I went for a hike with a friend on a foggy morning at Muir Woods a few weeks ago. Couldn’t resist the temptation to get down into the creek for a long exposure of the water. I didn’t bring my tripod so the camera was resting on a stone.
Specific Feedback Requested
I’m quite pleased with the overall composition and layers in this image, as I feel it has a nice mix of foreground/midground/background. However I feel that something about the tone/color is missing. Using a polarizer probably would have helped. I am sure there is a lot that can be improved so I’m totally open to any feedback, thank you!
I like the low perspective of this image, it makes the creek appear much more impressive, and it is a really unique point of view. So kudos on some very creative thinking. The arrangement of the rocks in the creek is well done, they help funnel the eye down the creek.
A polarizing filter would have been a huge help here. The glare on the rocks, log, and vegetation is not helping. I also think the near foreground is too bright, and holds the viewers eye in the foreground. A polarizer and exposure reduction would give the foreground less visual weight, and make it easier for the viewers eye to move down the creek. I also would have recommended doing a little “gardening” and removed the left and right (but not middle) branches protruding in from the bottom, to me they are distracting.
The low perspective is interesting and unique. To me the image feels too contrasty, with the darks lacking enough detail. Color is subjective but I think of redwood forests as being more bluish than yellow but that more personal. There are more suggestions but that’s it for now.
Thank you @Ed_McGuirk and @Igor_Doncov for your feedback! I took several of your suggestions and have the latest revision in the post. Looks like I need to get a polarizer for my wide-angle lens. If you have more feedback/suggestions I would love to hear it and learn
Some of those foreground colors are wonderful; I agree with @Ed_McGuirk that I would have “gently gardened” the scene.
I wouldn’t have thought of the polarizer suggestion; it’s a good one. Typically I avoid polarizers on my wide-angle because they darken the central sky and not the corners (the opposite of the vignette I typically prefer). Here, though, I think that would have really helped tame that bright central area.
