Last week, at the beginning of March, my wife and I spent a week hiking in Forest Quarter in Lower Austria. This is an image of one of our favorite paths along Kamp river. We already experienced the warming sunlight of the approaching spring.
Comments and critique are welcome.
Peter,
This is quite wonderful. The image brings me right there. And what I mean is, that this takes me to a place I’ve been many times before, and I suspect others have as well. How many times have we visited somewhere, say along a river, a lake, very early, maybe while it’s still dark. It’s very cold, almost biting, but we know we have to be early. It’s starts getting light and we can see the surroundings, maybe we’ve already made some photographs. Then finally, the sun rises. Glorious light and we scamper around knowing it won’t last long. Then, finally, it’s start to warm up. First it lights up the scene just like this one. Soon the scene becomes awash in light, the sun hits your face and you forget about the chill you felt just an hour earlier.
That’s what this image says to me anyway. Love the early (or late) light. I think the biggest plus here is the tree spanning nearly the entire frame laced with a scattering of last falls autumn leaves, backlit by the beautiful, warm light.
No nits or suggestions. Thanks for taking me there.
Lon
Lon, thanks for taking the time and sharing your thoughts about this image.
It was indeed a cold wintry day and we enjoyed the warming light a lot. I just want to mention that the image was taken at noon, which is usually not my favorite shooting time. Yet the low elevation of the sun made for an appealing light in my opinion.
Oh what a scene. It’s as if the earth is breathing a sigh of relief that it made it through another winter. Of course we know it’s not over yet, but we have hope. I brought this into Photoshop for a couple of things - a radial filter in the center where I brought up exposure and saturation a bit, also warmed white balance and reduced highlights. Also a tiny crop. Hope you don’t mind the fiddling. Couldn’t resist. The Kemp river looks like a beautiful area and I’d get lost there with my camera all the time if it was nearby.
Peter, all I can say is what a great image . Mainly because of the beautiful light and the strong composition . No nits at all.
I like @Kris_Smith’s rework of this scene, which reduces some of the contrast. I usually avoid shooting scenes that have light bouncing off water like this but you pulled it off quite well. @Lon_Overacker’s personal memories of what this image brings was really enjoyable to read because I could relate to them.
I like how the branches from opposite banks cross and weave into one another. Well done.
The rework that @Kris_Smith did takes this to a new level. @Lon_Overacker , I love your story here. I think we’ve all been there but that really took me back to many of my mornings on a photoshoot. Anyway, I love the one branch with all of the smaller twigs bending over the river and the little window in between the upper and lower twigs that let a person wade into the scene.
