Water under the Bridge

[ArmySoldier777]

Barry - Thanks for the reply

I did think about cleaning up the reflection a bit as well, I was curious as to whether or not it would hurt or add to the image. So I'm glad I wasn't alone there lol. But I left it the way it was since all those areas in the water are leaves and other things you find during fall. I may go through sometime and do it just to see what the end result would be though.

As far as white balance, I shoot RAW so I never use the in camera settings, and I always adjust the white balance manually. Being that it's an HDR image, I had to be careful with just what changes I made to the original files, as they tend to be extreme once they're brought together. So I'll have to work with some curves adjustments to the final shot and see what I can do about those colors.

Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated.


Edit: Is this closer to what you were wanting to see Barry?




I know this thread is getting pretty old now lol, but thanks for the continued feedback, because it still helps me to learn how to better myself.

[Barry Jackson]

Much better, for my taste anyway.

Here is an image where I took out a lot of distracting white spots.

Barry Jackson | Nature | Smokey Mountains Reflections

I am not much of a purist. Nothing wrong with those that are. I just have a different approach.

[ArmySoldier777]

Oh I'm far from being a purist either lol. If I was, I probably wouldn't have done this in HDR. I just find that it's a good excuse for when I'm feeling lazy and don't feel like making edits that extreme just yet lol. Because that's a LOT of spots on the water lol. I like your edited image though, it definitely makes the water look clean. Maybe I'll tackle mine tomorrow and see how it turns out.

[kaloyanpaunov]

i will go for the second photo

[Haraldo]

Hi Army and Guys. Can I add a comment? Last version definitely best to my eyes. But you know what I would do on the crop? I'd come down from the top getting rid of the main sky area, which I find distracting. This seems to be more about the bridge and water, and those patches of sky sort of take away from that. And by doing that, you put the bridge higher in the frame and give more emphasis to the water. ***If it's allowed here (is it?), I could do a quick crop and attach it in another message. But only if you want me to.*** And FYI, shooting on a cloudy day is usually better because it automatically makes landscape colors pop more without the undo contrast of sun/shadow. So your "mistake" was actually a good move!

Hope this helps!

[ridley19]

I like the retouched one but would add that i think this would work better as a panorama if you were to get more of the bridge (left and right) and stitch images together if possible.
If panorama is not possible then you can only work with what you have, and i like this.