1 Like
Josh, I’m enjoying how stretched the trunk reflections feel. I think the darkness is fine here as it accentuates the “moodiness” that part of what I enjoy about swamps. One thing that I believe about abstracts is that in many instances you want relatively even brightness and especially contrast throughout the frame. In this case, I would try dodging the left 1/4, to lighten slightly the two main trunks, but also to lighten the darker bits, since that part of the frame seem a bit dark. If you use luminosity masks, that dodging can be done separately throught a brights mask and a middle darks mask. The luminosity mask approach lets you change local brightness and darkness without changing everything.
1 Like
Josh I really like the dark mood of this. Calls to mind a procession of hooded monks or other dark figures. Something hiding in there, watching. With more pop you would lose the mood, in my view. I do have a thought which is that your Sony probably has super ISO power, so I’m thinking you could go auto ISO, F8 and shoot this at a higher shutter to get sharper lines on the reflections. The slow shutter makes it look more like a painting, which I like, but with sharper lines you’d get the painting effect at a distance plus the magic of stop action on the water when the image is viewed closer. I do envy you the access to these trees and swamps, which we don’t have in California!
1 Like
Thank you, I’ll try that. It seems like it might be better balanced that way.
Thanks for that. I was on a tripod and was stuck in my head at the time about trying to get long exposures. In the moment it’s sometimes hard to step back and see things in a different way. I’m also coming from Buffalo so these types of trees and swamps all seem so exotic to me. For the people who live around it all the time I’m guessing not so much. But that’s what makes nature exploring fun!