Hi there!

Here is an image that I like that recently was rejected. It was taken a magical evening about a week ago with extreme amounts of hoar frost. I got the impression that all the trees had dressed up in their nicest evening clothes for winter, hence the title. And I also liked the dark and mystical mood. In short, I felt quite proud of it. I have absolutely no problems with the rejection, but I am a bit curious about why. I know there are some technical issues with it, especially if you have something against noise (which I do not). But are there other issues? Composition? Colors? Cropping? Lighting (street lights in this case)? Or perhaps just boring or unoriginal? Or something else? Just curious, thanks in advance for any opinions or clues. :-)

Hello, Mats

Welcome to our forum. Well you asked us the most difficult question. It is difficult because it relates both to the subjective nature of photography and at the same time to the common sense nature of it. Although we speak about certain rules, each person to vote on your image reacts with a subjective impulse at first glance. So there can be hundred or more answers to your question. It's a photographer, I would want to take an image of the scene to. However, this is like preparing a present to somebody. He put the present into a box, and you take some paper and you want to wrap the box in a way that it looks fancy. And you wait for the first impression the receiver gives you when he or she sees the gift. So it is not only important what is in that box, but how you present it to the receiver. So that his or her expectancy gets shaped. In your image, I see a bit of chaos. There are too many elements to look at. All together I do not see a harmony or an eye catching composition. There is no interest point to grap my attentions. There is also no calculated crop factor in the image. The noise is the least element I am looking at. I want to focus on something special. Think of a story with a great theme. This great theme could be told by ten different people. Nine of them could make it sound very boring and one could shape the story in such a way that you would not want it to end. I am saying this using my knowledge of photography. I in my quest am reading, watching and listening to courses to learn to better my photographic skills. After eight busy years of doing this and going over similar topics more than once, I start to see the worls as a canvas and my eyes make calculations weighing the scene in front of me. I take the image before I press that shutter button. Whay am I telling you this? Because it is not enough to see someting beautifu, attractive or mesmerizing. You need also to calculate and consider the way to tell this in such a way that it hits the target not only in your eyes but in the eyes of many others. You could have isolated one tree or you could have tried a macro or close up shot here. Or you could have taken an image with a wider ojective. You yourself say that there are some technichal problems in the image. Some is a heavy burden on 1x. Sometimes slight technical issue are enough for rejection here. So my main advice to you is to think about the best way to present your image to the viewer. Please take some time to amalyse similar images that have been published or awarded. Try to look at them from different angles and compare them to your images. The best thing here is that you have a means of capturing the moment with a camera. That is the main blessing. Now, go ahead one more step and capture it in an unforgettable way. You might end up with lots of rejected images but not for eternity. Have good light...Çiçek

Mats,

Thank you for sharing 'All Dressed Up' with us here in Critique, and for writing about the magical winter evening when you made the image. 

If you are pleased with the photo, then it's a success.  We can't shed any light on why it was not Published.  Only the Head Curators and/or the mystery algorithm know for sure, and they don't discuss their decisions. 

All we can do here in Critique is to suggest things that could be tried to fine-tune the editing.  These are just our personal opinions and preferences.  If this were my image I would try black and white, and then give the highlights a slight bit of warmth and the background shadows some cool blue.  Sharpening the brightest tree so that it stands out more strongly as the main subject, and reducing the noise could be tried.  

It's said that in many parts of the world we tend to 'read' images left to right as we do text.  For this photo, I think the bright tree on the left is our entry point into the frame, and then we're drawn into the deep, dark background of the forest.  To help that 'flow' I Dodged (lightened) the evergreen tree in the upper middle right of the frame just a little. 

One way to evaluate a compostion is to flip the image left to right and also upside down.  That allows you to judge the weight, balance, and flow of the various elements.  'All Dressed Up' seems like a 'stepping-stone' compositon.  We start with the bright left tree, then jump to the large tree on the right, and then are pulled into the background. 

Suggestions only.  Thanks again for participating in Critique. 

. . . .  Steven, senior critic

Thank you so much, both of you. Interesting and important viewpoints, all of it. But most of all I'm grateful to you, Steven. Your edit is a real eye-opener for me. It enhances my original vision of this photo and still respects all the important mood aspects of it. Maybe I'd prefer a slightly more discrete toning, but I really see how the dodging of the right tree helps the composition come alive. It also seems you have removed a bit of the noise and done something that brings out more detail overall, but not in any overly apparent way that makes it feel unnatural. Just love it. I will probably work on a new version of the image along the lines you have suggested. Again, thanks.

I also wish both of you as well as the rest of your team a really Merry Christmas, I hope that you will have a joyous and peaceful holiday together with your close ones.

Warm regards,

Mats

I wish you a happy Christmas and New Year, too 💐

Hello Mats,

Thank you for submitting your photo to this forum.

A very magical photo indeed. I really like such contrasts.

I suggested switching to a classic black and white photo with an emphasis on white on the first tree. I made the changes in PSCC 2024 and the NICK Silver Effects add-on.

Regards

Slawomir Kowalczyk - SC.