Mountain Stream

[Cold]

I took this shot last fall with my compact camera, just before I got my SLR. I'd spent the day fishing and it was near dusk when I took this shot, which is why it's so grainy. The autofocus didn't do me any favors either, but that's not why i'm posting it.

Recently, I've started to shift the focus of my learning away from the technical aspects of photography, with a basic, working knowledge of things like aperture, shutter, ISO, metering, focal length, etc. and concentrate on the more artistic aspects such as composition, framing, etc. While looking back through my shots, I found this one and felt that the composition is pretty strong, and i'd like to get input from the community here as to what you all think of it, as well as things I might have done differently (other than: use a tripod, get there before it gets dark, and turn down the ISO )



Model: PENTAX Optio WS80
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/4 sec
Aperture: 3.8
Focal Length: 6.2mm
Flash Used: No

[milosh]

I think your composition here is very good. For me, the foreground rocks (right side) in combination with those behind them which appear smaller, serve to lead my eye towards the top of the stream. That, together with the stream direction, enhances the effect even more. I think it's really good. Sorry, I can't suggest anything better regarding composition, only technical stuff. You could sharpen it a bit, add some contrast to the rocks and increase the saturation a bit (those are the things I would try).

[SwissJon]

Ok, I'll oncentrate on composition here..

I think this may have been a little stronger if you could have got closer to the water. It would have been good to get the feeling of looking UP when looking up stream if that was possible.

I'd like to have seen the stream arrive at the bottom centre frame, flowing toward me, as I find my eye drawn out of the frame by following the streams direction.. If the stream leads to the onlooker, then the natural direction of the eye would be to follow it up into the frame rather than out.

I'm also not particularly keen on the huge lump of rock.. It's fighting for my attention since it's much larger than the stream, so my eye isn't really sure where the subject is.

It's a nice picture.. With a few tweaks it could be even nicer.

[Preeb]

Something else that might work is cropping to a vertical composition, putting the stream in a more dominant position as the central subject.

[Physibeth]

I'm not trained in any formal way just commenting on what I see. Tagging on both Jon and Milosh I think the successfulness of you composition depends on what you wanted the viewer to focus on. If you wanted the focal point of the composition to be the stream then I agree with Jon. However, if the focal point is supposed to be the beautiful red leaves covering the rocks then I think you achieved that well. The emphasizing points of the rocks seem (to my eye) to be following the rule of thirds very nicely. Overall I like this photo a lot if I let it draw my eye that way. When I tried to focus on the stream as the main focus I had some trouble.

[Krusty79]

I do like this shot, but I agree that I'd like to see the shot taken from a little more to the left so I have more of the feeling that the water is running beneath or towards me. The rocks and vegetation look a little underexposed to me. Navcom has got me into the habit of manually focusing now since you can't trust the autofocus, which you have discovered.

[StarShark]

I happen to really like it. It has a really good DOF in which the stream looks deeper that it may really be. The stream not being centered is great IMO. Its more interesting than your ho hum centered stream. Those shots have already been done. Overall its a fantastic shot

[EOBeav]

+1 regarding getting a lower POV.

Also, shots like this benefit from a circular polarizer. It will reduce the glare on the wet rocks and remove the sheen off of the top of the water, so you get a better emphasis on the silky, running part.