Trout Bum

[trout bum]

Cheers, all! My apologies as I submitted this photo in a previous thread but did so with four or five other shots.

I aim to enter this picture in a photo contest for Alaska magazine. Was hoping for some feedback in terms of what I could do in pp to improve the shot. The picture was taken just outside of Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula on an extremely cold day; we had no right being out there in such temps but this picture, I believe, made the trip worthwhile. Thanks!

[DrRoebuck]

This photo begs to be closer in to the fisherman. The landscape itself isn't impressive enough to support such a small subject. I would play around with cropping.

Here's one idea (note: I cropped to a DSLR standard 6x4 ratio):

[BlueRob]

I´m unsure if I would crop it. I think I like the original frame.

As for some PP work you might try to play with some color filters...they might give some color or twist to that nice fog. Also you could play with the shadows and contrast to "reveal" some of the darks details.

[Frog]

I find that the fisherman being farther into the photo gives a sense of wide open space which is what Alaskans like to feel so I would not crop it.
You could try lightening the shadows some but I don't think it is necessary.
Its a beautiful shot and if I were you, I'd just enter it as is.

Did you catch anything?

[trout bum]

Thank you gents for the input. I prefer it sans crop as it cuts out the sun rays which is one of my favorite aspects of the photo. Will play with the shadowing etc to see what I can't come up with. I'm still cutting teeth in CS4.

We did catch two small rainbows that day, Frog. Fish tend to become inactive at ten below.

[Frog]

And don't forget to put this in this month's photo project.

[Anbesol]

I also like the crop better, from top and bottom. This would give each aspect of the landscape equal attention, as is I think the image gives too much attention to the sky and to the rocks in the foreground. I also think landscapes look best in a wider aspect ratio. This of course all rather irrelevant if the contest has aspect ratio guidelines.

I cropped this arbitrary to 3.75:2, making it a slight panorama, very close to 2:1.

[armando_m]

I like the last crop best, and then the original

very nice how the fog is bright vs the dark silhouette of fisherman and boat

the shiny edge of the trees make almost look covered in ice

[Frog]

Only problem I have with Anbesol's crop is the loss of the top of the backlit tree.
I'd crop more foreground before losing that.

[SmartWombat]

I would only crop the tree top right, so that the focus in that corner was solely on the beautiful backlit tree in white.
Not too far down, leave in those dark branches arcing down as they bring the eye back into the picture where the straight trunk tries to carry it out of the frame.

They key element in the is the mist, I think.
So can you selectively enhance it, unsharp masking or something to bring out the detail in that white?
I want to see the subtle contrasts in there, and get a feel of the shape and movement in the clouds of mist rising off the water.

[Loupey]

Beautiful scene!

For me, there is too much featureless blue sky. I wish the camera was angled down slightly so that I could see more of the dark, backlit rocks at the bottom... leading up the fisherman.

Nicely, exposed.