The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Sometimes things just fall into place like magic. Yesterday I intended to paddle on lake A, but it was so busy already with motorized fishing boats and a load of kayakers that I turned around and headed to lake C instead. Luckily up north of here in Wisconsin there is no shortage of them and it was only 8 minutes to the second choice. It isn’t a completely undeveloped lake like the first, but most of it is a State Natural Area and the houses are all at one end.
On it there is a shallow backwater where I spent a couple of hours just soaking up the hot summer day and the peace and tranquility that is part of my life on the water. I was photographing this nurse log from another angle when I noticed a turtle head in the foliage. While painted turtles aren’t as skittish as snappers (go figure), I didn’t want to scare it away so I very gently drifted over and held still for long periods so it would be comfortable with the giant red thing looming closer. When it was good and comfy I got out the camera and took stills and video.
I believe it to be a female and she is shedding scutes because she’s growing. Scutes are the individual plates that make up a turtle’s carapace. Snakes and lizards skin sheds as a single piece (or close to it), but turtle shells are different and so they break off in bits. While filming she did the cutest scratching when she had an itch.
Specific Feedback
So there are a lot of pink flowers around (Water smartweed) and couldn’t be avoided. Instead I tried using them as a frame and to illustrate the high-summer conditions. Does it work? It was almost 90 degrees and so this turtle was soaking it up!
Technical Details
Handheld in the kayak between two branches of a fallen tree for some stability
Freewell magnetic CPL in place
In camera I adjusted the tone curve to lift blacks and lower highlights since it was alreay very contrasty. Also used highlight weighted metering.
Lr for a bit of wb adjustment, tone curve to adjust contrast, Topaz Sharpen AI for that and noise reduction. Lr again for a crop and some work with texture and dehaze. Photoshop for some edge distraction removal. Lr again to brighten some things for more of a summer look.
Love it Kris. Yes, at least for me, the pink flowers are a bit of a distraction. However, in this case they do seem to add to the story. Can’t remember but isn’t the weekly challenge something about in the heat of the day? Seems to me this capture would fit perfectly! Great patience and nicely seen.
I think you have found magic! The colours, detail and reflection are beautiful. I personally love the pink against the green (complementary colours after all) and find those flowers important for the story of summer. I wouldn’t necessarily know it is hot (except for the turtles behaviour) but I don’t think the temperature is that important to the story I see.
I am curious what you cropped… there is a lot to balance here, with the reflection, the line of pink at the top and the end of the log. I think you may be able to pull out even a bit more depending on what is hiding on the edges.
Kris, you captured this guy nicely between the two clumps of green growing out of the log. It frames her nicely. For me, I wonder about maybe a crop from the bottom of the log up (since her reflection isn’t sharp anyway because of ripples). This would remove the oof pink flowers in front, and I think maybe it would balance the composition better. I like the pink flowers in the BG, but feel those oof in the front are more distracting than helping, if that makes sense. Excellent find and shot, and I love that you were able to get her eye level. Kayaking is really working for you in getting some really neat shots.
Great turtle, but the pink flowers make this a great image. So many of my wildlife images lack a sense of place. This one places a beautiful if humble creature in a beautiful habitat.
Thanks @linda_mellor, @Shirley_Freeman, @Robena.Sirett & @james7 - your time and thought are appreciated. This was easy and difficult to edit as there is so much in the scene that, to me, speaks of the very short summer season here. Deciding how much to leave in was hard, especially that reflection. Here is the full frame before I brought it to Photoshop. I sent the cropped version to Ps as you see above.
Kris, you are right. I don’t know really of a better crop than what you did. I was thinking you could crop out the front flower that are oof, but in closer inspection, a couple of them stick up in front of the log. I think maybe you might have it as good as it gets.
Now the last one is the kind of crop I had in mind, about that much of the log and water, but I think there are more flowers in the way. That one on the right isn’t a problem in this shot. It looks like he was a fun subject to photograph on a neat log.
Hey Kris, I was just tryint to imagine, how you must have felt, kayaking amongst the pink flowers !?
It’s a beautiful setting and I just love the bokeh of pink flowers in the BG. I think oof flowers in the foreground are bit of distraction, so can be avoided.
I was just wondering if the original post needs some level adjustment ? However your full frame version appears to be ok.
I love this image, Kris. For me, the OOF pink orbs are what make the entire setting work. SO, to answer your question, yes it works and it works quite well indeed.
I might crop from the bottom to remove the grouping of OOF flowers on the back of the turtle as the foreground appears less neat than the background but otherwise you have a terrific image and I would have loved to have been able to be in the water kayaking in all of these flowers.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman, @JRajput & @David_Haynes - paddling with lots of floating flowers can be fun so long as you can actually paddle. There is a gorgeous creek that I love because it’s windy and ends up at a lake (headwaters), but I have to get to it before mid-June or else the vegetation covers parts of it so thickly that you can hardly move. We had a pretty cold May this year so I didn’t get to it. But water smartweed has much smaller leaves so is manageable.
