Big Pink

Hope some will enjoy this. I get the usual critiques, it's too saturated, it doesn't have a main focal point, stuff light that. I've been doing this thing called photography for over 4 years now, and although I'm far from knowing everything, sometimes I just want people to appreciate the art for what it is not what they think it could or should be. Anyone know what I mean? At any rate, here it is and again I hope some can just find something they like and look beyond any flaws.

Al

Allen Maestas said:

... sometimes I just want people to appreciate the art for what it is not what they think it could or should be. Anyone know what I mean? At any rate, here it is and again I hope some can just find something they like and look beyond any flaws.

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Hi Al,

I know what you mean. And I like the picture as it is. Thanks for showing .

Cheers,

Hi Allen,

I try not to say "Wow!". Here I could if I'm reassured that this is what you saw. I promise I'll like it much more after it is reposted with no black frame. Why do I say that when you just provide something for our enjoyment?

Here's why: art requires a milieu to exist in. One cannot expect it to work just anywhere or next to anything or locked inside a restricting space.

There has to be a very good reason for using a black matt around a picture, since the world is crushed down to become a prison that confines. A white or light matt, allow you to define a breathing space for your artwork. Especially here where the colors are rich, much space is required. So please consider losing the black.

Tell me about the streaks of reddish orange in the sky. They posterize on my MacBook Pro, but that is corrected by changing my view angle. Without seeing a print I do not know whether or not the sky is too saturated. What is important is how it prints as sometimes one might exceed the gamut or color space possible by the printer you use.

Anyway, I am interested in seeing this picture again, but "liberated" if you would allow that term.

OTOH I have already enjoyed it. I cannot critique it with a dark frame.

Still, I'm glad you posted this. I have spent time studying it and I think I may now know what the subject is about! Well, I'll have a go at it!

Asher

Cem_Usakligil said:

Hi Al,

I know what you mean. And I like the picture as it is. Thanks for showing .

Cheers,

Click to expand...

Thanks Cem, me too

Asher Kelman said:

Hi Allen,

I try not to say "Wow!". Here I could if I'm reassured that this is what you saw. I promise I'll like it much more after it is reposted with no black frame. Why do I say that when you just provide something for our enjoyment?

Here's why: art requires a milieu to exist in. One cannot expect it to work just anywhere or next to anything or locked inside a restricting space.

There has to be a very good reason for using a black matt around a picture, since the world is crushed down to become a prison that confines. A white or light matt, allow you to define a breathing space for your artwork. Especially here where the colors are rich, much space is required. So please consider losing the black.

Tell me about the streaks of reddish orange in the sky. They posterize on my MacBook Pro, but that is corrected by changing my view angle. Without seeing a print I do not know whether or not the sky is too saturated. What is important is how it prints as sometimes one might exceed the gamut or color space possible by the printer you use.

Anyway, I am interested in seeing this picture again, but "liberated" if you would allow that term.

OTOH I have already enjoyed it. I cannot critique it with a dark frame.

Still, I'm glad you posted this. I have spent time studying it and I think I may now know what the subject is about! Well, I'll have a go at it!

Asher

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Sorry Asher, not sure what it is you ahve against black frames, but it is what it is

Al

Allen Maestas said:

Sorry Asher, not sure what it is you ahve against black frames, but it is what it is

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Allen,

It concerns the milieu in which our art lives. That presentation is life or death for even a good print. I almost always use black frames for my photographs. That is not the issue. What is needed is an ample white breathing space for the picture. I feel that for most photographic art to work, the edges cannot being crowded in! Black directly by the picture does that! Call it a frame, if you wish. What surrounds the picture first is a matt if you frame it. That's the world we make to provide territory, free of outside influence for the photographic artwork to breathe and be able to converse with us. For a few, black works fine. For these we have no criticism. Still, black directly adjacent to the photograph often spoils its reception for a significant number of people. Then they miss out on enjoying our work and that's a pity!

Now if we choose to only use only black as the matt or thick frame, that's fine. I'll try not to make any mention of it if it bothers you. It's always the photographer's choice.

Thanks to being open to discussing this.

Asher

Allen Maestas said:

Hope some will enjoy this. I get the usual critiques, it's too saturated, it doesn't have a main focal point, stuff light that.

