I feel this may be too dark, I was trying to use the shadow to accentuate the curves. Would some post-processing have helped? I increased exposure slightly, contrast moderately, and dropped highlights slightly (ps I hope I correctly limited the image size).
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
I am new to the forum. Is this kind of landscape nature photography for this group? I like to make landscape photos that include marks of how we are changing nature.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Handheld at 1/60s at 35mm f8
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You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Let me be the first to welcome you to NPN! What an intriguing first post. My very first impression of this (before seeing larger view) with the somewhat dark presentation… was to imagine Smeagol from “Lord of the Rings” down there at the falls getting a fish…
Of course closer inspection and your comments it’s more obvious the subject. I was also first drawn to the bright blue (pieces) thinking the saturation slighter must have gone wild… but now I see they are probably bits of plastic… I think, given your stated goals with this photograph, you’ve captured and presented something that is compelling and most certainly tells a story that you’re trying to capture. The darker presentation and overall subdued colors are working very well here.
My only minor nit/suggestion would be to maybe clone out or eliminate/mitigate the stick/branch or whatever along the top right edge. Not a huge distraction, but pulls the eye up there and is not really part of the story of the image.
To answer your question, I would say technically the “hand of man” should not be the main subject, so perhaps it might be better suited in the non-nature category… However, we don’t really have a place for something like this that is arguably a nature story… While we are most definitely all nature photography focused here, I’m going to assume the other mods would not have a problem with this here, especially given your first post… Plus, we’re pretty easy going here…
Thanks Lon. My very first post was of lily pads and I do enjoy and am inspired by the beauty of pristine nature. So I’d like to contribute both. Thanks for the feedback I’m really liking the level of discussion on the site - getting lots of ideas
