Compare Images

[Teton Chuck]

This is a photo of the reflection of Mount Moran in String Lake, Grand Teton National Park. The first image has not been cropped. The second has. Any input that you would be willing to give regarding the composition of the two images would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Chuck

[glenng]

Personally I like the first one don’t now why????

[Crovean]

I like the second image(cropped ver) It's more balanced and the reflection is nice!

[Mike Buckley]

I prefer the second one because the tall trees on the right are a distraction from Mount Moran, yet add nothing that is important to the image.

Consider adding more contrast to Mount Moran. It has less contrast than the shoreline trees because the snow is reflecting light into the shadows. As an example, notice the nice contrast in the reflection of Mount Moran. If you could get the mountain to look like its reflection, I think you'll like it more. (I'm not sure why the reflection of the mountain and trees is a bit darker than the sources, but I seem to remember reading that that can happen when shooting near sunrise or sunset.)

[Mark von Kanel]

#1 for me, i prefer the balance of this image because the sky and the rest of the elements seem more equally mirrored by the water. Can we have a nice contrasty version in B&W please?

[KCBrecks]

I prefer #1. It feels a more complete view somehow. The shoreline takes to eye to the right (that mountain becomes almost irrelevant) and so the island completes the scene. In the second one it just tails off to nothing.

[Teton Chuck]

Thanks to all of you for your input.

Mike, I beefed up Mt. Moran in the following images. See if this helps. I can assure you that shooting mountains early in the morning provides some significant challenges. The light conditions between where the photographer is and the mountain tops and the sky are very different.

Mark, I have attached a black and white version as requested. - chuck

[Mark von Kanel]

ooohhh black and white for me!!! can you get a lumber jack to remove that annoying fallen tree in the left hand 3rd of the image? it wouldnt be so bad if had fallen all the way down , but the diagonal sticks out somewhat!!!

[FrankMi]

Any input that you would be willing to give regarding the composition of the two images would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Chuck, for me the first image is better. In the second image my eye starts at the left and reads across to the right, being more constrained as the shoreline diminishes until it reaches the right side then, being on the tip of the visual arrow, it leaves the image completely after one quick swipe.

The original image starts the same way but on the right, the vertical trees point up and down so my vision follows the clouds and returns to the mountain where I explore and discover that the reflection of Mount Moran is more detailed than the original! Makes me think that perhaps the image is flipped vertically as usually the original is sharper than the reflection! The point is that successful images capture and hold the viewers’ attention far longer than unsuccessful ones and the redirection provided by the original is serving a useful purpose.

Although I usually prefer a wide ratio crop for this kind of landscape and would want the mountain somewhat close to the 1/3rd line, I would be tempted to reduce enough of the left side to have the land start on the left border (but not in the corner) rather than in the top and bottom border (as in the cropped version) as it should feel less constrained that way. You may need to experiment to get a tighter crop that you are happy with but I would tend to retain some of the trees on the right.

[acsky]

I can't explain it better than Frank, I agree with him.

#1 is a lot better. I love the sky and the trees on the right balance the scene very well.

Toño

[terrib]

Just another example of how everyone sees the same photo differently. I actually like them both but I prefer the second. Maybe it's my mathematical mind but I just love the geometry of it. To my eye, it is actually more balanced because there is nothing interrupting that geometry.

And it doesn't lead my eye out of the photo, although I'm only able to tell you that after taking a second look. Either I'm just a rookie or I have a poor memory or both but I can never identify how my eyes wander around a photo. Now when I try the trick of closing my eyes and then try to see what happens, I THINK I tend to start in the middle (on the mountain) and go to the right and then back again. At which point I enjoy the arrow created by the fallen tree pointing further left. Nice of it to fall at such a nice angle.

[Mike Buckley]

I much prefer your changes to Mount Moran. I'd like them even more if you brought the snow on the mountain back to white; notice that you made the snow grey.

[Teton Chuck]

Thanks to all of you for taking part in this interchange. I have found it to be very helpful to me. It has provided a lot to think about and hopefully will influence future images. Terri you get the prize. I wondered if anyone else would see that there was a big arrow made of trees that was signaling to look to the left. chuck

[Lon Howard]

I wish that I was an hour earlier before Chuck 'wrapped up,' but I would agree with Terri about the second image. She likes the geometry while I was thinking it looks cleaner, eliminating the distracting clump of trees on the right. Somehow I think we're talking about the same thing. I would really like Mark's lumberjack to get in there (my clean look fettish) but all I could offer him is a smile and a wave.