Click to expand...

Did you ever tell them what the picture was about and try to guide them to your own vision? There's a lot of my work that no one could understand without preparation and then it works superbly!

Allen Maestas said:

I've been doing this thing called photography for over 4 years now, and although I'm far from knowing everything, sometimes I just want people to appreciate the art for what it is not what they think it could or should be.

Click to expand...

Are you saying that you don't wish to have feedback and critique? We can appreciate a work and still have questions. That's not being negative or just looking for faults. We will be having galleries where people can just show work for people to enjoy and leave an appreciative comment. Right now, all pictures in the photography sections, such as Landscape, are assumed to be for critique. In Landscape, we would expect to know where it was taken and, for something unusual, any special technics so others might learn and maybe go there too! When we do that, letting people go on a journey with us, there's a greater chance they might appreciate our work.

In a simple gallery, that's for entertainment, not sharing technics. One does not ask the photographer "What f stop was used?" and "What's the pixels size in the guy's camera? or "How did they process it?". Here, however, we benefit from shared information so we can know whether or not we might be able to find such a sea, field of flowers or skies if we would visit that same location.

Allen Maestas said:

Anyone know what I mean? At any rate, here it is and again I hope some can just find something they like and look beyond any flaws.[/url] We are all in the same boat. No picture is ever perfect. The very flaws some find may be essential to how the art works. We do respect the photographer's work, but to show means this is what I found there at that time and this is what I saw or else this is the rendering I made by adding green or a layer from another photograph or other work done to make the picture as we see it.

If the picture is exactly as we'd expect, then who needs further explanation. If however, it is unique, we all want to know and that's natural.

So for putting pictures just to show in a relaxed not critical milieu, maybe just put it in Layback café with, for example "A twilight scene in Hawai for your pleasure, no critique needed". If this is what you want, we'll try to accommodate that and respect your wishes.

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Now let's start all over, the picture is as it is and we can like it just like that, if you wish! It is, after all, enjoyable.

Don't worry, I wont beat you over the head on your black frame if you feel it's your artistic choice!

Thanks for sharing,

Asher

Hey Allen,

Living in Arizona I get to see many great sunsets that are filled with vivid colors. I can appreciate your shot and very much like it. I was in Lake Havasu recently and the area had a large fire during the day, that evening I captured one of my best shots and have sold a couple of prints based on the colors alone. Thanks for sharing your shot.

Marshall

Marshall Everett said:

Hey Allen,

Living in Arizona I get to see many great sunsets that are filled with vivid colors. I can appreciate your shot and very much like it. I was in Lake Havasu recently and the area had a large fire during the day, that evening I captured one of my best shots and have sold a couple of prints based on the colors alone. Thanks for sharing your shot.

Marshall

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Thanks Marshall, yes the average person out there looking for artwork for their home, is more concerned with "does it match my couch" than anything else.
Al

Asher Kelman said:

Did you ever tell them what the picture was about and try to guide them to your own vision? There's a lot of my work that no one could understand without preparation and then it works superbly!



Are you saying that you don't wish to have feedback and critique? We can appreciate a work and still have questions. That's not being negative or just looking for faults. We will be having galleries where people can just show work for people to enjoy and leave an appreciative comment. Right now, all pictures in the photography sections, such as Landscape, are assumed to be for critique. In Landscape, we would expect to know where it was taken and, for something unusual, any special technics so others might learn and maybe go there too! When we do that, letting people go on a journey with us, there's a greater chance they might appreciate our work.

In a simple gallery, that's for entertainment, not sharing technics. One does not ask the photographer "What f stop was used?" and "What's the pixels size in the guy's camera? or "How did they process it?". Here, however, we benefit from shared information so we can know whether or not we might be able to find such a sea, field of flowers or skies if we would visit that same location.




Now let's start all over, the picture is as it is and we can like it just like that, if you wish! It is, after all, enjoyable.

Don't worry, I wont beat you over the head on your black frame if you feel it's your artistic choice!

