Follow the Salt - please critique

[Guy Tal]

http://scenicwild.com/imdir/img/large/da000209.jpg

I've been going back and forth on the tinting. I like the cool/surreal feeling of this split-tone rendition but in print I'm starting to lean more towards a slightly warm gray version. The mood is entirely different between the two so I'm not sure if one is objectively more attractive (is there such a thing?) or just feels so when I'm in a given (transient) state of mind.

Anyway, critique is welcome, as are general thoughts on the subtleties of tinted B&W images and the moods they evoke.

Thanks,
Guy

[Asher Kelman]

Guy,

We need both!

First, what was your intent and vision? Are you stuggling to express what you saw or else discovering hidden possibilites with new meanings?

However, my own reactions.

Feelings: startled, attentive, want to step back, awed!

Thoughts: this arena is coming toward me, like a huge animal with an open mouth However it is not at all hostile. The stones are somehow welcoming in a challenging way to enter this bright world.

Critique: This is an impressive picture. The missing left side of the scene creates a tension in the foreground. The slightly out of focus stones in the front and the drop off, give the impression of both movement and also a considerate drop down of the entrance as a welcome.

The sharpness of the distant features, sky and mountains, is not expected. So it increases their importance. This is where we must go.

Now, we look at the actual beach, covered with a coat of greyish whiteness, broken, like missing icing on a cake. This is where the title is so helpful in orientation for reception. It is salt.

Oh, yes, and I like it very much as a lovely scene, impressive and one I would like a print of, The tones work!

Asher

[Anita Saunders]

My opinion is that we all vary in our tastes, perceptions etc and they in turn change over time.

My personal preference is for B&W to be a range of true neutral greys (practically unachievable in RGB), but hey that's just me.

This photo is lovely btw. Very expansive angle and well composed. Such a wonderfully 'unhindered' space you found here <sigh>.

[Tom Yi]

I personally would like to see a touch more contrast in the shot. I'm not sure if the greenish tone works for me or not as well. Lastly splitting the horizon right in the middle doesn't do it for me.
I think I would personally prefer to cut off the sky a bit and focus on the rocks in the foreground and lead the eyes to that mountain in the background.

P.S. overall I like this shot and I think it has a lot of untapped potential. Guy, I'd like to see a few variations of this shot, especially in gray as you mentioned.

[Gary Ayala]

For me, the photo is about salt. Salt is the unusal, salt is what makes this shot different. And salt is white, brilliant white, crisp, crystalline, incredibly contrast-ie white. And I don't see it. My salt isn't blueish-greenish (then again my salt comes in a nice little shaker too).

Based upon my view of the world, I'd like to see contrast on that salt. The rest of the photo can be any tone you wish, but I want that salt ... ahhh ... salty.

Additionally, while those clouds are nice ... the photo is still about salt and the clouds add distraction to the shoreline.

Is this the Great Salt Lake? Nice shot BTW. What time of year?

Gary

[Asher Kelman]

Gary,

I like the point about salt. Very instructive and now obvious.

The title is after all, salt. That is not the first impressions I received. A salt-crusted landscape it is indeed, but to me, at least, that came from the title as a secondary instruction and then, it all is consistent.

I too would like to see some of the alternatives Guy has prepared. If I was looking to see what white salt would do to the picture, that I'd like to see on it's own, then with any changes to the sky. I prefer to see one major variation at a time if available.

Asher

[Guy Tal]

Thanks folks! Very helpful input so far. I'll post an alternate version when I get home later today.

Guy

[Tom Yi]

Guy, just checked out your gallery. Lots of good stuff. I like how the rest of the color/tone of the Salt lake shots looked.