Laurel Creek

[Sam W]

The rain ended so I took a short excursion to a quite place I like. There is a lot of canopy there and shooting conditions are dark this time of year as the slopes of the adjacent land is nearly the same as the noon-day sun angle. C&C welcome.

F10, ISO-100, 1/8s, 24mm

[Wavelength]

Beautiful...the mist-like vignette gives the image a feeling of "memory"

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[Dave Humphries]

While I can appreciate what Nandakumar means about the vignette, I found it a distraction when viewing and wondered, noticing only the top two corners at first, whether it was flare.

I'm not sure it needs a vignette at all when shown as a standalone image.

Nice place though, Dave

[Rebel]

Nice shot, but I agree with Dave.. get rid of the vignette

[NorthernFocus]

Looks like a lovely little spot. I can see the attraction. Interesting with all of the red leaves on the ground.

By way of C/C, I agree with others that the vignette is distracting. Perhaps a softer transition would help make it look a bit more like mist and less like lens flare. But I'm not a big fan of vignette in the base case so take my comment for what it's worth. The shutter speed that was used resulted in water with an appearance that is neither frozen motion nor smoothly blurred. IMO it's better to pick one or the other. Otherwise it simply looks unintentional.

[Sam W]

Nice shot, but I agree with Dave.. get rid of the vignette

By popular demand vignette has been deleted and unplugged from my computer.

[Sam W]

While I can appreciate what Nandakumar means about the vignette, I found it a distraction when viewing and wondered, noticing only the top two corners at first, whether it was flare.

I'm not sure it needs a vignette at all when shown as a standalone image.

Nice place though, Dave

Thanks Dave - I will post another version. Additional comments are appreciated. - Best regards, Sam

[flashback]

I love the shot, better still without the vignette. Overall the image looks a bit over saturated? Just seems to red to me but perhaps it's my screen.

[Sam W]

Looks like a lovely little spot. I can see the attraction. Interesting with all of the red leaves on the ground.

By way of C/C, I agree with others that the vignette is distracting. Perhaps a softer transition would help make it look a bit more like mist and less like lens flare. But I'm not a big fan of vignette in the base case so take my comment for what it's worth. The shutter speed that was used resulted in water with an appearance that is neither frozen motion nor smoothly blurred. IMO it's better to pick one or the other. Otherwise it simply looks unintentional.

Thanks Dan. It is very relaxing there. I could almost take a nap there the last time but I'd wet ground would have make it a little hard on the jeans and messy for the car ride back.

On the shutter speed I took several shots at different speeds. I did not want the water to silky or too frozen. It is something that I am trying to perfect and may be so day will nail it by means other than luck.

The version below is with a shutter speed that was 10x the original.

I got the message on the vignette. Thanks, stay warm up there - Sam

[Sam W]

I love the shot, better still without the vignette. Overall the image looks a bit over saturated? Just seems to red to me but perhaps it's my screen.

Hi Jack, Its not your screen. I choose try a hue shift from orange to red and add a good bit of saturation for effect. Thanks for your comments.

[Rebel]

Hi Jack, It not your screen. I choose try a hue shift from orange to red and add a good bit of saturation for effect. Thanks for your comments.

I've been experimenting with this lately, great for autumn shots... I like it

[Dave Humphries]

Hi again Sam,

Of the three version, I prefer 2a

In other words, in most respects; version 2, but with a little taken off the lower edge, just enough to crop out the bright leaf in lower right corner, but not as much as version 3 has lost down there.
(and otherwise leaving the framing as 1 and 2)


Of the different shutter speeds in 2 (1/8s) and 3 (1/80s), I prefer the slower, although I'm not normally a milky water person.
I am left wondering how 1/20s might have looked

Cheers, Dave

[Sam W]

Hi again Sam,

Of the three version, I prefer 2a

In other words, in most respects; version 2, but with a little taken off the lower edge, just enough to crop out the bright leaf in lower right corner, but not as much as version 3 has lost down there.
(and otherwise leaving the framing as 1 and 2)


Of the different shutter speeds in 2 (1/8s) and 3 (1/80s), I prefer the slower, although I'm not normally a milky water person.
I am left wondering how 1/20s might have looked

Cheers, Dave

I'll try 1/20 if I can get out later this week. Updated crop below. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Wavelength]

Getting out of my dream and sleep, i also like it as original

[IzzieK]

Sam...maybe with 1/20 you might achieve a better output...I am not really a fan of silky water either, but with the right speed you just might get the median to get a better shot (to my eyes that is...and others that shares the same thoughts as I do). You see from where I look here, in #1 and #2, I like the speed of the water there at the top. The bottoms indicates speed and I can almost feel the strength of falling water. The third version completely lost that feeling. Maybe when you go back, try different shutter speed...is this handheld? Just curious...

[Sam W]

Sam...maybe with 1/20 you might achieve a better output...I am not really a fan of silky water either, but with the right speed you just might get the median to get a better shot (to my eyes that is...and others that shares the same thoughts as I do). You see from where I look here, in #1 and #2, I like the speed of the water there at the top. The bottoms indicates speed and I can almost feel the strength of falling water. The third version completely lost that feeling. Maybe when you go back, try different shutter speed...is this handheld? Just curious...

Hi Izzie - I hope to return to try a slower speed. However, the volume of water will be not be same until we get more rain. I posted the third version just for information. I also, do not particularly like the water using that speed.

I did take a lot of pictures hand held that day; however, I believe I used my travel-pod on this shot which was my first excursion with it. I really like it and plan to use it more...so now I have one less excuse. Thanks for your comments. Best reagards, Sam

[bnnrcn]

Hi Sam.I like it without the vignette and I prefer your original shutter speed. Colors work for me as I like strong colors.IMO cropping from the bottom improved the image

[Mike Buckley]

Just make the image the way you like it, Sam, unless you are trying to sell your images and, thus, are trying to determine what appeals to the widest possible audience. The important issue for me is not that I like one image more than the others or that I really like one of them. Instead, it's that all the images indicate that you're accomplishing what you're hoping to accomplish...until someone understandably convinces you to change your mind about that.

Considering that you're still trying to settle on your personal preferences regarding the look of flowing water, be aware that some people combine two photos captured using different shutter speeds, tweaking the opacity of one of them until the desired look is achieved. You might (or might not) find the results produced by that method appealing.

[rawill]

I did not want the water to silky or too frozen. It is something that I am trying to perfect and may be so day will nail it by means other than luck.

Keep at it, like you and some others, I find silky water not to my liking.
Doesn't seem right to me.

Mike had an interesting comment on trying to get the water how you want it.

Although I would not have initially said so, I do like the image without the vignettes.