In April this year I had a short vacation in the province Halland, at the west-coast of Sweden. In a small nature reserve along the coastline I saw these stones, and found them interesting enough to photograph. When back home I did not find this image very interesting, but over time I have come to like it more and more and now so much that I post it here.
What is your opinion?
Specific Feedback Requested
Any comments are welcome!
Technical Details
1/25, f/5.6, ISO 200, Olympus OM-D E-M1X with 40-150 @ 125 mm (250 mm equiv.), handheld
I really like it, Ola. The blue is a really interesting color in the rock, I can see why you photographed it. I really like the reflection on its own too, there’s sections of it that look really abstract and I think could be neat on their own. Beautiful capture!
Oh yes, very interesting. The blue cast works well. The textures between the rocks and their reflections is lovely. I could see a square crop of those main boulders.
Ola, I agree that it is a lovely image. The blue cast is great. I might try darkening the white circles along the right side. They seem to pull my eye off the rocks in the middle of the photo. Someone suggested a square crop, which would also address my concern.
Hello Ola
I do like the overall tone of your image, and the sober mood it shows.
i find the scene a little messy; I love the rocks, i love the reflection, i love those lichen and love those tree branches.
But for me they are not working all together in this composition.
all the layers are Normal and 100% opacity & fill unless noted. The curves layer was targeted to take down the very brightest bits of lichen using a luminosity mask. Hue/Sat targeted the least saturated pixels and gave them a boost.
Vanessa, as you say the reflections are an image in theme selves. I also have more of them since the image is cropped at the bottom. I will look into that possibility in more detail.
Bonnie, Rodney, Kris and Joao I tried several crops. I like all the different parts as Joao listed and tried to include them all. My thinking where that you first look at the brighter parts but then there is a flow from left to right with an expanding area of stones that ends with the lichen explosion. I tried to use the rock crack to the right (and also at the top) as a stop element. That said, I agree that there is a more restricted, maybe square, crop here that will end up in a more concentrated even calmer image. I will explore that.
Kris, I like the blue tint but understand fully that it could be to much for many. Your image is a very good alternative.
Igor, I have not yet posted this for review by Alex but maybe I will do.
Really nice image, Ola. Personally, and this is truly nit-picking, I would bring the blue saturation down just a tad, reduce the highlights just a bit to bring out the texture in those fantastic lichen, and I would remove some of the floating white spots in the water, as they distract from that wonderful reflection. Beautifully seen!
@John_Williams and @J_Fritz_Rumpf thanks for your kind comments. Fritz, thanks for the recommendations on improvements, appreciated. I will take a new look at the image based on the comments given by everyone.
Love your final version Ola! My only final thought is that it may be slightly rotated counter-clockwise. (The central reflections seem to be slightly off of perfect alignment.)
