Earlier this summer during my vacation me and my wife where staying at a really nice place in Småland, Sweden, the Toftaholm Manor. After a really good dinner, I went down to the nearby lake at the sunset bringing my travel camera.
The colors of the reflections I found great, but there where no area without reeds so I had to include them in the composition
The image is deliberately made soft, and the colors toned down, to increase the mood.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any comments are welcome!
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/125, 42 mm (84 mm equiv.), Olympus pancake lens 14-42 mm, travel camera Olympys PEN E-P7
This has a very peaceful look to it. I don’t really notice the cloud reflections at first because of all the reeds and lily pads, but I really like the colors the clouds add to the scene, it’s kind of abstract looking.
Lovely image, Ola. I think you made the right call here not to go bold with this scene as it is really quite peaceful and serene looking. I am glad you couldn’t find an area without the reeds as I actually like this better with their graceful lines. Beautifully done.
This is a beautiful and creative image. One thing that surprises me is how small the pads are compared to the reeds. Perhaps the lily pads in Europe are smaller than what we have here.
The indirect panorama overcomes the floral image. I love the mood and the pictorial look due to luminosity, very low contrast and low saturation. I love the photo Ola.
I love the delicate feeling of this image Ola, your choice of soft and gentle processing has worked wonderfully here. I think softening the image (by whatever ever means you used), helps to reduce the complexity level of this relatively chaotic environment. And as such the viewer doesn’t get hung up on the chaos, and is instead allowed to bettter appreciate the soft light and colors.
We recently discussed trying to emphasize 1 or 2 things that get at the essence of an image (less is more). I don’t think that concept really applies to this image. My appreciation of this image is more for the gestalt of it, in other words it’s an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts. The way the light and colors are organized in this image, I don’t see any crops that would make it better, and trying to simplify the image would reduce it’s impact.
Ola, your image conveys the serene atmosphere of this intimate scene immediately to me. I especially appreciate your careful treatment of the subdued colors. It would also be interesting to me to see the image with the original contrast, as the subtlety of the reeds and their graphic quality might even be emphasized by this in my opinion.
My only suggestion would be to remove the reeds at the bottom. Their brighter green is a bit distracting to my eye. But that is only a minor matter for me. I like the image as presented a lot.
I use Luminar AI, and there is a slider called “soft focus”. I have been interested in Nik collection for a while (and then especially Nic Silver Efex for B&W), but it does not work as plug-in to Luminar.
I have tried to erase them, see the rework at the top. Not that easy to get it good, but it improves the image to remove them.
