External Analysis 003
Winter Scene by Khürt Williams
This week we’re looking at a single image. It’s a beautiful landscape, shot with the Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 27mm f/2.8:
Gristmill | Kingston Mill Historic District | Thursday February 4, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF27mmF2.8 | f/16 | ISO 400
Some background from Khürt:
The winter of 2021 had been one long cold damp death of grey skies and leafless trees every day for weeks on end. My consulting contract had ended after a few weeks without any good leads, a bit of despair ad started to set in. The morning that I took this photo the clouds parted and the Sun God Ra poured forth rays of life. I hopped in the car and made my way to the Kingston Historical area. I've visited this location multiple dozens of times over the last 20 years. I noticed the snow piled up on the side of Route 27. I parked in the one of the few plowed parking spots near the Kingston Lock section of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and walked on the three foot pile of frozen snow and ice. This view point is rare as the roadway is extremely busy with no sidewalk. But the pile of frozen snow extended into the roadway creating a temporrary sidewalk. I had thigh high hiking boots so is was easy enough to make my way to the bridge for this shot.
It's a 9 layer HDR image using the bracketing feature of my Fuji X-T2. I used Photomatix Pro and shot using ACROS film simulation.
I like the serenity of the scene, as well as the composition, which is well-balanced and provides a nice visual flow. The large trees (1), building (2) and river (3) anchor the image, while the bridge adds motion, our eye following its curve.
If I was to change anything RE the processing, I think I might want to pull a bit of shadows from the bridge, building and river? Not much, just enough to register the textures. Mainly because I don’t see this picture as “contrast” but as “gradation”. I’d also lift the overall luminosity of the image a tiny bit, especially if it was to be printed. I think I see a slightly softer rendition overall, which is entirely subjective.
This is a bit much but it’s just to get a sense of what a lower contrast ratio would do.
However, the one issue I would fix, regardless of global contrast, are those white zones on the ice:
Exposure warning
This, for the same reason I just mentioned: to me they break the subtlety of the image. They also force my eyes to an area that shouldn’t be a focal point IMHO. That said, as a winter citizen I know all too well about the photographic challenges of ice and snow. In fact I still haven’t mastered this.
Thx a bunch for the contribution Khürt.
Nicely done.
