Small Stream

[kawazu]

Hey everyone... This is one of my favorites and I'm just looking for some constructive critique on this landscape/stream picture for any way it could be improved. Any and all comments are appreciated.



Shot on tripod at
Aperture: F16
Exposure: 1/20 (.05 sec)
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55mm
White Balance: Manual
Flash: Off

Attached as well since I don't have a flickr pro account. Larger version attached and also available at following link: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/...a843ccec_o.jpg

[fletch]

All of the picture is in shadow making it look very flat and uninteresting. Could you take it earler/later in the day to avoid that problem?

[Greggibson]

taking from what the gentlemen said u could also try photoshop to add some contrast to make the water "pop". just an opinion. i can see why u love this shot nice work

[LenDog]

[QUOTE=kawazu;654552]Hey everyone... This is one of my favorites and I'm just looking for some constructive critique on this landscape/stream picture for any way it could be improved. Any and all comments are appreciated.


I think shadow looks good on creeks, there's a creek close to where I live and I have a lot of photos of it also. I'd do the opposite, darken the highlights one or two clicks to take the touch of glare off of the background. Great picture.

[kawazu]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

@fletch: This particular shot is almost always in shade due to a very large tree overhead and shrubs on the sunset side. I could have tried taking it at dawn to get the sun from the other direction, but this wasn't a pre-scouted shoot and I had to work with the lighting that was available at the time I was there. Even then, without possibly some reflectors or additional fill lighting I'm not sure the terrain could get more than 1 or 2 stops brighter. I did have a polarizing filter on to prevent harsh reflections off of the water, and perhaps next time I will take that off and/or try letting more reflections in to add some more character to the stream.

I ended up taking the picture and tried both making the water pop, and bringing some of the color back into scene to give contrast against the shaded areas. I also increased some contrasting within the water itself which helped add more movement back in that might have been lost due to the lighting constraints.

Attached is the before and after... (DPS resizes, so the result is not as clear as in actuality, but I think you can see the "pop" effect)

[Orinoco]

I'd like to see it with the right hand side of the creek cropped out and make that rock with the light on it the focal point - love the light catching the grasses. The bottom left quarter is my favourite part. I find my eyes being drawn away by the blue flowers - that might be just me though as I really like blue flowers

[rosburg]

The after picture pops now. I like it.

[kawazu]

Thanks Orinoco and Rosberg! I tried cropping the image, but for some reason it just didn't look right to me... The flowers can be a bit distracting though, so maybe next time I'll try to take in more grass, less blue! I think the new edit with the "pop" is better as well, so I might apply more of that treatment to other pictures from that day to help cancel out the harsh effect of the sun on murky water!