The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I was having difficulty finding a photo that projected an emotion, but realized that I have this one on my wall because of the calm feeling it projects for me.
Specific Feedback
This one was taken on a horrendously hot (especially for early November!) late afternoon along the Trinity River in northern California. I was standing in the shade of two large trees at the river’s edge. The water was surprisingly calm that day. This is a fall-run/late-fall-run spawning ground for Chinook salmon, and I’d seen the gravel bar with quite a lot of activity on other visits.
I’ve never quite decided if the shadow at the LLC is a good thing or not - I kept it here to find out what others have to say. And the bright haze in the ULC could probably be lightly burned. I tried, but didn’t choose a version with a little more water at the bottom because of distracting rocks and mud.
Technical Details
ISO 100, f/22, 0.6 sec. on tripod, about 50mm, with CPL.
Serene indeed. Hardly a breath on the water and the trees look restful despite the fact that their colors are changing rapidly. I’m often drawn off trail for a look into ponds like this so I can relate. I can also relate to the intrusive branches you have above and to the left. Those are not restful, but they are very hard to avoid. In the past I’ve gotten my feet wet (or at least my tripod legs) to get past as much of them as I could. I’ve also just plain cropped them out, going for a smaller view. Either can work or you can live with them. The shadow would be fine on its own, but it has a much lighter visual weight than the branch itself so it doesn’t get noticed as much. At least for me. The haze is the brightest part of the image so naturally where our eyes go first so you’ll have to contend with that and your intentions for the image.
No worries. Thank you for your comments. I’ve always grumbled to myself about the branches, but they apparently don’t seem to bother people, as this image has sold more than once. My challenge was that I couldn’t really go into the river because my dog would have immediately jumped in to join me, and then the nice reflections would have been gone - at least until he’d gotten done playing. (It was hot enough, I was actually surprised he didn’t.)
TBH, the haze is almost exactly as I remember from that day, although I don’t remember why exactly. Since it was northern California, and unusually hot, it might have been smoky from forest fires.
I may try some of the new features of the Remove tool in Photoshop to see what happens.
Thanks!
