Brad Becker
July 2024 - Mystery revealed
Original
Original 2
About the Image(s)
This image was taken during the recent northern lights in California. After seeing amazing pictures coming out the first night I headed out the following night at 10:30 and it was a bust. The experts suggested the light would be good between 2-3 am. I got up at 1:30 and headed up to the Oakland hills. After an hour wandering by myself in the wee hours of the morning I returned to my car disappointed by the absence of the lights I saw this interesting light coming from the parking lot light. I added an image of my daughter from years ago to create a subject.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
9 comments posted
Brad, I like your thinking behind this image and the effort that you put in on location to record the Northern Lights. However, it hasn't quite worked for me. Overall, it is too dark and the darker tones predominate; they overpower the storyline you are trying to achieve. I find the girl looking right-to-left creates a visual tension within the picture. As the image is dark-tone heavy, there is bleed-over from the dark areas of the picture into the dark surround. Also, I find the upper patch of mid-tone sky is distracting and competes for our attention. I have taken the liberty in the version below of tweaking the exposure, bringing out the red of the girl's dress, flipping the image horizontally, cropping out the patch of sky, stroking a white line around the picture and increasing the colour balance on the red channel. Posted: 07/10/2024 17:08:08
Brian, Thank you for your reworking of my image. I do appreciate other ways to take this image. Posted: 07/23/2024 22:45:52
Brad, I sympathise with you, always missing the best of the Northern lights. I think your image would have worked better for me if you could somehow have eliminated the sea from the scene. I get the scary feeling of the girl looking at the light but the sea coming from between the trees is too wierd for me to take in. Did you mean it to have an apocalyptic feel? Posted: 07/12/2024 11:17:02
Hazel, The original image was taken up in the hills, far away from the ocean. I added my daughter by the ocean as a surreal statement. I understand my creative leanings don't appeal to everyone. Many of my images do explore dark themes. Not sure it is intentional, but I am open to whatever unconscious ideas emerge as I play with images. Posted: 07/23/2024 22:48:12
Hi Brad, I like the concept of your image and for me it has a surreal feel to it. Personally, I think the image could do with a bit more atmosphere to create a sense of mystery. I've taken the liberty of adding more fog to come from the top of the trees for uniformity and added a light blue/green gradient. I like Brian flipping it horizontally but I don't mind it the way you have it coming from the right. Posted: 07/15/2024 10:37:18
Nadia, Thank you for your reworking this image as well. I like your version too. Posted: 07/23/2024 22:48:56
This has a surreal feel, like close encounters.
I love Brian's flip of the image for reading and story. Posted: 07/23/2024 00:35:12
I love Brian's flip of the image for reading and story. Posted: 07/23/2024 00:35:12
Lisa, It does take me back to those movies for sure. I'll try the left to right viewing option and see how that develops Posted: 07/23/2024 22:50:24
Hi Brad,
I like how you are getting more nuanced in your images. This evokes a sense of wonder to me. I like it. However, here are my thoughts on an alternate view. I would crop this down a bit as there just isn't any info on the edges. I would either swap your daughter and put her in the distance looking toward the viewer, or do both, have her looking at herself in the distance. Maybe a larger version of her in the distance (looking ahead) or vice versa (looking behind). Posted: 07/30/2024 14:02:25
I like how you are getting more nuanced in your images. This evokes a sense of wonder to me. I like it. However, here are my thoughts on an alternate view. I would crop this down a bit as there just isn't any info on the edges. I would either swap your daughter and put her in the distance looking toward the viewer, or do both, have her looking at herself in the distance. Maybe a larger version of her in the distance (looking ahead) or vice versa (looking behind). Posted: 07/30/2024 14:02:25