The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
While waiting for my eagle pair to show up, I had a wander on the edge of the lake with my new polarizing filter from the Freewell set I purchased recently. As the wind blew the water moved and the scrim of ice changed shape and sections collided. I really liked this bit of it with the reflection of an overhead branch to tie things together. The whole time I was slicing and exploring I had many of you guys in my head, especially Bonnie L. who has a gift for seeing what is underneath and finding intriguing compositions at her feet. This isn’t nearly on that level, but I had a great time until, in the blink of an eye, the ice melted and the show was over.
Specific Feedback
Yes, the blue is bright. I played with muting it and changing its hue, but I really like it for its flamboyant presence. I chose a square crop as well. Do these things suit? How do you feel about the white? It is overcast sky and obviously the blue is a break in that.
Technical Details
handheld w/polarizer
Lr for all processing including the square crop and some work in Transform to manage geometry. The usual s-curve and a lot of texture added. Linear grad to tone down the white in the URC. A little cloning for distraction removal. No HSL or Calibration sliders were hurt during this edit.
Hi Kris,
that is a really beautiful abstract image. I love the contrast between blue and white and the black branch connecting the two areas. Some of the ice shapes look like fallen leaves.
There is only one little detail in the LLC that distracts my eye slightly. Those red things underneath the ice. But that’s really nitpicking.
Yeah, I know exactly what you are describing here. I also had this experience last week when we hiked through a caldera on La Palma. I haven’t been here that long, but obviously, I’m already infected with the NPN virus too.
Isn’t that a great effect of this great community, that you get really deeply inspired by others? It’s almost as if you constantly have fellows sitting on your shoulder, giving you good tips on how to take pictures.
Glad I’m not the only one! Seriously, the influence of photographers better than me is one of the reasons I value the community here. It makes me think about my choices when I’m behind the camera.
The red thing under the ice is a pine needle or a bunch of them. I’d cloned some but decided to leave that one thinking it was obscured enough, but I was wrong! Will see if I can make anything work there.
Thanks @Gill_Vanderlip - it was a miracle I got anything with keeping one eye on the eagle nest. They returned while I wasn’t looking, of course, and by the time I got back here - no ice - melted. All part of the fun of being a nature photographer and it’s something I’ve been thinking about - fast photography. Everyone these days is crowing on about slow photography and that’s great, but when conditions are changing and things happen quickly, you need to be able to adapt and get the shot no matter how little time you have. It’s another skill to hone!
Hi Kris, good job spotting this scene! The square format suits the image well. The branch feels like it is submerged instead of being a reflection. Very cool. Another interesting illusion to me is seeing the brighter upper half and then the blue bottom half which creates this impression that I’m looking at the surface of the water and then underneath the water. Only minor nit is what Jens mentioned with the LLC. Nice image Kris!
Thanks @Alfredo_Mora & @Steve_Layman - thanks for chiming in on one of my rare abstracts - it took me a bit to realize that the branch wasn’t under the water, but over my head.
Hi Kris - just saw this. Glad I could be an inspiration.
I don’t think the blue is overdone or the brightness of the whites. This is really cool because the melting ice looks like leaves, so there is a cohesion between the ice and the branch reflection. I can see that this would be a fleeing phenomenon because you wouldn’t get any reflections unless the ice was actively melting.
This happens to me all the time. Usually when I see something that reminds me of someone’s work and I think “how do they see/do what they do?” I know there’s the philosophy of photo abstinence a la Cole Thompson, but I can’t get into that. There’s so much to learn from others.
I agree, @Bonnie_Lampley - there are just too many photographers out there with unique perspectives on the same subjects to not consider them. Exact copying or emulating isn’t something I’m likely to achieve even if I tried, so looking at others’ work doesn’t cloud my own take on nature photography. I guess if I was more susceptible to that kind of thing I’d need to go into photo abstinence.
The ice certainly was actively melting and it went pretty quick. I’m glad I took a break waiting for the eagles to return to the nest and had a look around the shoreline. I have another shot I’ll put up. Very different, but taken only a few feet to one side.
