Aspen trees reflecting in the Bow River, Canadian Rockies
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Do you feel that this photo captures the “feel” of autumn?
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The Canadian Rockies are spectacular, aren’t they? And you’ve certainly brought that to light here. Speaking of light, was this HDR? You may have wanted this effect, but I have to say it’s not my favorite. For me, I would want to darken down at least the river banks to allow the eye to wander up the river to the peaks so gloriously lit up in the sun. The detail in the river banks and trees is wonderful, but they look like they’re in the sun too, contradicting the light on the mountains. Really great composition, and I like how the river bank colors echo the mountain peak colors.
As for the ICM’s & water abstract - Love 'em! I think fall colors on trees are excellent subjects for that technique, and you’ve done well with these. I really like how they’re not so blurry that I’m trying to guess what they are. And you’ve managed the color contrast well in that the golds aren’t overwhelming. The water piece looks like a Monet!
Very nice. I love the painterly look of the ICMs. On the reflection shot, by personal preference is to get down lower to the water. It might have been to marshy here for that, but a lower view point typically puts more in the reflection, which is my favorite part. You’d also be able to include the treetops on the right side. Your reflection appears to be lighter than your sky. Water absorbs light and saturates colors, so for a more natural look, you might want to at least add some saturation to the reflection. I can understand the desire to lighten that up a little though. A little warping in Photoshop to straighten the lens disortion at the left edge wouldn’t hurt either. Its a cool shot for sure
Thank you, Connie. No, the sunrise shot was not HDR. It’s from a RAW file shot on my iPhone 15. Good point about the river banks being a bit too bright considering they’re in the shade.
The two ICMs were shot on my phone with the camera app “Slow Shutter”.
Patrick
Thanks for your observations. The river bank was a too high and steep to get a lower shot, but I’ll keep your suggestion in mind for future such photos.
The ICMs were shot with the app “Slow Shutter” on my iPhone 15.
Patrick
Welcome to NPN Patrick. This is a sweet series. I love the two ICM shots and the beautiful reflection of the golden water. The top shot is a great landscape that certainly captures the feeling of Fall. It feels just a bit too saturated for my tastes, but that is somewhat subjective, and it might benefit from a slight skew or clockwise rotation.
Welcome to NPN and the Weely Challenge Patrick. These are all interesting views and show well the possibilities that a smart phone can offer. I also think that, in particular, the view of the rockies shows how the phone’s built in processing changes scenes. This is a lovely scene with the well lit peaks and a fine reflection, but as mentioned, the shadow areas are considerably too bright. When I do photography workshops, my opening statement is that it’s not the equipment that makes a photo, it’s the brain behind the camera and the knowledge of what the equipment can and cannot do. Not being a smart phone camera user, I don’t know if you can get unprocessed (RAW file) images from your phone. RAW images let you be in charge of the processing.
I particularly like your 2nd post and how you’ve emphasized the tree trunks with a fine collection of surrounding colors.
Hello Paul. I downloaded an app called Slow Shutter, You can shoot at shutter speeds from 1/8 sec, all the way down to Bulb. I don’t know how it does it, but you don’t need ND filters for the slow speeds. .
Thanks, Ed. I agree about the saturation. I should also knock down the exposure on the the banks since they are not in sunlight. Glad you like the ICMs and the river shot.
Thank you, Mark. I always shoot RAW with my Sony a6600, and often shoot RAW with my iPhone 15. Somehow I missed that the sunrise shot was not set for RAW. I agree that the banks on either side of the creek are over-saturated and too bright. I will have another go at it.
It’s true that Apple over-processed the iPhone photos so that they are “instagram-ready”.
