Big Wood River, Idaho

[sunvalley23]

I have the ridiculously good fortune of living on the Big Wood River in Sun Valley, Idaho. This image was taken two days ago in the early evening.

My hesitancy with this shot is that while I enjoy the elements to it (the water, the island, the person, the snow-covered trees), keeping them all in the image makes it seem busy. Any cropping messes with the island too much and kills the lines (in my opinion). Any thoughts?

Comments and suggestions not in reference to the above question are always welcome, of course.



exif
f/4
1/80 shutter
ISO 800

post process
-added slight saturation into foreground rock
-auto curves
-slight contrast bump

[windrider86]

cropping it down so you lose the log to the one side of the island would keep the business to a smaller level.
Can you share with us your exif information?

[sunvalley23]

Doh! That's what you get for posting right before bed. Added EXIF info into original post.

[larryb52]

If i were to crop this I would try a horizonal crop that way you could keep the snow island and remove the flowing stream at the bottom which doesn't add a whole lot to this photo.

[sunvalley23]

Thank you for your thoughts Larry - I do think that the water adds a pleasing element to this shot - it would be a different feel to crop horizontal. But I'll try it!

[EOBeav]

The person in this shot seems out of place. That said, I do like the composition here.

[KansaiGreenie]

Hi sunvalley23,

This is a nice image. Idaho must be very cold! I'm going to agree with both you and Larry. I agree with you that "the water adds a pleasing element to this shot" but I also agree with Larry that maybe there is too much water in the foreground. If I hold my hand up to the screen blocking out some of the foreground, I like the image a lot better.

KG

[robert1083]

I really like this picture, and I think that the water plus snow plus person is a really neat combo. When I first saw the picture I thought it would be really cool as a black and white. I know it's somewhat obvious to make snow pictures b/w, but I think it works well for this. If you dont mind, I took the image you posted and did a b/w conversion and increased the shadows and highlights. I think you still retain the water while making the individual stand out more. If you want me to get rid of this just let me know.

From Robert's Updates

[ctcook]

I agree with KansaiGreenie if you remove some (not all) of the water in the foreground the image is not as busy. As it is I can't decide if the stream, or the person is the subject. My eyes keep bouncing between them and I have a difficult time enjoying the image. The b/w is also a nice touch, but I like the colored verison.

[sunvalley23]

Thank you for the comments all! I agree, it's way too busy. Sometimes I just love everything in the image and can't bring myself to crop it out - even if it ruins the whole thing. It's a sad, sad state of affairs!