Island in the Reservoir

[marlunn]

Went for a day out today as the weather was promising, this is an island in the Cantref reservior on the A470 on the way to Brecon in Wales. I liked the way the light fell on the ground behind and on the trees, the snow was challanging with the sky but not too bad I think, I have muted the colours to print it on a Platinum Etching paper and make it a 'watercolour' print. One to revisit later I think

Nkon d7100, Sigma 17-50 f2.8 at 44mm, 1/80th, F11 at iso 100



C & C welcome

[Mike Buckley]

If you can retain the soft colors and relatively low contrast in the print, I'm sure it will be very enjoyable to view.

[Shadowman]

Nice, it like spring approaching the viewer.

[marlunn]

Mike, cheers, it has - the paper is really nice and despite being in effect matt - its textured and so gives a depth to the image.

Thanks John, appreciated. I think thats where we are now - spring but it has a nasty habit of snowing in April just when everthing is in bloom and growing !

[bnnrcn]

I like the image and I can imagine how the printed one looks

[marlunn]

Thank you Binnur it is framed on my viewing wall at the moment - I put some up there to look at over a week or so and see if there is anything about it that nags me - if so i then change it and may or may not reprint it - if not great, i got it right, so far so good

[Wavelength]

maximum output from a palette of minimum colors; awesome

[Sergio M.]

I like it, Mark. The muted colors and aspect ratio work very well in creating a relaxed and peaceful scene.

Sergio

[marlunn]

Nandakumar, my thanks

Sergio, thank you, much apprecaiated.

[flashback]

Since you've muted the colors that explains the somewhat washed out conifers; for me I think I'd want a bit more pop to the trees but this is just a personal choice. My one other comment on the image is that it looks like it could use a degree or two CCW tweak to level out the shoreline. Other than that I think it's a great image and is certainly something I'd print and hang.

[marlunn]

Cheers Jack, appreciated. The conifers were very dark and for the print i wanted muted colours with the details, I tried it with more 'colour' / contrast on them and they dominated the image too much for me. The shoreline is something of an otical thing I think if I move the base crop line in PS up to it then its about .1 out ish - being lazy I will put that down to the reed bed not growing straight

[vaez]

Dear friend, a good photo
It looks like the place is very enjoyable
But pale colors and contours More is better

[marlunn]

Thank you Vaez, appreciated.

[IzzieK]

I lost my message again...I must be tired yesterday and instead of pressing Go Advanced, I pressed the Cancel button. I like this image Mark, but in my opinion, if no one had said it yet, I would like to see a more brighter light behind those trees to create more attention.

P.S. I tend to make my shots into a wallpaper on my screen first so I do not waste ink printing it. Since I have two monitors, I can look at either one of them while doing my work on the other.

[marlunn]

Izzie, thanks, looking at the image the sun is over my left shoulder - thats a bright as it got, I have quite a few where its a lot darker! The trees on the island threw shadows behind them onto ther tre line behind them and I dont want to blow it out any more. I look at the image a lot on monitor before finally printing it but until its printed I cant really 'see' it as a finished product. The paper I used is textured so has a 'feel' to it that adds to the end image that I cant simulate on the screen

[IzzieK]

Just a question or two -- in your dark images, in ACR you hold down the Shift button while pressing down the Exposure and start from the brightness there, I prefer 0.00. Then work your way on contrast (-3), shadow and adjust the button on exposure again (+0.25) depending on your taste, adjust shadows (+44), pull the highlights all the way down to the corner to -100, whites (0) and black (-43), the vibrance at +41. See how you go, I am working on your jpg and not on your raw file so the file is a little bit too limiting for me. But you will see what I mean...

Another technique is to use the quick selection tool and work on the highlight of the sun landing behind those trees.

If you have done all these that I did on your image, ignore me. If not, give it a try.

[marlunn]

Thanks Izzie, I will have a look, I use Lightoom so assume it is pretty much the same there. one for