Limned in light (+1 re-edit)

With some additional dodging in the log & further blurring of the background water -

The very beginning of my Prairie River project got me to visit what has become my favorite stretch of it. This was my first time there and the late afternoon sun was still coming through the bare trees to light up these icicles. You should have seen my dance of joy. I could hardly sit still enough to shoot, but shoot I did. Light like this only lasts for so long. Another instance where bluebird skies can help put color into a water reflection which works well here since the water is so tannic. Careful polarizer manipulation allowed a slightly longer exposure and the blue color.

Specific Feedback Requested

I spent a ton of time on this one, but I think I may have overdone it, something that’s been happening to me lately with all the new stuff I’m learning. You should see the layers panel!! The same thing happened to me during my Luminar phase.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Tripod and a CPL

image

Lr for initial white balance, cropping and sharpening. Added clarity and texture as well. Photoshop for a lot of lights and darks masks as well as a lot of dodging and burning. Added a gaussian blur to the water behind the log as it was moving slower and didn’t blur like the fast water did.

@the.wire.smith

To someone who doesn’t see that much water, and even less ice, this is pretty amazing! I love the water and the icicles are incredible! I don’t see any evidence of too much fiddling. I think I’d blur the water above the log even more, and see if maybe more detail could be pulled out of the log. I love the rushing water with the “whitecaps.” There may be some very small areas of blowout but I can’t complain about them because of the drama those areas impart.

Gorgeous! I agree that a bit more of the log detail would be nice. The icicles for me are the stars here - a different interesting photo would be a major crop showing just the icicles and the log section they are attached to plus some of the mossy rock and maybe half of the flowing water beneath. Great light and colours here.

Thanks @Diane_Miller & @Mike_Friel - living in the Wisconsin river valley means there are tons of little brooks and smaller rivers to explore, especially before the snow falls, but the temperatures drop. Like in this scene. I’ve added a second shot with the changes Diane suggested and I think I’ve got some closer versions in the folder so I’ll see if I can isolate those icicles more than in this one. I think as the light changed I zoomed in since the water itself was no longer lit.

Here’s another shot of the same formation, but at a tighter zoom. Many of the same processing and shooting techniques for the final image. This one is a bit crisper and has more contrast.

This one is lovely and (for me) solves a couple of very minor issues with the first – the sparkly area just above the log and the dark rectangular area in the UR. But here I miss the lovely blue of that one. Maybe there is a bit of a magenta issue here?

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You could be right about the magenta, @Diane_Miller - I was experimenting with different methods of warming with an eye to luminosity levels and this one may have gone a bit wrong. I really should write down what I do so I know what works. Oy vey.

We just got our first nights of below freezing and so ice won’t be long behind. Hopefully we get some before the snow flies.