Sticky Snow 3-25-07

[w7xman]

I've been waiting ALL winter for a snowfall like yesterday morning! Unfortunately I had too many places planned to go, and I felt kinda rushed as I struggled for composition.

This was one of my shots along the wildcat brook above Jackson yesterday, just as the sun popped through. Would love to hear thoughts on this. Most specifically, I'm not sure about the water in the lower part of the frame and its weight in the photo.

Thanks in advance:

Canon 20D with Sigma 18-200 ZOOM at 50mm
1/15 @ F16
ISO 100
Av Mode @ +0.7 Compensation
Polarizer
1 stop GND over the very top

 

[Brambor]

I love the early sunlight breaking in. Cool shot.

 

[Grumpy]

Nifty photo. Have you experimented with some different cropping to explore your feelings about the water in the foreground?

(I share your reservations, by the way. The color and textured detail of the closest water rather overwhelms the general impression of softness provided by the rest of the scene. It sort of blurts out and raises the question, "what's the subject here?")

G.

 

[DougPaul]

Nice.

FWIW, I like the natural water--the long exposure blurred effect doesn't usually appeal to my eye.

Doug

 

[kmorgan]

Nice shot, especially for playing around with. I adjusted the levels to get more contrast and depth,



liked it, and then sharpened (lightness channel in lab mode) with USM. Here are the results.



Kevin

 

[w7xman]

Thanks, I think I'll play around and get a little more contrast out of it!

 

[Grumpy]

Be careful that you don't overdo the contrast and sharpening on this photo. Add enough to provide a nice impression of crispness, but still retain that glowing morning light softness that makes this an atractive scene. This is one that calls for subtlety more than boldness (brashness).

I still believe the photo would benefit from some cropping to reduce the dominance of the water in the forground. The real "picture" here is the morning light and new snow in the trees, isn't it?

G.

 

[Brambor]

a picture doesn't allways have to be sharp to deliver a message. I just took a delivery of a great photographic book from Josef Koudelka. Here is a picture from the book's cover:

 

[DougPaul]

Be careful that you don't overdo the contrast and sharpening on this photo. Add enough to provide a nice impression of crispness, but still retain that glowing morning light softness that makes this an atractive scene. This is one that calls for subtlety more than boldness (brashness).

I agree--the softness is part of the attraction of this image. It also represents the reality--too much sharpening makes it look artificial to me.

Doug

 

[w7xman]

Thanks all,

DougPaul, Grumpy, I took your advice cropped from the bottom, added some contrast, but kept the overall softness of the image from the fog...

Here's a 'final' edit:

THANKS ALL!!!!

 

[darren]

I'm a little late to this series, but I just wanted to say that this is my favorite of the three. I love the softness of the light and the feeling that it gives to the image. I too think that the softness conveys the mood of the shot and I do not think that it should be sharpened.

I agree with most of what was said in all three threads. The only thing that I can add is that I think maybe you were to trying to get too much in the photos by includng the sky in the other photos. Just because you can add everything doesn't mean that you should. The sky doesn't really add anything in the other two shots so I am with Grumpy - crop crop crop.

Great work as usual.

- darren