Here is another shot from my recent trip to Southern Utah with a friend. We managed to catch the cottonwoods and other bushes along the Colorado River at their color peak. It was actually difficult to get good compositions because in most areas the bushes were quite high and not all as colorful as these. I’m not usually a fan of shooting straight a cross a river, but in this case I think it worked. I only wish I had shot more of the cliffs.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any and all comments are welcome and appreciated.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: Yes
This is a focus stack, one photo for the foreground bushes and another for the cliffs and color across the river.
Love the colors and contrast with the back wall. The foreground brush is throwing me off just a little, as my attention seems to get to it and stop rather than flowing smoothly to the back. I pulled the image into PS and desaturated the yellows in the brush quite a bit and it seemed to make a big difference.
I think this is intended to be a layered composition. I agree that the bottom layer sort of overlays the other two. The bottom layer would make a fine image on its own. BTW, focus stacking is not considered a composite image here at NPN.
You certainly caught the colors at their peak and the horizontal format works nicely for this colorful autumn image, Tony. The different layers have added a nice sense of depth to this beautiful scene. I too am struggling a bit with the FG bushes merging with the river bank. Short of being able to clone them out where they merge what do you think of this rather radical crop? Looking forward to seeing what else you came back with.
Wow, you guys hit the colors at their peak. Well timed. The brush merging into the the back brush bothers me only a little bit. It would bother me more if you hadn’t placed the foreground brush so well. You have that one foreground bush pointing right at the bright yellow tree in the background which is why I think this actually works pretty well. I do however, really like the crop that @Ed_Lowe came up with. I think it’s more cohesive as well. Wonderful conditions and soft light. Would have liked to see a reflection shot but if the river water was moving too fast it might have been just a blur anyway.