Thanks for sharing,

Asher

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1st here you are


2nd, I like critiques when they are well thought out and not frivolous. I tire of the same old thing regurgitated by the masses. "Too saturated, it's not level, it's not sharp enough, the light is too hard, all the usual boring stuff that anyone can pickup on the forums." Forums anymore are so cliché. What I want to do is share my artwork, share my part of the world. Share ideas and thoughts beyond the mundane. But the real reason I post, is just to share my images, to get some exposure no matter how little. I also enjoy helping people when they ask for it. Many times just by posting my images, I'll get many PM's asking for help. And I enjoy that part of it.

Thanks Asher, for always trying to help

Al

Hi Allen

2nd, I like critiques when they are well thought out and not frivolous. I tire of the same old thing regurgitated by the masses. "Too saturated, it's not level, it's not sharp enough, the light is too hard, all the usual boring stuff that anyone can pickup on the forums." Forums anymore are so cliché. What I want to do is share my artwork, share my part of the world. Share ideas and thoughts beyond the mundane. But the real reason I post, is just to share my images, to get some exposure no matter how little. I also enjoy helping people when they ask for it. Many times just by posting my images, I'll get many PM's asking for help. And I enjoy that part of it.

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I fully respect that and almost agree… but I have to say that the 2nd version posted here (just without the dark frame) is much more powerfull than the previous…

Beleive me, I don't always agree with my very great friend Asher, far from that! but ther he has been imho spot on!
Without the frame, all what you like in your picture (saturation etc…) takes the power…

Beautifull photo by the way. Really

Allen Maestas said:

1st here you are

2nd, I like critiques when they are well thought out and not frivolous. I tire of the same old thing regurgitated by the masses. "Too saturated, it's not level, it's not sharp enough, the light is too hard, all the usual boring stuff that anyone can pickup on the forums." Forums anymore are so cliché. What I want to do is share my artwork, share my part of the world. Share ideas and thoughts beyond the mundane. But the real reason I post, is just to share my images, to get some exposure no matter how little. I also enjoy helping people when they ask for it. Many times just by posting my images, I'll get many PM's asking for help. And I enjoy that part of it.

Thanks Asher, for always trying to help

Click to expand...

This is so very very different. Now I have a full measure of arousal of beautiful feelings. There is a subject, it's in the clouds!

Here we have a powerful overriding presence of billowing importance. This is the compelling part of the picture that's been released by removing the black. Now I'm able to "get" what was held back and I enjoy and appreciate this picture. It was so hard for me to struggle with this picture before and I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what was important. What was it about the picture that gave it a compelling interest when the frame was gone.

The complex clouds provide endless possibilities for our imagination to wander. That's what, in my opinion, the function of art is. There's more of course, much more, but that's in the essence.

However, to allow the mind to work, one needs open space! That is now what you have done! Bravo!

Asher

Now, Allen, you have hooked us, could you tell us more about the place and what is the time of the picture?

Asher

Ah, this thread has raised the critique issue nicely. Perhaps it is time to revisit the critique question ( in another thread). As fora evolve, so do the members, their needs and desires for what happens with the images they post.

I'll not say more because although this thread raised the critique question, the thread is about this image.

Asher Kelman said:

Now, Allen, you have hooked us, could you tell us more about the place and what is the time of the picture?

Asher

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HAHA, well at least I didn't drive everyone away This was taken along the Rio Grande Bosque on the northern end of Corrales, New Mexico. The sun had already set and you are only seeing the last few rays hitting the bottom of the clouds. Because there was so much natural even glow I only need one exposure of which I created and blended two separate files so that I could bring out a bit more detail in the foreground. It is as close to what I saw as I could get, but yes the sat level is just a bit higher than it was naturally, but ohh so very little. Everything else "is as it was". In the Albuquerque area we get maybe a half dozen or so sunsets like this every year, the landscape is setup in such a way that beautiful sunsets can be had especially if you are looking east toward the Sandia Mountains, thus the name Sandia, which means watermelon in Spanish

We had had a rain storm the previous day, and living here all my life I had a strong feeling that we might get a beautiful sunset that evening, so me and the family headed down to the river getting there right on time, and were not disappointed.

Al

Rachel Foster said:

Ah, this thread has raised the critique issue nicely. Perhaps it is time to revisit the critique question ( in another thread). As fora evolve, so do the members, their needs and desires for what happens with the images they post.

I'll not say more because although this thread raised the critique question, the thread is about this image.

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You are more than welcome to talk about anything you want on my threads Rachel, but thank you for caring.

Al