Chris, the mix of starbursts and crazy pattern are real eye catchers. The starbursts show off the tiny aperature that you used. I suspect that there was a fence reflection to give you the pattern. Well seen and captured.
Hi Chris - I’m back. So, the second thing that struck me (after, wow - very cool!) was the difference in contrast between the upper part and the lower part. The upper part has all those distinct lines and contrast between dark and light. While the bottom half has good contrast between the star bursts and the dark water, those gray patches are very different - soft and low contrast. They feel out of place to me (but maybe you like that - if so, ignore the rest of my comments).
My instinct was to increase the contrast in the gray patches. To do that, I brought this into ACR and masked the patches, then lowered the blacks+shadows+exposure (the latter just a bit), while increase the lights. I also added a bit of clarity and dehaze. You could do that with dodging & burning, too, but this was quicker. Oh, I also flipped it to and fro, but not sure about that. Here’s my thought:
This is great, Bonnie. I tried rotating it, but not flipping. This orientation works better. I see what you mean about the grey patches. I’ll play around with that.
It’s been interesting and educational to watch your iterations here, and people’s ideas.
The first post was really good, but the final is excellent!
Congrats on a very cool EP!
