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I like this image but am not happy with cropping.
Your thoughts
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Image Description
In black water swamps like the Okefenokee Swamp in GA, peat bottoms built up over great periods of time. Sometimes a small clump will float to the surface and grass will grow. These lslands float around and are very interesting visually.
Its a cool shot. Nice and crisp. Color really pops against that inky background. I am a sucker for a good reflection photo and i like the way you positioned the peat. I will say that i think blackwater peat sounds like a pirate’s name.
Steve, I am sure you’ll get all sorts of suggestions on crop. Here’s mine: I would crop from the top to get rid of the lighter grasses at the very top. This might put the subject dead center, but in this case I think it works. The light is just terrific.
The light is beautiful. There’s a couple distractions I think I’d use the remove tool on 1/ the two blades in the back right 2/ the single blade to the left of the cluster and maybe either darken the top more or crop. The suggestion are all minor issues it’s a great photo.
I like the idea of the subject here but I’m not a fan of the busy-ness and high contrast. I think this could be lovely in soft light. The crop works for me with the hint of detail in the BG giving me some visual depth and relief. The image needs some CCW rotation. In a smooth reflection the tips of the grasses would line up. The white line is parallel to the edge of your frame.
Steve, I was immediately drawn to the drama of the black against the bright greens. The angles of the grass formed in the reflection invite further study. The hint of the grasses at the top helps orient the reality of your composition. I find this a compelling composition and use of color.
Great feedback thanks everyone
I put the rework on top next to the original so it would be easier to compare.
Had a hard time with the rotate still not sure. Did gardening as pointed out.
Also, I may have an issue with my monitor calibration as looking at my monitor I could not see grass at the top of frame. I have it calibrated to match my printed. The test prints also did not show the grass at the top.
Your thoughts
The BG is darker in the new version. A properly calibrated monitor will show the dark detail in the original. Prints will never match the backlit look of a monitor and it’s important to be able to get prints you like, but messing with the monitor to match the prints is going at it backwards. It should be possible to adjust printing parameters so the prints match a calibrated and profiled monitor. You use that monitor (and the histogram) to make the prints look the way you want them, and use papers and profiles to give the best prints. For rich, dark blacks and high contrast, a glossy or baryta paper would be good. But not all papers are created equal, and you’ll want a good profile for your printer.
Getting the tonal range right in raw processing is a critical step. If blacks are crushed there you can’t recover much after the file has been rasterized by going to an editor like PS – the ends of the histogram (blacks and whites) are cooked in concrete. The histogram is objective, a monitor isn’t. You can increase contrast in PS much more successfully than you can decrease it.
The rotation went a little too far. In LR, as you start to rotate you should get a grid – the O key will change the pattern – and just line up those 2 tips vertically. In PS, Crtl/Cmd R will bring up ruler lines top and left. Go to the Move tool and drag a guide line from the left to the tip of the grass, then make a copy of the layer and rotate it so the tips of the grass and its reflection are equidistant from the line. Move the line as needed to locate it more precisely.
Then you can drag the line back off the window. (It won’t print.)
