Covered Bridge in fall

[Dylan8i]

McConnell's Mill state park. all feed back appreciated.

[hminx]

Is this a cropped shot or do you have one showing more of the bridge would love to see that.This shot seems a bit tight IMO

[Grandpaw]

This is a very picturesque setting but having the bridge leaving the frame in mid air lets me wanting to see more bridge. Maybe if you backed up a little and moved you point of view to the left to include the entire bridge, the picture would look complete without loosing that beautiful tree on the right side, Jeff

[jetrim]

I agree with the others on this, a wider shot would have been much stronger compositionally. Beautiful bridge though, reminds me of one at Ralph Stover Park in S.E. PA where I used to do a lot of cliff climbing.

[Anbesol]

It does seem a bit tight, it also seems a bit flat. I editted, white white point to 230, black point to 10, midpoint to 1.08, then saturation up 10.

[Dylan8i]

thanks for the responses guys. the color does look better in your edit anbesol, mine was sooc. yes i do have shots with the entire bridge in it ( i can post them if you want) but i was trying to see if this one worked. the reason its cut off where it is is because the mill building was directly on the edge of the frame(you can see alittle sneaking in to the lower left hand corner). i was trying to highlight the leaf color and this eliminated alot of the less colorful distractions around the bridge itself.

[EOSThree]

I was guessing there was an element that you were trying to keep out of the photo. This crop is frustrating I want to see more. I'm one to talk, though, I've never been able to capture covered bridges worth a cr@p.

[Dylan8i]

heres one of the full bridge just to make you all happy. its from the complete opposite side from the first one. the problem was trying to get colored leaves to complement the bridge itself, nature doesn't always make things easy. again sooc so some color tweaks would probably help to.






and another one i might like even more.

[caleb]

bring a chainsaw next time! the first photo accomplishes your goal a lot more than the second, but the second seems a lot more pleasing (better foreground and water) aside from the tree

[Greg McCary]

I think I like the second one the best. A little higher vantage point to include more water and help hide the mill. I do think it could be cloned though. I also the that Anbesols edit works well. The movement in the water on the last one is good.

[PrevailingConditions]

Dylan,

I like the last two you posted, but the glare somewhat distracts from them. These really need a polarizer to deepen the colors and cut the glare.

PC

[gahspidy]

Dylan, I agree with the rest about the original posted photo being too tight. It just does not work well on that subject. The last two are very good, and i especially like the second of those two. In the second, it is not so much about the bridge as it is the entire landscape, but the bridge is an added bonus in the end. The composition pulls us in and leads us to the treat at the end. I feel it is well worthy of being featured and tis the season. . .
Nicely done.

[Dylan8i]

Thanks Gahspidy. I knew the last 2 posted where better and i was happy with them ( yes the glare might have been reduced with a CP- although it was currently sprinkling so maybe not? the only one i had was to a 77mm one and i was already holding a split ND filter in front)
i posted the first one cause i wanted to know what others thought about it (and got a good response)... which i feel is what this forum is for, not showing off the best shots you take.

[GB1]

The first post doesn't quite do it for me, but I love the last posts, esp the rocks water and best of all the leaves. The bridge doesn't match up to the rest IMO.. guess you can't have everything

Are these HDRs? They seem a little soft in the leaves, as a multiple exposure may produce. But still quite nice. The wide angle makes the scene seem encompassing, works well with the soft lighting too. Nice catch.

[Dylan8i]

GB1 you mean these pics would be better w/o the bridge in them? or it just isn't as pretty as mother natures show (leaves etc)?


its not a HDR, its straight out of camera, im sure some tweaks to colors would absolutely help (i'll see if i can afford to buy elements soon- hopefully i can). the leaves may be soft due to f22, focus being pretty close to the bridge, or jsut the lens being cheap kit lens (18-135) thats been knocked around a GOOD bit, and thus may be alittl out of focus, plus it was sprinkling which might have messed with focus or reflection/refraction of light from the leaves.


unfortunantly the soft lighting also ment the sky was a competely drab whitish grey. and thsu presented another problem trying to capture the leaves w/o including the sky, thus resulting in the unsual angles in the photos.

[Photo-John]

I like the last two and the one that was chosen for the Featured Photo is my favorite. I do think it needs some better setup, though. The bridge is tilted and that bugs me. Maybe sometimes it wouldn't. But in this one it keeps catching my attention and not in a good way. More important is the color and exposure, though. I think it's a little dark and it's very blue. Those are both easy enough to fix. It also looks a little soft and muddy. That makes me think it wasn't resized very well. Presentation is important. If it's worth sharing, it's worth setting it up as best as you possibly can. If you want some help with resizing let me know. I'll be happy to share how I do it

[Dylan8i]

i just ordered (and downloading) the full version (as opposed to the trial version) of PS elements 8.0. so in the next few days (when i can find the time) i'll play around with it and post the edited version i can come up with, and then take tips of what i can do better.

also i'm pretty sure the bridge IS parallel to the top frame of the photo, its the elements in the photo that make it look tilted. ( i think the left side of the bridge is a little closer to camera than the right) but i'll try tilting it a bit in PS and see how it looks.


*edit* heres what i came up with, tweaked the levels adjusted the colors and contrast just a little, rotated 1.5 to the right (and then cropped the edges, sharpened, saved for web and made the long side 800, jpeg 60 quality.

[byjamesderuvoDHQ]

Works much better as a landscape if you're focusing on the covered bridge. If on the brook, I like the larger portait that has the entire bridge far in the BG. The close of shot first posted is just too dominating with the truncated picture of the bridge.

[Dylan8i]

Works much better as a landscape if you're focusing on the covered bridge. If on the brook, I like the larger portait that has the entire bridge far in the BG. The close of shot first posted is just too dominating with the truncated picture of the bridge.

what if im focusing on the fall leaves and the other elements (bridge/ strea) are in there for interest?

[gahspidy]

Looks much better, Dylan. Sharp and vibrant

[Greg McCary]

The fall leaves and moss on the rocks really make the shot. It creates a nice mood. I think you done very good with the last edit. You should try Lightroom. I think you can still get a trial version for free.

[DrRoebuck]

Wow. The final result is so much better than the original(s). Good work.

In general, I would stay away from shooting vertical landscapes, unless the point of interest is vertically oriented (like a tree or building). Otherwise, the vertical aspect ratio automatically makes the scene feel tight and unnatural.