I can’t make up my mind about this one.
The idea of showing a lighthouse, which by its nature is ment to be seen, but hiding behind grasses is rather cool. I also think it is well placed in a slight dip in the line of grasses, and am amused by the grass seeds creating a yellow pattern on its red walls. On the other hand maybe the grasses interfere just too much, perhaps not so much with the lighthouse, but with the horizon and the patterns of water and sand/rocks. Would a slightly higher viewpoint be better? Maybe.
I am still undecided!
Dec. 3, 2025
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It's a good thing I read Roel's response first. I can't think of anything I might add to his comprehensive reply. Even his statements on Vietnam. I'm going to be around Hanoi in late January.
Looking at Pete's series and reading his notes, I feel as though I'm there already. You can't ask more of a travel sequence. -
Getting exposure right when photographing snow has to be tricky - all that contrast to deal with and the need to retain some texture in highlights and shadows! It's not a challenge I get to face.
First snowfall of the season must be significant in your part of the world and I understand trying for a photo.
A suggestion. In both shots you are including a lot of territory, especially sky, and this is going to make the exposure/detail even more of a challenge. It might be easier to get closer to the snow and look for something meaningful to include with the snow.
Take the second shot. The decorated pillars and the containers on each side give us the time of year. Seen closer, the black door provides a background that shows snow is falling. On each side of the door there is the beginning of a build up of snow. By being in closer and selecting details you can avoid the exposure difficulties.
What do you think?
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Mike, in retrospect, I should not have included #1 picture. Not enough light for the building and too much vegetation, trees, bushes obscuring the structure. What attracted me initially was the simplicity of the building, but surroundings and environment were not ideal when I look back. Better next time. Thanks for the comments.
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Chris, I wouldn't dismiss shot 1 too quickly. We all see images differently and draw on different experiences when we look at an image. There is no one way to do this. Here's how I'd appoach it. When looking at photos of people, the personality and the moment caught become factors. When looking at non figurative images, I'm looking for different things - line, pattern, texture, light.
I agree about the problems of shot 1 but only because that is the shot in its entirety. There's too much there and it's difficult to draw into into a cohesive whole. You were attracted by the first flurry of snow. OK. There are areas in shot 1 that I think bring this out and are well worth exploring further with a crop. Look at the area including the picket fence, the trees and bank behind and the silhouetted trees. There's a repetition of vertical lines and contrast that is immediately visually strong because there aren't too many other elements to be taken into account in the picture. The snow seen closer up is obviously thin and still shows even better what drew you to try to make a shot here. After a crop, have a look at minniev's suggestions. Winter is coming, that's the point of the shot - so being somewhat darker in overall tone is appropriate, it doesn't have to be altered too much. Wherever you decide to crop, I'd keep the blues out of the image. If you decide to work on image 1 further, I'd love to see your choices. Does anyone else have thoughts on this? -
My final offer...
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I was thinking about a crop further to the right that had less of the house and included some of the trunks against the snowbankalso to give more verticals plus more verticals from the fence towards the right.
But all that matters is what you finally feel about it.
