Isthmus

[Chunk]

Downtown Madison is crammed together on an Isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. These were taken this morning from across Lake Monona.

[jar_e]

Great shutter speed setting first off, perfect line between contrast and lighting. I love the second one, with the tree branches and the white dome on the right.

Great shot!

Jared

[Hightree]

Wow, two wonderful pics from which I like the first one best because of the format and the serenity, balance and color. Great composition where the city line at the bottom part of the pic leaves enough room for the sky. The tree on the far left makes it perfect, in my eyes.

Well done,
Frank

[gahspidy]

Hey Chunk, while these are certainly nice images, I am not feelng right about these for different reasons. The first one, viewing the lake, Downtown Madison, and the sky. It seems to be very ultraviolet in color almost like a cast ( may be it was your intention) and because the sky and water are almost identical in color and illumination, it seems as if Madison could be floating in the sky.
The other image I like for the illumination of the dome and it's rays visible into the sky and the tree branches coming down int o the foreground. The only thing that does not feel right to me with it is the square crop, and although the rule of thirds and placement of the horizon etc. looks good, somehow the composition seems to be cut short. Not sure exactly why i feel this maybe i would like to see some more area to the other side of the dome as well. But no denying these are nice pictures.

[Chunk]

Jar_e and Hightree, Thanks for taking a look and giving the nice complements. I think your comments echoed what I was feeling when I took the shots (with out the cold hands part anyway )

Gary, Thanks as always for the time and thought you put into helping me - I value your critiques a lot.
Here's the reason I cropped that as tightly as I did. In the dark, I didn't realize how intrusive that branch on the right would seem. I guess the right thing to do would be to see if I can cleanly clone it out of there.
The second shot is another one that has some branches too close to the capitol. This is full frame and still includes the ice shanty on the lake which I had cloned out of my first shot. Does the open water in the foreground help in grounding the image?

While I like the deep blue color, I should confess that it is probably due to having a custom white balance still set from the last time I used the camera. I never seem to get the whole preflight checklist checked.

[readingr]

Chunk,

I do like the images even though I agree with Gary. I looked several times before feeling that I can comment.

The top of the initial set of photos would look better with a bit of shading added to the lake to make it darker than the sky. But saying that I like it as it is. I like that floating thing that Gary pointed out.

Bottom pic - Personally I see nothing wrong with this photo and I like it as is.

Now to the new photos#

Top - see the reason for the close crop and I know that my skills with PS would never be able to clone that twig out. But I do like the bright blue thing on the shore line.

Bottom - if only the shore line was in the top of the initial photo may have grounded the city.

I like the originals but the two new Only the top has any change fof recovery if your good at cloning.

Have fun

[gahspidy]

I like the uncropped shot you just posted of the Capital. It feels better with room on the other side, and while I can now see why you cropped , I think a little effort in cloning the branch out will pay off with a better image. As for the other, i like the color and contrast better, looks more natural or realistic but there are too much branches in this one.