Lomagnupur Reflection + Repost

Part of our trip to Iceland was on a photo tour, and our guide seemed to keep finding us spots to take reflection photos. I wasn’t expecting so many small ponds or boggy areas with standing water for some reason. This one was quite striking with the color and clouds.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Sony a7C, 20mm, f/14, 1/80s, ISO 100
I remember that I used the deep sky style brush in Capture One on both the sky and then the reflection so that they mirrored each other. I think I pulled the effect back, but it may still be a bit strong in the water. It brings out detail and texture.

I brightened this up a little overall including lifting the blacks just a little and reducing the strength of the mask some in the water, reducing the effect of the style brush (sky/sky reflection). I don’t know if this is an improvement or not. Maybe it’s better to just brighten the reflection as @David_Bostock did. Comments welcome.

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This picture is gorgeous. I love this type of reflections and the composition is very appealing. You also nailed the depth of the water very well. Really nice picture!

@tamar-aharony Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

It is a little deep in the water, but oh it is pretty great overall. Isn’t Iceland basically a melting glacier overtop a volcano? No wonder so much standing water. Glad they stopped for this one. I like the grandeur.

Well the water should be darker than the sky, so it works quite well for me, Karla. Terrific scene.

@_Kris and @David_Bostock Thanks for your feedback. I could lift both the sky and the water a little so that their relationship stays the same but it’s not quite as deep. I think the middle cloud in the reflection is showing some texture from the grasses in the pond that is a little distracting as I see it now. Reducing the sky and water adjustments would probably help that too.

@_Kris - I hadn’t given much thought to a volcano under a melting glacier, but that’s pretty apt. :smiley:

Karla, the reflection looks great and it’s quite a dramatic set of cliffs in a very inviting sky. It does feel a bit too dark overall for such a fine looking day.

Yes, it works for me too, in fact, I love the very dark reflection of the rock. Maybe this is too obvious, but reflections will always be darker than reality because they never reflect 100% of the light.

Yup, I am aware that reflections are darker, but the blues in the water look blocked to me. Could be my monitor, but that’s how it looks.

I took a closer look at this, Karla, I hope you don’t mind. The water can certainly be brightened up while still retaining the darker look than the sky. I think what you’re seeing @_Kris, may be the plant life just under the water. It would probably lead to a non-smooth blue and center cloud look. Here’s a quick brightening of the lower part:

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@David_Bostock No problem at all. Sorry I can’t go over it right now (at work) but I’ll try to do so later tonight. Thanks for your input and another look at it.

@JohnSnell and @Mark_Seaver - Thanks for your comments and your different perspectives on the brightness of the image, or parts of it.

Karla, I find the redo much more attractive. I would suggest that when you post a redo, put it ahead of the original, that way it’s the one that shows first.

@Mark_Seaver Thanks for your comment on the repost. I think the second image must have popped in where my cursor was when I clicked to add an image. I’ll try to be more mindful of that. Thanks!