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I like it for the most part. You obviously put a lot of care in your composition. The horizon line is very well located. I would be tempted to see this scene with a slightly more aggresive post-processing. Perhaps a little more dodging and burning to accentuate the lighting and a little more saturation in the foreground.
I think that your recent approach with low saturation colors works well in several cases but I'd rather have a little more colors in an "empty" (so to speak) scene like this.
Seb
edit: looking back at the picture. I am not sure that I stand by my original comment. The rendition actually is excellent. I'd slighly boost color saturation if anything....
I really admire that you have stopped to photograph something that many eyes would ignore due to it's unattractiveness and lack of interest.. This is a great example of what I'm trying to say.
Things can change when viewed through a viewfinder; we can see a frame and an end product. So here the end product is an attractive presentation of a little slice of "everyday"nature.
I would have prefferred if the foreground bush was a little less high and maybe not so dominant because it blocks our view of the bank beyond (all of which I would like to see).
In the background there seems to be a gasometer/large fence or something visible but it does not mess anything up.
The bushes may seem unattractive but in their surroundings they sure provide an impact that becomes more apparant when I roll back from the screen and view from a distance.
I would not alter colouring or anything at all; it looks as I would imagine this environment should look in gloomy weather..
Tom
I have a total lack of respect for anything connected with society, except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper, and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer. Brendan Behan
I hope you were on firmer ground than the foreground. :
When I first looked I thought clone out the fence, but not sure anymore.
Before you print this there seems to be a straight patch of faint grey/purple about 1/4" above the horizon and parallel on the left side in the clouds reaching into the weeds.
Other than that I really like this.
Roger
"I hope we will never see the day when photo shops sell little schema grills to clamp onto our viewfinders; and the Golden Rule will never be found etched on our ground glass."from The mind's eye by Henri Cartier-Bresson
My Web Site: www.readingr.com DSLR
Canon 5D; EF100-400 F4.5-5.6L IS USM; EF24-70 F2.8L USM 50mm F1.8 II; EF 100 F2.8 Macro Digital
Canon Powershot Pro 1; Canon Ixus 100
Gary, This has you written all over it. Wonderfully done again, I also like the fence in the background as well. Your post processing, top notch again. I like the way the curvature of the trees in the background matches the cuvrature of the foreground, if that makes since. Nice angle to the bushes, They almost seem to be crawling out of the water...
Greg
I am like Barney Fife, I have a gun but Andy makes me keep the bullet in my pocket..
Seb. . .As always I like to know what your thoughts are on any photo I post, and also on others as well. I did not do my usual desaturating/selective coloring process on this one as the colors were already somewhat bland and I felt it captured the exact mood of the afternoon that attracted me to it in the first place. I did try to saturate some of the colors in the bush and foreground but did not like where that was "leading" the picture.This has already had some fairly agressive dodging and some burning, exposure and gamma adjustments. I think I need to get out of Brooklyn for a while so I can get to some more interesting landscapes! Thanks Seb.
Tom. . . "Things can change when viewed through a viewfinder; we can see a frame and an end product". My sentiments exactly. As someone who does not get to travel much, I have tried my best over the years to make landscapes out of my ordinary surroundings. . .by taking a "slice" of the unusual and at best average scenery. Your critiques are wll noted. The Bush is high in the frame, no doubt. I thought it would help give more impact to these somewhat unattractive subjects. I'm glad to know you feel the fence can stay , as i was tinkering with the idea of simply removing them.Thanks for your time, Tom.
Roger. . .I was standing right there in the murky mud lol. My tripods feet were in dire need of a good cleaning afterwards. . .as were mine. thanks for pointing out the color line. Although for me it is hard to see on my screen in this image, I will look at the file closely before printing to make sure it does not look wrong. No editing was done that would cause a color line there, but I will see if it may be an odd formation of cloud that may benefit from a little smoothing and blending. Thanks Roger.
Greg. . .the fence was a consideration, and since your the third to mention it is ok, I will likely leave it well alone. Thanks for the good words, glad to know it's working for you. I appreciate your time to comment
veggie. . .thanks for your thoughts. Very Zen is very nice to hear. . ..
Hobo. . .As with alot of my pictures, i usually try a b&w conversion just to see what it looks like. Although this did look interesting in the conversion, I felt the muted colors offered a better feel and captured the mood of the afternoon here best. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me on this. Much appreciated.
Roger. . .I was standing right there in the murky mud lol. My tripods feet were in dire need of a good cleaning afterwards. . .as were mine. thanks for pointing out the color line. Although for me it is hard to see on my screen in this image, I will look at the file closely before printing to make sure it does not look wrong. No editing was done that would cause a color line there, but I will see if it may be an odd formation of cloud that may benefit from a little smoothing and blending. Thanks Roger.
Gary,
I cleaned my monitor just to check it wasn't a mark on the screen and moved it around, but it is still clear as a bell on my monitor; so it could be an artifact from compression, or in those conditions it could be a vapour trail.
Still an excellent picture.
Roger
"I hope we will never see the day when photo shops sell little schema grills to clamp onto our viewfinders; and the Golden Rule will never be found etched on our ground glass."from The mind's eye by Henri Cartier-Bresson
My Web Site: www.readingr.com DSLR
Canon 5D; EF100-400 F4.5-5.6L IS USM; EF24-70 F2.8L USM 50mm F1.8 II; EF 100 F2.8 Macro Digital
Canon Powershot Pro 1; Canon Ixus 100
I cleaned my monitor just to check it wasn't a mark on the screen and moved it around, but it is still clear as a bell on my monitor; so it could be an artifact from compression, or in those conditions it could be a vapour trail.
Still an excellent picture.
Roger
Must say that I have looked for this mark, with my glasses and without, with wine and without and I just cannot see it.
But I know you have the eye of a hawk.
Tom
I have a total lack of respect for anything connected with society, except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper, and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer. Brendan Behan
Must say that I have looked for this mark, with my glasses and without, with wine and without and I just cannot see it.
But I know you have the eye of a hawk.
Tom
LOL. . One thing they fail to mention when it comes to monitor calibration is go easy on the wine. In my case, easy on the Scotch helps. I see the horizontal line above the horizon at the left of the screen, but it seems to look like a wisp of cloud forming the darker horizontal line. Roger does have a sharp eye, as I still have to look hard to see it.
I tmay be more evident in a larger print, so I will certainly go over it closely, Scotch free.
Must say that I have looked for this mark, with my glasses and without, with wine and without and I just cannot see it.
But I know you have the eye of a hawk.
Tom
Ahh! its only on other people's pictures.:thumbsup: Can't see any defects on my own Check CL's comments on my latest submission.
Roger
"I hope we will never see the day when photo shops sell little schema grills to clamp onto our viewfinders; and the Golden Rule will never be found etched on our ground glass."from The mind's eye by Henri Cartier-Bresson
My Web Site: www.readingr.com DSLR
Canon 5D; EF100-400 F4.5-5.6L IS USM; EF24-70 F2.8L USM 50mm F1.8 II; EF 100 F2.8 Macro Digital
Canon Powershot Pro 1; Canon Ixus 100