Crop:
Original
My first experience at bucket-list location Caddo Lake, Texas was a ghostly foggy morning. The Spanish moss covering the bald cypress added texture to everything. There wasn’t a lot of fall color, but what was there really stood out against the softer colors of the moss and tree trunks.
I don’t do a lot of landscape photography so any feedback welcome.
OM-1 Mark II, 1/200s, f/7.1, ISO 1600, 92mm
Debbie: Got a nice 
-meter spike on this one. I’ve lived in Texas over 40 years and to my shame have not been to Caddo Lake and its on my side of the state. This is just marvelous. I’m an avowed color junkie so the palette is delectable. Leaving the BG just a bit soft really helps to separate the yellow and orange. Well seen and superbly captured and rendered. >=))>
Keep doing what you’re doing! This is a very nice image with enough color to show some warmth. The textures here a very nice, and the soft background works very well.
I went to Caddo when I was kid living in Dallas. It is a mystical place. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories of bass fishing, birds, and a water moccasin gliding along in a slough.
-P
I have to agree with Bill Fach and Preston Birdwell, having the background a bit soft makes this photo by the way it enhances the yellow and orange. Very nice overall.
Really lovely image, @debbie_campbell. I still can’t quite tell whether I’m seeing a reflection at the bottom or whether it’s all above the lake. It doesn’t matter. It’s very Lake-y with or without water.
On the full size version, I see a branch or something else just along the bottom edge on the left half. If it’s not against your ethical standards, removing that will clean the image up nicely.
ML
Wow!! A wonderful composition with a gorgeous soft BG and striking foliage and light! The colors are yummy!!
As Preston said Debbie. You knocked this one out of the park. It is a striking photo and you composed it very well. I especially like the vertical lines of the all the hanging Spanish moss against the horizontal lines of the branches with all the color. It has a very ethereal feel to it, something that I like to impart in my photos when I can.
What a lovely scene here and captured very well Debbie. The main subject of that branch in the middle with its yellow/orange fall foliage really attracts your attention, and the drop off to the background works well too. I’ve been to Caddo Lake once in the early spring, but would love to go back in the fall. Nicely done.
Debbie, as the others have said, this looks great. It’s a fine use of selective focus to set off that single tree and its branch from a nicely pastel background. I do wonder about a slight crop, keeping the 3:2 format pulling in from the lower right. That would move the colorful branch a bit off center and reduce the attention on the branches along the right edge.
@Bill_Fach @John_Freeman @Preston_Birdwell @Diane_Miller @Youssef_Ismail @Ted_Forman Thank you so much! I had a brand new camera and lenses as well, so it was a learning experience, but this scene was as someone mentioned just ethereal on that chilly foggy morning. Thanks.
No water here, it’s way down below. I can clean up that branch for sure.
@Mark_Seaver Will try that crop, thank you!
Added a crop from bottom right…
So many wonderful comments here Debbie! It’s a wonderful image. Finding the right composition is such a busy location is no small feat. I love the horizontals and verticals and then…the autumn leaves.
Processing is top notch. Love the crop!
@glennie Thank you so much!
For my taste, the crop had put that wonderful piece of draped moss just touching the edge of the frame. I’d leave the bottom as it was and darken the wider piece of moss in the LR corner. I wonder if a slight burn from the right edge could accomplish the same as cropping from that side.
@Diane_Miller That makes sense to me, I kind of liked more space under that bit of moss too.
