An autumn birch leaf glows below the surface of the Eno river. Eno River State Park. Durham, N.C.
Any is welcome. Curious about your thoughts on my color treatment on this. I tend to like to cool down the water in my images.
Canon EOS R
1/8 Sec. f 11
191mm, ISO 100
The big lightroom adjustment is a white balance shift to the water. I cooled it down some to give it a little color.
Toning the water to the cool side is a way to emphasize the fact that it’s water. In this case because blue and yellow are on opposite sides of the color wheel, they contrast and coordinate very well. I might have placed the leaf lower in the right corner than this and let the natural ripples work to guide our eyes down that way. Water compositions work best for me when the natural gravity and flow are used to reinforce compositional choices, and for me the way they are used here isn’t doing that. I may also have chosen a faster shutter speed to get the leaf sharper. A striking shot and one we all love to take.
Fantastic color contrast in this image, Todd.
Todd, I like the yellow leaf on the blue water, a very nice contrast with the colors. I agree with @Kris_Smith for the composition. Still a fine image as presented, but may even improve the shot.
I hope you keep working with this. It is a strong statement of the impact of complementary colors. For me, the water color is so dense and dark that the background could be some tar on the street. It would be a different direction for the image, but if you can work some transparency into it, then the elegant subsurface grasses could become part of the story, maybe making the overall image a bit less static.
