Photography is about seeing. A few years ago I would not see anything notable in the nature-littered pond that is the basis for this image. As I looked at the pond, my vision was about the abstract shapes and contrast in colors and water. I tried to create order out of the chaos in the pond.
Any
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D750, 1/320th second, f9.0, 70-200mm lens at 200 mm. The image is focus stacked.
This certainly looks different. I guess these are those small green plants that float on the surface. I used to know their names but it’s been years. By making the water really dark the impression is of asteroids in space. Very creative on your part. Yes, careful seeing can reveal worlds like this that you might pass up.
I agree with @Igor_Doncov the black water and the abstract green shapes of the duckweed remind me of seeing stars and galaxies. I also think you did a pretty good job of “organizing the chaos” by having the largest, most interesting green patches in the center of the image.
Shooting the surface of water with a vertical can present DOF challenges that require focus stacking for max sharpness, as you did here. In this image the top third is still pretty soft looking. I suspect that’s not related to stacking technique, but rather due to subject movement in the water. Sometimes the stacking software will combine images such that it produces “ghosting” in moving things. Depending on what stacking software you used, you can either try to reduce ghosting, or select which images you want to use for certain parts of the blend, and brush in the sharpest parts in some places.
Thanks for viewing this image. I appreciate your endorsement of it. I agree with @Ed_McGuirk about the top looking a bit soft; yet, I think it is passable. Thanks again.
Thanks, Ed. I agree that the top is a bit soft, but it looks passable to me. Your comparison to stars and galaxies is most interesting.
