Along the towpath

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
1

0P6A4429
0P6A44291966×1311 1.17 MB

Description:

The C&O Canal Towpath is one of my favorite spots near DC. Beautiful in fall it is interesting any time of year. This photo in mid-summer.

Taken with a 100mm ‘macro’ lens. I think I quite like the focal length for landscapes as well

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Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
No

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2

Hi Eddie, I’m surprised no one has commented on this. I really like the scene and the soft light. Yes, 100mm is great for landscapes in my view. I like how the overhanging trees are mirrored in the water.

I do wish for a bit more of the path on the left to lead me into the scene. I like how it curves around to follow the water. I also think the out of focus grasses in the lower left are a bit distracting, but don’t know how you’d adjust that.

Will look forward to seeing this in the fall too.

3

Telephoto focal lengths can create interesting perspectives for landscape images. And macro lenses are inherently very sharp too. A 70-200mm lens is one of my go-to lenses for landscape photography.

I really like your composition here, it is very dynamic looking. The sweeping curve of the path pulls me into that beautiful mirror reflection. I just love the bent over tree.The processing looks good as well.

I like everything about this except for the bottom two corners. Both corners have out of focus elements that I think are minor distractions, grass on the left, a log on the right. That is one the drawbacks of telephoto focal lengths, the depth of field is much shallower than it is if a wide-angle lens had been used on this. Thus its hard to get front to back sharpness. I think you might want to consider a crop from the bottom, to eliminate the log, and to minimize the amount of OOF grass.

4

Eddie, this shot nicely captures the summer greens of the towpath. I could see cropping out that oof log in the lower right corner. Everything else does a good job of putting me right there, enjoying the walk. Nice that you managed to avoid any people, since it’s such a busy place.

5

Yes trying to get a photo there without people in it can be a challenge