Another shot from a paddling excursion. I used a polarizing filter to expose the roots beneath the surface. I am pleased with level of detail given that I was shooting at 1/40 sec from a kayak (OIS is astounding these days). I enjoy letting my eyes explore the scene. I hope you enjoy it as well!
Specific Feedback Requested
All comments welcomed. I feel I may have pushed the colours/saturation a bit much. I tried to keep the roots ghost like beneath the water.
Technical Details
ISO 800 18mm (aps-c) 1/40 sec at f5.6 - handheld from a kayak
Hey Charles - isn’t it amazing that OIS allows you to shoot such long shutter speeds handheld in a kayak? No more need for a 12-foot tripod to reach the lakebed! That’s a cool title, it brings the image up a notch for me that you had a strong idea behind this composition.
I think your idea for the image could work well, but I’m held up a bit by some distracting luminosity differences. The bottom edge is lighter/brighter, then along the lower horizontal third, there’s a huge dark patch (probably unavoidable with the polarizer usage), and then at the top, the main subject doesn’t quite stand out against the background trees of the lakeshore. It just feels pretty patchy and disjointed in terms of the various areas of brightness and darkness. The actual layout of the composition looks solid though.
But all of this is probably solvable in post! I gave it a try and I think it works a lot better. The only thing is, it took quite a bit of massaging (about 10 different adjustment layers) to get things relatively even, and it still looks kind of strange. But maybe this can point you in the right direction, or at least a direction I think could help make it feel more cohesive:
Hey Alex thanks so much for the feedback and taking time to work on the image. I agree the reflections and highlights are distracting. I will have to work on this in PS when back home - thanks for the direction. The shadow was created by the forest to my back and the horizon was tight/low because if I went too high I’d get blown out sky highlights. If I wasn’t floating in a boat I might have tried bracketing. But thanks again, I really appreciate the time you took to give such a thorough review.
This is a fabulous photo, Charles! The way those submerged roots lead to the stump is very cool and I love the balance you struck between the roots and the rest of the frame. I’ve found that these kinds of scenes, with blue sky reflective off the water and submerged things, work well in b&w. I gave it a whirl to see what it would look like (hope you don’t mind).
Now that I’ve uploaded it, I’m thinking I made the roots too prominent, but you get the idea. I brought it into ACR and evened out the exposure, like Alex mentioned, then worked on it in PS. I’ll post a screen shot of my layers.
Thanks Bonnie for the kind words and for posting the screen shot of the layers - very helpful. I struggle with the black and white conversion - I like what you’ve done, it gives more balance but I miss the detail the colour brings to the stump. Both work in different ways. Thanks again, you and @Alex_Noriega have given me lots to play with.
@Bonnie_Lampley and @Alex_Noriega thanks again for your comments on this photo. I finally found time to remind work on it and thought I’d share where I landed. I think I got more balance but still kept some of the surfaces sheen to provide a surface for what hides beneath. Thanks again for pointing they way.
