This was taken at Fish Lake on the McKenzie Highway in Central Oregon. I just happened to hit it on the right day and time as I stopped on my way over the pass.
I loved the colors and how they were reflected in the lake. I also liked the different textures and the way they were softened in the reflections in the water. I’m fairly happy with the image, but always love to hear what others might suggest.
ISO 200, 13 sec., f9
The soft colors are gorgeous, Chris as is the reflection. The textures of the trees in the background add nice contrasting detail. The yellow tree/bush in the foreground is just a bit distracting, at least for me, so I did a quick cloning just to see how the image would look without it. Hope you don’t mind??
Maybe it’s just because I’m used to looking at it that way, but it seems a little empty without the third bush in the foreground. Although, it’s still nice. Maybe I could tone down the front bush a little and then it might not be so distracting?
Chris, the early spring colors here are nicely distinct, with the red, green and yellow. I’m fine with the front bush as it creates some diagonal eye movement. I think the colors are enhanced by cropping off the gray/browns along the top. While there’s a lot of reflection, there’s also a lot of non-reflection in this view, so I’m thinking that I should move this to landscape, since this week’s challenge was “entirely reflection”.
This is such a lovely place, Chris. I’m sure just being there it looked quiet different. What I do like about the yellow bush(?) in the LRC corner is how it does help bring my eyes into the image and to the back where the other yellow bushes are. I like your idea about toning it down just a bit.
Works for me. I wasn’t sure exactly what the challenge was from the title.
I rather like the yellow bush myself but since this is a square crop I’m wondering what you cropped out.
Chris,
I think this is lovely and yes the reflected colors and textures come through nicely.
I think the comp/crop and the position of the bush - and especially the one up front. I think it not only provides depth (near/far) but I also like how the colors/shape are repeate in the bushes closer to the far shore. The bg is providing some nice pale reds and reflected texture. and interesting too, the bg up top is rather a chaotic mess - but viewed as a whole - and the more important reflection, I think the top is adding positively.
Maybe the thought of the foreground bush as a distraction is maybe a result of the overall brightness? I thought I would have a look and see what alternative options there were. I brought in to ACR and dropped the highlights, whites and overall exposure equally, then bumped the dehaze and clarity a couple pts. Increased the vibrance a bit, then tossed in to Topaz. Oh, and then added a faint vignette and cloned a few distracting little white elements up top. Not sure if it aligns with your vision, but again, an alternate approach.
Kudos for recognizing and stopping for this lovely scene.
My, that sounds like a lot of work. Thanks! I think the front bush looks better for sure. I greatly appreciate all your suggestions.
As I recall, there was not much on the right and trees on the left.
@Lon_Overacker @linda_mellor @Mark_Seaver @Matt_Payne Thank you all for your comments.
Beautiful image, Chris! If this was my image, I would tone down the bush in the front just a bit, and soften it just a tad, to go with the fantastic soft feeling of the whole image. nice find!
@J_Fritz_Rumpf Thanks for your thoughts!
@Lon_Overacker’s transformation of this image is superb in my opinion. The concept of having that sharp front bush backed by that fuzzy water really sings here.
@Igor_Doncov Thank you for your great feedback.
