Under The Mountainby
TUBORGComment by taterbug: Greetings from the Critique Club,
Well, this is your 'Negative Image' shot, it definitely fits the challenge. This is a nice scene, with the mountains making for a nice backdrop. The very first thing that struck me when the image opened though, was that the houses are not straight :-) There doesn't seem to be enough going on with the surroundings, or perspective wise or anything to warrant that fact, it just comes across as just a touch careless. You might already know, but it is possible to straighten horizons, and lines and such in editing with an arbitrary rotation before doing any cropping. For many voters, tilted horizons, skylines and such, if not apparently done on purpose, can cause minor point deductions.
You did a nice job on the conversion to 'negative'. It works ok as a negative, but doesn't seem to have that "wow, this is really cool inverted" factor that the top scorers in the challenge achieved. I will say though, that this was a difficult challenge in that respect. Many people I think went into this challenge not fully knowing what to expect. It kind of drifts into the abstract, almost digital art realm, I think. So not a bad job.
Another thing, that a couple of commenters touch on, is in the composition, crop/framing wise. To me, it just doesn't achieve a nicely balanced 'feel' in the image. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems to be a matter of either too much/too little of sky and/or foreground. The sky is featureless, so perhaps a tighter crop to the top of the mountains could be stronger. Or another possibility to try would be a 'minimalist' approach, and frame the houses right down close to the bottom of the frame.
So overall, not bad. A nice image that works for a very challenging challenge (IMO). I think stronger weight, better balance could of boosted your score.
If you have any questions or comments or anything, please feel free to contact me.
Happy shooting,
taterbug
Photographer found comment helpful.