Rip apart this landscape, please

[thenaturephotographer]

I saw this storm approaching in the distance. What do you all think?http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturephotography4u/3783358321/. John

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2664/3783358321_d26dd7d49e.jpg

[lindsaytblum]

I can't rip it apart, as I think it's a really nice photograph. Lovely colors, composition...I think it is beautiful.
Is is an HDR?

[evan walker]

I think the road is distracting. If more of the road appeared elsewhere in the photo, it would make sense. As it is, I don't understand why it's in the picture. Otherwise, I think it's a beautiful shot.

[AC221]

Looks like lacking an interesting foreground element, but still a very nice image.

[thenaturephotographer]

It isn't an HDR, just using a .9 ND filter. Thanks for the critique everybody. John

[lonewolfcub]

IMO, I like the road being in the picture and how it tails off into the picture and leads my eye into the storm ahead.

Did you take this shot handheld or on a tripod?

[thenaturephotographer]

I don't remember exactly, but I think it was handheld.

[chopper5654]

i kind of wish there was more road, too. but, that is a minor comment, as the image stands alone pretty well. i dont know that i get excited to have it matted and framed, though, because i feel it is still a touch incomplete. however, i dont know what to suggest.....maybe the foreground element or a little more dramatic sky? obviously, a lot of the "suggestions" are out of your control. it really is a great image. i dont know why i am not doing backflips for you.

[thenaturephotographer]

thanks everybody for your critiques! John

[Mu Eugene]

Just for fun, I cropped roughly the bottom 1/4 of the picture, since I found myself conflicted with the competing interests of the foreground (texture of the grass stumps), and the dramatic clouds in the sky. Also, there was uneasy competition between vertical and the horizontal - the road wants to convey more verticality yet the cloud in the sky wants to fill the frame horizontally.

It's a small image so I may have not picked up on visual subtleties, but the road seems more incorporated, the diagonal control lines are there albeit at much more comfortable and shallower angle.

thanks for the opportunity.

[thenaturephotographer]

Eugene, thanks for the crop, I really like it. John

[GorgeShooter]

Not much to "rip apart". My only nit is that if the right edge of the road was on the right edge of the frame, it might draw the eye in better. The colors are fabulous and I like the original version better than the cropped one.

[MusicLive]

Sorry, but I can't fault it! I love the uncropped image!
I just wish I had the talent you guys have!

www.norfolkbroadsphotos.com
Not worth looking at!

[Mu Eugene]

Cropping is akin to amputation - while I do still possess every limb and digit I was born with, I'm sure I'd feel the same way as described below if I were forced to lose parts. It's a double-edged sword.

On one hand, cropping eliminates unwanted elements within a frame that dilutes the impact of an image much in the way amputation rids of infected gangrenous parts that can potentially harm a person's well-being.

However, a loss is a loss and especially in the context of cropping, what is considered 'gangrenous' is not as clear cut (pun alert!) as its medical counterpart since the determination of detracting elements is based on aethetics and entirely subjective.

It's especially hard for the picture-taker as the image carries with it the experience (the temperature, the breeze, the smell, the particular emotion and state of mind at the time the picture was taken - all the things that are only known to the owner of the image). Take a step back, try to remember what compelled you to take the picture and you'll begin to see what is important to you in the image - after all, that's what counts.

[jgrussell]

I like the road in the shot, but would definitely open up the foreground shadows:

[wickerprints]

I still like the original in terms of color and composition. It could be *slightly* lighter, but not at the expense of color saturation.

The only, only critique I can make of this image is to ask the same question I always ask landscape/nature photographers: What is it about your shot that makes it conceptually different from all the other similar shots out there?

Don't get me wrong, landscapes and nature are very photogenic subjects and some of the best known photographers who have ever lived have earned their reputation from precisely this kind of photography. But I think to myself, what is the conceptual foundation of such images? Does there even need to be one? What makes it "stand out?"

There are times when I will see a landscape and for some reason I cannot identify, I instantly feel the urge to visit that place, to go there. There are certain ways of capturing these places that is at once beautiful and compelling. Ask yourself if your photo does this. It's a subjective thing, of course; but nonetheless, something to try to aim for.

[Flo]

I still like the original in terms of color and composition. It could be *slightly* lighter, but not at the expense of color saturation.

The only, only critique I can make of this image is to ask the same question I always ask landscape/nature photographers: What is it about your shot that makes it conceptually different from all the other similar shots out there?

Don't get me wrong, landscapes and nature are very photogenic subjects and some of the best known photographers who have ever lived have earned their reputation from precisely this kind of photography. But I think to myself, what is the conceptual foundation of such images? Does there even need to be one? What makes it "stand out?"

There are times when I will see a landscape and for some reason I cannot identify, I instantly feel the urge to visit that place, to go there. There are certain ways of capturing these places that is at once beautiful and compelling. Ask yourself if your photo does this. It's a subjective thing, of course; but nonetheless, something to try to aim for.

Sweet Crit.....and I agree.and am always looking for that."something".haven't found it yet.

[thenaturephotographer]

thanks wickederprints for your crit, so very true.