Lake Perspective

[KRE728]

Hi,

I took this one over the weekend, was trying to keep some foreground in the picture but the lake bank was pretty muddy and a bit polluted so I tried to position myself near some grass and a row boat.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out, but think if I did some post processing I could make it stand out better. Any thoughts on how best to improve the picture?

Thanks!

Canon 60d
17mm; ISO 100
1/60 sec @ f/8

Flickr: KRE728's Photostream

[milosh]

Hello,

in order to improve it by post-processing, you could increase midtone contrast by applying a slight contrast curve. Also, because adding contrast will darken the tree line and the boat, you should selectively brighten those. Maybe a little saturation increase would be nice as well.

[Krusty79]

Since you don't really have a subject in the water, I find myself wanting to see the whole boat.

I also have the standard recommendation that you should reshoot this in the golden hours to get the softer light, more colorful sky and possibly better reflections.

[SwissJon]

I'm with Krusty regarding the row boat.. Maybe you could have got lower, or if it was on a rope you could have pushed it out, snapped it, then pulled it back.

I'd be very tempted in Lightroom to put a graduated filter on the sky and use it to increase the saturation and contrast and decrease the brightness.. That should bring out a bit more detail in the clouds and make the blue bluer. Be careful not to push it too far and make it look fake, but it's possible to get a good shot, even if you can't get to somewhere at the golden hours, you just need to make the most of what you do have.. The little fluffy clouds are nice, so worth working on.

[Michael_2010]

I think it is a nice shot. To me it looks like you were standing straight up with your camera at eye level, when you pressed the shutter. It might have been much more interesting if you had dropped down low and used the lines of the boat to carry the eyes out toward the reflections in the lake.

Frequently just changing the perspective from what most people normally see can make a huge difference with landscape shots.

[KRE728]

Thanks, appreciate all the feedback so far and will try the graduated filter approach to see how that changes things.

Regarding subject and reflection, I see what you're saying by not having a specific subject to focus on. I was trying to get the grass and boat to be a bit of foreground and capture the reflections mirroring off the clouds and trees (was a windy day so even the best shot only got about 1/2 the lake).

Generally speaking, what are the best ways to capture reflections off water or surfaces? Would you say sunrise/sunset because the light is softer, and does the angle you're shooting from have a significant impact?

Thanks again!

[Krusty79]

I like the golden hours for the softer light and reduced dynamic range. If your goal is to capture the reflections, you'll want to go at the time of day where there is little wind. Sunrise might be the best combination of all these factors. A polarizer can reduce glare off the water and is most effective at a 90 degree angle relative to the sun.

I don't think the angle is that important, but windy days are the worst.