This is one of your strongest images to date.
I like this image because it’s wide and therefore requires that you apply the principles you’ve learnt in the previous lessons into a more complicated environment. You’ve done a great job with this photograph. There are many strong photographic qualities that pop out at me right away. In no particular order they are:
– A strong and well organized color pallet of blue and green with highlights of gradients or red.
– The reflection in the water causes the volume of the trees to be weighed more heavily. It also helps create an interesting texture in an otherwise dead space area.
– The informal balance gives the photograph a lopsided and dramatic look (weighted more heavily on the right), but it also helps guide the viewer’s eye in from the bottom right corner.
– Your color saturation, not only in the sky, but also in the trees and water is fantastic. Very loud and dramatic.
– You’ve used shape and lines as one of your primary elements.
The image is very strong considering it had a few things working against it. If the image wasn’t so well composed with such strong elements, it may have been perceived as “flat” since it doesn’t have a powerful sense of depth. Most action happens in the middle ground, there is a lot of negative space and you have used a wide depth of field so there is no 1 particular focus.
Along the same lines there is no main object or “stopper”. This often means the viewer’s eye will enter and quickly exit the photograph if there is no single strong element to keep their attention. However in your case, your photographic composition, your shapes and your colors act as the stopper.
Great work!