More Signs of Spring :)

[ScoutR]

Spring Thaw at the old Mill Damn.

C&C regarding PP welcome. I have quite a few more that are similar as far as exposure and light. I did not do "too" much to these except minor cropping and RAW adjustments in LR. Could use feedback before having a go at the rest.

I kind of like them, but it might just be the Spring like weather that is affecting my judgement.


Nikon D3000: 18-200mm: 1/25s: f16: ISO 200: 82mm


Nikon D3000: 18-200mm: 1/50s: f16: ISO 200: 200mm


Nikon D3000: 18-200mm: 1/30s: f16: ISO 200: 90mm

[rick55]

Hi, Wendy;

I really like the first one, but is there more above in the frame? The reflection in the foreground shows some nice blue sky that might be nice to include. If that isn't in the frame, maybe recompose around the foliage that's in the upper-left of the current pic, and the associated reflection? It's very bright and vibrant.

Cheers,
Rick

[RonH]

No.1 for me also Wendy.
Why? The mixed reflections/colours in ice or water.
Were you fairly 'stretched' on zoom because the background is not sharp to me ... maybe you had two other possibilities, close up the aperture to increase DoF or open wide to make it even more out of focus. I think it needs to be one or the other. Couldn't read your EXIF so I don't know your settings and you were probably too far away to influence this. Do you use 'auto' or the manual controls eg Aperture priority, which is the one I am mainly trying to use to gain experience.
Hey ... I'm trying to sound like an expert and I ain't by a long shot, sorry. Probably my glasses are the focus problem.
Nice reflection one Wendy.
ps Your Spring seems in advance of ours!

[ScoutR]

Hi, Wendy;

I really like the first one, but is there more above in the frame? The reflection in the foreground shows some nice blue sky that might be nice to include. If that isn't in the frame, maybe recompose around the foliage that's in the upper-left of the current pic, and the associated reflection? It's very bright and vibrant.

Cheers,
Rick

Thanks Rick: I was concentrating so much on the reflections and the patterns in the water and ice that despite the brilliant blue (but cloudless) sky, I do not have many shots that include it.

The trees and foilage reflected in the melting ice and water is what initially caught my eye, and I have quite a few with just the trees and reflection, so many in fact that I have to go through them and see which one works the best. Thanks for your feedback, and for noticing the reflection That's the part I liked the best too. I'll go through the other shots as soon as I have a chance. Right now duty calls, so I better get off the computer for awhile.

Wendy

[Donald]

Wendy

I echo what's been said already, by you and others. If the reflections are the main subject for attention (which they should indeed be, going by #1), then other 'reflection' images that you have should, I think, be the main focus.

Where you have both reflections and objects (for example the rock and grass in #3), then you have a competition for attention.

I also like #1 for the fact that's feels fresh, clean, alive, bright. The word that came into mind is that it 'zings' (don't think there is a such a word!)

[Geoff F]

No. 3, to me, appears a bit 'top heavy' and cluttered; but there is plenty of room for a slight crop of the top and right side which may well improve the balance and become another excellent photo.

[ScoutR]

No.1 for me also Wendy.
Why? The mixed reflections/colours in ice or water.
Were you fairly 'stretched' on zoom because the background is not sharp to me ... maybe you had two other possibilities, close up the aperture to increase DoF or open wide to make it even more out of focus. I think it needs to be one or the other. Couldn't read your EXIF so I don't know your settings and you were probably too far away to influence this. Do you use 'auto' or the manual controls eg Aperture priority, which is the one I am mainly trying to use to gain experience.
Hey ... I'm trying to sound like an expert and I ain't by a long shot, sorry. Probably my glasses are the focus problem.
Nice reflection one Wendy.
ps Your Spring seems in advance of ours!

Thanks for the feedback Ron. I was hoping maybe EXIF would stay with these because I just did them in LR without any other fooling around with file format changes and all that takes place when going from LR to Elements. It's still not there though, so I've added it in at the bottom of each shot.

Nothing wrong with your glasses. In the first one there are 2 reasons for the blurry background. The first reason is the slow shutter speed so there is probably some camera shake involved, as I was perched at the end of a low bridge and trying to get as low and even as I could to the water to shoot. It's shot at f16 so DOF should be fine, I could have opened up a bit to get a faster shutter speed.

I use Aperature priority. I set it at f16 because I wanted the DOF for these shots, but generally don't even look at what the shutter speed is until I get home. Silly, I know but I can't see the shutter speed without difficulty, so I go with what I get. If I'm not worried about DOF I open up and then get the highest shutter speed possible.

I know you are probably shaking your head in dismay, but occasionally when I plan a shot, I do take the time and make the effort to check the settings. After the planned shot though, then I just tend to set it according to what DOF I want and let the camera do the rest.

The second factor is that I did a negative clarity adjustment in LR to smooth out the snow and ice patterns a bit, that also affected the riverbank. It's still out of focus but I can bring it back a bit or blur it right out if I go into Elements. I think.

Thanks for taking the time to comment and make suggestions, this is what I was looking for. After dull grey shots all winter, everything was looking good to me yesterday.

You are right, our Spring is a bit early. It's just a tease though,I'm sure our winter isn't quite over yet, just a brief reprieve.

Wendy

[ScoutR]

Wendy

I echo what's been said already, by you and others. If the reflections are the main subject for attention (which they should indeed be, going by #1), then other 'reflection' images that you have should, I think, be the main focus.

Where you have both reflections and objects (for example the rock and grass in #3), then you have a competition for attention.

I also like #1 for the fact that's feels fresh, clean, alive, bright. The word that came into mind is that it 'zings' (don't think there is a such a word!)

Thanks Donald: It seems to be unanimous, and I will concentrate on the more singular shots. Most of them end up looking kind of abstract, but I like them too. As I said everything looked good yesterday. Zingy, is probably a good word for it. Everything was very colourful yesterday.

[ScoutR]

No. 3, to me, appears a bit 'top heavy' and cluttered; but there is plenty of room for a slight crop of the top and right side which may well improve the balance and become another excellent photo.

Thanks Geoff: I think I agree. What do you think of the one below. It's not a crop, it's a different shot with out the dead branch. I think I like this one better, but not sure if I should crop some of the snow from the foreground.

My problem is I like the snow, I like the grass, I like the rock, and in the first one I like the dead branch too. I suppose the thing is to compose the shot better if I want to include everything OR just keep it simple to start with.

Thanks for your feedback, this is the type of thing I am looking for to help me along.


Nikon D3000: 18-200mm: 1/100s: f16: ISO 200: 200mm

[Shadowman]

Wendy,

Very nice images. I know what you mean about having limited photo opportunities this winter.

[Geoff F]

Well my thoughts on cropping, just by holding some paper against the screen, is that with this image you could afford to lose a bit from the right side and bottom; but not too much. Perhaps crop away 1/4 of the grass maximum and a corresponding amount from the bottom. This still leaves a reasonable amount of ice and I think it will concentrate a bit more on the rock.

With No. 3 from the original images, I was thinking about cropping just above that horizontal dead tree to remove some of the tangled and confusing clutter at the very top, but it isn't very much. And to retain your photo ratio, you could also lose something from the right side.

Also, a very minor point, there is an odd piece of twig intruding from the left side. I would 'snip it' away.