Last week we had a brief respite from an extended summer heat wave with a cold front that passed through overnight. The next morning it was cool enough that it was fog central along the Sudbury River in Massachusetts. The fog was pea soup thick, and I ended up needing to apply +25 Lightroom De-haze (an almost unthinkable amount) to get this level of detail. No need for Orton here, Mother Nature generously provided her own dreamy special effects. I got this image shortly before the sun started to burn through the fog.
The purple flowers are loosestrife, an invasive species from Europe that grows in wetland areas. It may be invasive, but is very pretty.
Ed,
I am glad someone got a little respite from the heat; it sounds like your weather has pretty much mirrored ours here in MD. The atmospherics with the fog are absolutely gorgeous as the dehaze worked beautifully for you in this scene. I really like how you have spaced the elements out in the frame; particularly that leaning tree as it adds so much to this image. The purple flowers are another wonderful element and compliment the greens of the surrounding wetland very nicely. I can feel the cool dampness you captured here.
I really love this scene as well. I have some suggestions I incorporated in my rework. In summary - less is more in this scene. The following changes were implemented
desaturated the flowers
desaturated the yellow on the bush on the right.
raised the exposure
reduced the contrast and by mostly raising the darker areas
added a color cast from plain grey
I added the white border because this is a light image after all.
What an absolutely gorgeous image. What I love about it most is the way the lupines (?) seem to be flooding out of the gate between the bush on the right and the tree on the left. The composition is exquisite - so perfectly balanced. I like where Igor is going with his rework but for me, a little too much. I think pulling back on the dehaze might do the trick, although Igor’s idea of adding colour cast of grey is a nice idea - bringing back a little more of the softness of the fog. This would make a gorgeous print.
Ed, again I see here the beauty of photo developing . A beautiful image made beautiful in another way. I like them both. Also because of the composition !
The flowers are purple loosestrife, an invasive species from Europe that grows in wetland areas. They are tall, thin flowers about 2 to 3 feet high. We also have fireweed flowers here, but loosestrife is pretty different, even though they bloom at roughly the same time of year.
Kerry, I think you are right, it would benefit from backing off the de-haze a bit and letting it go more dreamy (it’s more natural look).
Igor, I agree with most of your suggestions. I think that I let the saturation of the purple flowers go too far. Your reduction in contrast is similar to Kerry’s back off de-haze comment. So I’ll go for a softer look. I also like the cooler WB you used on the flowers and fog. the trees were warmer because this shot was taken just before the sun started to burn through the fog. I did a rework reflecting more or less all of this except I kept the trees warmer.
This is a gorgeous fog scene, Ed! I think everyone else’s critiques covered what I would suggest and I think your final rework is absolutely the best version! Foggy scenes are one of my favorite things and you had a wonderful opportunity here! Great job in capturing it!
yes, this is gorgeous scene. I agree the less contrast is slightly better, but I like the saturation level of the first. Don’t know if its accurate, but I have seen these plants in MO and they look OK to me.
Ed, I identified this as your image before opening it. You are most skilled at seeing common natural scenes and creating simplie images that both speak and breathe. I really like the image as you first presented it and like your rework even more because the greens on the left balance more with the rest of the image being less saturated. This green and the fog complement each other well. Invasive as it is, purple loosestrife makes a stunning impact. Thanks for this terrific post.
Thank you all very much for taking the time to comment on my image, I appreciate it.
Thank you for those very kind words Larry. In these pandemic times where my travel is limited, I’m kind of forced into trying to make do with mundane locations close to home. Waiting for special weather conditions is the key. Some of my photo buddies do call me "Mr. Fog "
Ed, I can’t say anything more than what has already been said. Another stunning image and final re-work! I had a chance to catch a bit of fog this past weekend, at Back Bay, in Newport Beach, CA. The scene was nothing near as captivating as this one, but my appreciation for fog-based images is ever-increasing and I’m hoping to get some Sequoia NP and Eastern Sierra fog scenes, when the fall season kicks off. Well done!
IMO, the loosestrife are the ‘leading actor in a starring role’ for this image. As such, they should not be desaturated…at least not from what was originally captured.
If you accept the premise above, an argument could be made to desat the greens some…esp the foreground foliage on the right. Muting the greens would truly allow the loosestrife to take center stage.
Overall, there’s a ‘soft & dreamy’ vibe implied by the fog. If it were my shot, I’d want to push that notion.
A gorgeous scene Ed, and your re-work with Igor’s and Kerry’s suggestions looks even nicer. I like your keeping the warmness in the trees, but I prefer the cooler WB in Igor’s over your re-work. As for the saturation of the Loosestrife, I think somewhere in between your rework and Igor’s would be nice.
Your image is a perfect example of why NPN is so great. When I first viewed your original I thought it was magnificent and really didn’t have any suggestions, but after seeing Igor’s image, I was surprised at the difference in them. It’s always great when so many really good shooters share ideas of what they think makes an image perfect.
