Near the end of a morning hike this spot was nice to stop for lunch and try some long exposures of the stream.
Specific Feedback Requested
All feed back will be appreciated.
Technical Details
Canon R5 iso 100 153mm 30sec f16
Hi Steve,
This is really nice, the composition is great in my opinion.
The colors are great and the yellow leaves only add to the appeal of the image overall.
Good eye for spotting this scene within a larger scene.
I assume you were going for the classic smooth water image that we all love.
Smooth water scenes are classic but the content and composition always makes each one unique and this one is no exception.
I was a little confused at first about whether or not this was water, in the small version it almost looked like low lying fog but when I expanded it to the large version it was clear that it was a smooth water scene.
The water is almost “Too” clear, it’s difficult to see where the basic water line is at the tip of the log at the bottom and there’s a a fairly definitive ghost like line under the water at the bottom of the log on the right (upper portion).
May I ask what strength or how many stops the ND filter was?
Did you happen to try a lower strength ND filter with less exposure time?
Smooth water scenes can be pretty tricky if the water is clear like this, using a faster shutter speed like maybe 0.5 seconds with a 2 or 3 stop ND filter can still provide smooth water but not so smooth that you can see through the water.
BTW, the strength of the ND filter depends on the amount of ambient light so my examples of 2 or 3 stops were just examples and I assume it was fairly well lit being it was a late morning or noon lunch break).
If you’re wanting to edit this image, I can show you an edit that would add more definition but not change the overall appearance and I can explain how I did it, but, the foggy look may be an after effect that you want to keep as is. 
Just let me know your thoughts, please.
Again, your image is very nice aesthetically and a pleasure to view
Oops…Sorry!
I didn’t realize that this was posted for critique from Eric Bennett.
This image is up for critique so I assumed it was OK, I just didn’t see the tag til now.
Some of this tagging and other stuff going on, it’s hard for me to keep up with current events.
Carry on
1 Like
Hi Steve,
I opened this up in Camera RAW and made a few tweaks to give it more color separation and add a little life to it. You can cool down the white balance quite a bit and also add some green to eliminate the strong warm, reddish color cast you have there. This creates a lot more separation and depth while also introducing some nice warm/cool color contrast. Then you can also slightly lower the exposure, push the whites (I did +40) and also lower the blacks a bit. This helps create a bit more contrast and punch in the scene. I think everything else is pretty nice! Hope this is helpful.
Looking at it now on here, I think I would also recommend adding a vignette to darken all of the edges, mostly the top and bottom ones to help keep the eye more in the center of the frame.
Hi Eric, thanks for taking the time to work my image. I liked the composition but I really see what you mean about adding depth by cooling and separating the colors. I’ll go back and edit some more. Appreciate your critique.
1 Like
Hi Merv, thanks for spending time to give me feedback on this one. I checked all the other shots and all were shot with 6 stop ND at 30 secs. I wish I did different exposures and filters. I need to try multiple shots next time.
1 Like
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the response!
I always carry a variable ND filter that goes from 2 stops to 8 stops, it is a good quality filter, I don’t see any obvious distortion or other issues with it.
I know some people don’t like using variable ND filters but maybe they were using a less than good quality version? Maybe.
I have managed to capture quite different results of the same water scene simply by using different ND strengths and shutter speeds. It’s worth the effort to explore IMHO.
Have a great day, Steve