Image was taken on October 22 this year during a walk around Lilly Lake at Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis, IN. For most of the time I spent at the lake, about 90 minutes, the wind was not present reflections on the lake were like mirror images. Then a light breeze came up for a short period time and the reflections took on a different perspective. I changed to 70 to 200 mm lens and was able to capture this image before the wind became stronger and swirling leaves started to land on the water. What drew me into the picture was the “shimmering colors” of the reflected trees on the opposite bank of the lake
Specific Feedback Requested
Any feedback on composition or post processing would be appreciate. I use Affinity Photo for raw development, I took out two leaves using ‘inpainting’ and enhanced the saturation a few percent.
Technical Details
Canon R, 70-200 mm F4 L, at 200 mm, at 1/5 sec, 200 ASA, and F16, on a tripod.
Hi Ian – Thank you for sharing this lovely lake reflection. The mix of colors is really nice (and a bit different than I might expect), and I like the mix of lines and color blocks with the ripples. Overall, I think the composition works nicely, although you could consider taking a bit off the right. One of the brightest trunks in the whole scene is right near the edge of the frame and a sliver of a bright tree is right on the edge. I would either soften the brightness of those two trees or crop them out.
With regard to the processing, I think the file looks a little dark. I took the photo into Photoshop and tried a few things. I brightened it a bit, added a small amount of contrast, cooled off the color balance a bit, and warmed up the yellows. The yellows, to my eye, look a little stark and I think a slightly more golden tone might look more harmonious with the other colors in the frame. You could also consider brightening some of the darker areas in a more targeted way to help even out the tonality across the scene.
Thank you for taking the time to review and comment on the image, I learn so much from the comments I have received on these critiques. I will try to lighten some of the darker regions and trying what you have suggested. Thanks again.
