning.

I think there is a tiny bit too much of the tree on the left side of the photo. More than on the right, and I think it unbalances the composition a little. Cropping a bit from the left side would be easy to do, and would balance the photo.

This is, however, the tiniest, tiniest of criticisms. This is a great photo, and one Lori should be really, really proud of.

Well done Lori, and thanks for the contribution.

Ed.
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