Reflections, Shadows & Light

[Brownbear]

Hi Binnur,

I don't know where Mike is, but to the best of my recollection he was going on a boat trip somewhere in Scandinavian (Norway best guess) for the sole purpose of photographing mountains and fjords for me to see for inspiration and learning purposes. (truthfully likely for vacation)

I miss his comments, too. Always straightforward critiques with which I always learn something from.

BTW Christina, do you know where Mike is? I haven't been seeing his comments for sometime

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christina, all are improved IMHO.

The difference in the lighting of the sky at certain times of day between left and right is something that I only really noticed when I started doing the pre sunrises seriously a while ago and I find it can be quite a challenge.

I hate cloning but I found a fantastic aid yesterday that helped me remove boats easily from horizons, I used the grid carefully placing the cursor on the line to keep things level. No doubt I'm the only one in the world that did not know this trick

So, what's the next project? I have finished the other images from the seascape wide angle series, collated the shooting data and am going to put a post together as a summary.

Grahame

[Brownbear]

Hi Grahame,

Thank you. Nice to know.

I wonder if one can put those graduated filters on sideways? If not, well they should make them that way, too.

If you can remove boats from horizons I think you're very talented. I'm still working on blurred leaves. I removed a few specks of dirt/leaves from the water in these images but didn't have the patience to remove them all as seen at 100%. I very much appreciate the grid trip and I will try it the next time around. Truly appreciated.

My learning project for the entire year will be improving my landscapes. I have many places I intend to revisit and try again. Including this one, especially in the fall and winter when sunrise/sunset coincide with public transportation operating.

I will try seascapes one day so I'm very much looking forward to that.

[FrankMi]

Hi Frank,

Thank you for advising. When viewing the images with the pier included I could see that something seemed odd.

Great idea! I don't fish but this lake is frequented by fishermen so perhaps one of them will lend me their fishing pole. I wonder how you knew that people fished here.

Hi Christina,

I was just looking for a way to tell a story and the fishing pole is a natural for this scene that many folks could relate to. You wouldn't actually need the fisherman per se, just the pole, line, and bobber should communicate the story clearly enough.

[Brownbear]

Hi Frank,

Thank you for sharing. Yes, indeed that would be a wonderful way to create a story!

[JBW]

Hi Christina, all are improved IMHO.

The difference in the lighting of the sky at certain times of day between left and right is something that I only really noticed when I started doing the pre sunrises seriously a while ago and I find it can be quite a challenge.

I hate cloning but I found a fantastic aid yesterday that helped me remove boats easily from horizons, I used the grid carefully placing the cursor on the line to keep things level. No doubt I'm the only one in the world that did not know this trick

So, what's the next project? I have finished the other images from the seascape wide angle series, collated the shooting data and am going to put a post together as a summary.

Grahame

no you're not so how abut a slightly more in depth explanation?

[TonyW]

I'm late to this discussion but I must say that I like #1 especially a lot. The nice clean calm waterway going off to a point is fantastic. I bet I would find it cold though being used to near tropical waters.

The straightened version still does not look quite straight to me. Unless you meant to leave in some perspective, the reflections of the trees, notably the taller ones, should be directly under the actual trees. The one on the left isn't. If you did mean to leave some perspective the ones on the right should lean out by the same amount. This is nit-picking though.

[Nicks Pics]

I see you have already gotten some good feedback, but I wanted to mention that I thought your latter version of #1 was better. I like the added saturation in color. I notice the V in the center of the composition is a little off-centered, but with the mountain peek to the left of it, maybe it is balanced with two center subjects?

This scene is of Rice Lake on the North Shore of Vancouver, Lynn Canyon park. It's a beautiful area with miles of hiking trails and back country, frequented by at least one eagle and black bears. (I have yet to see a bear)

Speaking of photographing bears, we got to see a black bear while picking blueberries today Though there were too many trees and sticks to get very good photos. The blueberries were probably attracting it. There are probably more bears in Canada, at least in some places, so I would imagine you could find one at some point.

