Visit the Steirischer Bodensee! Located at the Seewigtal in Styria, Austria, this enchanting lake with a small but very idyllic waterfall makes this location a perfect place-to-be for every self-respecting photographer. Despite the sun making this location very hard to capture due to a high contrast, it's real beauty is shown if the contrast can be implemented in one photograph, like this HDR.
Firstly, let me say that I wish I could make an image a fraction as good as this!
The HDR is well done, its a beautiful scene and I really wish that I could just love this image, but...
I find the white tilted line that runs up beside the waterfall to be very distracting. It looks like its a seam, though yes I know that it is a natural feature in the scene (as you can see its reflection). However given the scale of the image I can't see what it actually is, so I just see a white line. I would have cloned/healed this out of the image.
Also the central composition takes away from the impact of the image. My eye is immediately drawn to the center and stays there (which unfortunately means I keep focusing on that white line). The waterfall does not need to be right at the center to maintain its prominence. The composition should either encourage one's eye to come to the waterfall after landing on other details of the image, or the waterfall should lead to those other details. I think the lake/reflections are a big part of the appeal of this image and perhaps could have been used to do something interesting with the composition.
I like the contrasts, the color palette, the way that the mountains are layered in the background (though I would like to see more of them). Though speaking of the color palette, perhaps you could have shifted some of the highlights to be more yellowy in order to balance the blues in the background.
Unfortunately I think this critique sounds more negative than I intend. I think this is a great image. I just also think the scene had the potential to be made into a really great image.
The HDR is well done, its a beautiful scene and I really wish that I could just love this image, but...
I find the white tilted line that runs up beside the waterfall to be very distracting. It looks like its a seam, though yes I know that it is a natural feature in the scene (as you can see its reflection). However given the scale of the image I can't see what it actually is, so I just see a white line. I would have cloned/healed this out of the image.
Also the central composition takes away from the impact of the image. My eye is immediately drawn to the center and stays there (which unfortunately means I keep focusing on that white line). The waterfall does not need to be right at the center to maintain its prominence. The composition should either encourage one's eye to come to the waterfall after landing on other details of the image, or the waterfall should lead to those other details. I think the lake/reflections are a big part of the appeal of this image and perhaps could have been used to do something interesting with the composition.
I like the contrasts, the color palette, the way that the mountains are layered in the background (though I would like to see more of them). Though speaking of the color palette, perhaps you could have shifted some of the highlights to be more yellowy in order to balance the blues in the background.
Unfortunately I think this critique sounds more negative than I intend. I think this is a great image. I just also think the scene had the potential to be made into a really great image.
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