Spring Roots #2 - Fire & Water + Rework

REWORK (adjusted blues & yellows):

ORIGINAL:

This is from the same spot as my first spring roots photo. Taking @Lon_Overacker Lon’s suggestion about having the roots less obvious, I went through the photos looking for the less literal ones. The flow of the water and squiggly roots looked like cold and hot flames, hence the rotation to make them move “upward”.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any comments welcome. A lot of dodging involved to bring up dark spots so they wouldn’t compete with the flow and to make the overall exposure more even (as advised by @Mark_Seaver in an earlier post re having more even lighting for abstracts).

Technical Details

a7r3, 90mm, f/8, 1/100s, ISO 1250, hand held.

4 Likes

Wow Bonnie! I’m so glad, and thank you for going back to review your other takes from here. At least for me, this one is considerably more abstract - in fact without any back story one would have little clue as to what we’re viewing.

This just has the perfect mix and balance between the reflected highlights and the submerged vegetation. Also enjoy the mix of reds and pale yellows of the plant. All working together in great harmony with this capture!

Wow, what a big difference. No nits or suggestions at all here. Wonderful imagery! Love this!

Lon

This is one hell of an abstract. Excellent! Looking at this is pure joy. The image works on several levels.

I much prefer this version as well. Just enough in the image to know that it is organic but beyond that, a wonderful abstract of colour and flow.

Wow, Bonnie, this is simply spectacular. Love it!

I love the upward flow in this one Bonnie. It creates an illusion of white flames.

This is simply wonderful Bonnie. It’s hard to believe that you were able to get so much movement in the water and the plants at 1/100 of a second but the shutter speed is perfect. I really am enjoying the interplay between the red, yellow and white highlights. This is really nicely composed. As @Lon_Overacker stated, you would have no idea what this was if you did not read the description. Thanks for sharing this one Bonnie.

Pretty sweet, Bonnie. The diagonal along the transition from reflection to plants is particularly engaging. Have you tried playing with contrast levels here? Zone or color masking could bring out some more drama if you had a mind to. Super shot. Tantalizing.

Thanks, @Lon_Overacker, @Igor_Doncov, @Kerry_Gordon, @David_Bostock, @Eva_McDermott, @David_Haynes, and @Kris_Smith for your appreciation.

I actually did a rework, as I wasn’t sold on the color. I finally put my finger on what bothered me - both the blues and the yellows had too much green in them. I pushed the blues towards the purple range and the yellows towards the red range, and I like it better.

Oh, yes I did! Extensively, with zone masks. I’m not sure how much more contrast/drama I like, so I’m going to live with this for awhile as is.

Yes, it’s funny. You’d think a slower SS would be needed, but too slow and things just get too fuzzy. Too fast and you don’t get the movement. I always check the results as I go and adjust accordingly.

I missed this one in another get-way-behind incident. (I hate computers when they don’t behave.)

Just wanted to chime in my agreement with all that was said above. You have a wonderful eye for abstractions and the processing skills to make them sing!

1 Like

I vote for the original over the vibrant one.