[ShaneS]

Christina;

The colors in your revised version of #1 are very nice and it is the best of the group IMHO. It is a beautiful scene that you have very nicely seen, captured and processed.

[Mike Buckley]

I didn't take the time to read any of the posts, but I like the revised version of #1 the best. It has the best combination of having plenty of punch while not losing its natural appearance.

The reason the hand rails don't work for me is that they act like leading lines that lead to the wrong part of the image; they would probably be fine if they led to the same part of the image that the shoreline draws the viewer's eye toward.

[Brownbear]

Thank you to everyone for your comments and feedback on the almost final revision of #1

Tony

I very much appreciate your pointing out the crookedness. Honestly it is a little bit of a challenge decide what is straight so I will try rotating the image a wee bit more. I forgot to address Grahame's suggestion of toning down the bright sky, and since I took 2 exposures I will try and merge them... ie; more work needed anyway.

Nick

Thank you for your feedback. In version #1 I processed the image more and cropped, so in my revised image I just left it basically as is (almost) because I'm still learning to develop an image. My colour preference typically seems to be somewhat muted but oftentimes I'm told my colours need more punch, so it is something for me to learn.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on balance. I photographed the scene with the point on the far right on purpose. It's also unbalanced because of the light which I'm not sure if I should play up more. Balance is something that I'm still learning, so I need to give this more thought. I'm not at the point where I can just see these things.

Yes, black bears are plentiful where I am as I live very close to the national parks, mountains and trails. I have had two very close encounters with a black bear but not since I took up photography. I missed two bears just last week, one by just a couple of minutes while I was hiking, and one that was strolling around my neighbourhood - just a block from where I live - while I was up on the mountain photographing the bears at the refuge. (: All that said it is truly special to see bears in their natural habitat even if we don't always manage a photo.

Shane

Thank you for letting me know your preference and which colours you prefer. Appreciated!

Mike

Nice to have you back! You may wish to read my reply to Binnur (top of this page) when she asked where you were. All in good fun.

Thank you for letting me know your preference, and for advising about the rails. I couldn't find a position in which the rails would point directly at the same point without losing bits of reflection. At the time I likely thought that it would lead to the point, because the tree lines continue the line... However, on seeing the images with the rails I can see that it doesn't work.

Thank you to everyone. I will give image #1 one more try and post later today. (Straightening and combining the exposures)

[Mike Buckley]

OFF TOPIC

I don't know where Mike is, but to the best of my recollection...

I was in the mountain islands of Lofoten, Norway. Absolutely incredible scenery. I'll gradually be posting photos.

[Brownbear]

And I'm very much looking forward to seeing these. No doubt your images will be as incredible as the scenery.

OFF TOPIC



I was in the mountain islands of Lofoten, Norway. Absolutely incredible scenery. I'll gradually be posting photos.

[Brownbear]

To finish off this thread here is my last try edit of image #1. Unfortunately I couldn't manage to incorporate the suggestions with any finesse.

Straightening the image = cropping the image. I tried expanding the canvas and cloning in more sky using a brush of varying opacities but even though cloning in a wee bit of extra sky sounds simple, it's not the case for me. (brush marks and varying shades of blue that look like a child took a crayon to the sky) Instead I cloned out the very tip of the tall tree on the right to provide it with more room.

I tried combining the image with a darker exposure but even though I used a tripod the branches on the trees were misaligned. So I added a decrease highlights layer but found I could only decrease the highlights by 5 before banding appeared in the sky. I also see some halos around the trees by the sky.



I will just keep first and foremost in my mind that eventually "practice makes perfect"... And to ensure my tripod is straight. I still like the image

Thank you to all!

[Nicks Pics]

Looks pretty well to me now.

[Brownbear]

Thank you Nick. It's a keeper but I'll likely revisit it another day at my leisure and give it one more try. This lake is not far from where I live so I will also visit to photograph the scene with more sky.

PS Tony... yes, the water is indeed cold, but not as cold as the waters in the river in the canyon where one turns blue in about 3 minutes.

Looks pretty well to me now.