The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
We had a pretty good freeze last night and I noticed the ice structures on the birdbath this morning, so I grabbed a camera and tripod. This wasn’t the birdbath but the small pond in the back yard shot as close to straight down as I could get (the ice wasn’t thick enough for a tripod).
Specific Feedback
I don’t consider this a mood piece, but I love all the angles and the glow from underneath. How does it work (or does it at all ) for you?
Technical Details
Sony A7Riv, FE 70-200 f/4 @ 200 mm, tripod with ball head, focus stack of 20 images, f/4, 1/160, iso 1000. Lots of processing: a fair amount of dehaze in LR, then to PS with some synthetic polarizer in NIK, quite a bit of structure enhancement with Topaz Detail 3, desaturation of the blues to reduce sky influence even more. Then back to LR with targeted color adjustments and final crop and rotation to 4958x5855 pixels.
Wow Dennis, this is quite festive! Right away I thought of Christmas - and specifically Christmas lights and decorations - at least beneath the surface… and the crystal like structure of the ice - well, just like those sparklling stars also part of the holiday decorations. Further, almost the texture of some of the modern plastic house lights (as opposed to the old incandescent glass bulbs from yester year…
Then again, just a pretty cool nature abstract!
Only feedback from me might be to tone down the yellow up top to be more in line with the other colors and tones. But that’s pretty minor.
Wow! I can get lost in this one. Looks like a painting in how the colors are smeared on top of each other, as if with a palette knife. I could see this printed large on the wall. No room for improvement!
Wow!! Love this image Dennis! The mosaic patterns and colors are awesome. The hard work in the focus stacking paid off. Great image and find. The color palette does remind of Christmas as Lon mentioned. This would make a beautiful large print.
Only minor area that you may want to address is the brighter yellow up top. You could increase saturation of the yellow in the shape near the center to draw the eye in while desaturating the brighter yellow above.
Wow, excellent, Dennis! It has a very Art Deco feel for me. The only things I might suggest are to tone down the yellow area touching the top of the frame and dodging the highlights in the darker areas, to bring out more depth in the ice (maybe a lights 2 mask?). Anyway, this is very cool.
Dennis: A terrific find and an even better capture and presentation. The original is great but the rework takes it to another level. Most excellent. >=))>
A beautiful shot, Dennis. I guess those are leaves creating the colors. But it’s the jagged-glass texture which really brings them out. I’d never heard of a synthetic polarizer (which Nik app is it in?). Did it bring out more color in the ice-only parts, or in the whole shot? Bravo!
@Mike_Friel It’s in color efex. I still use the old free version from It’s Google days. The color is from submerged rocks. I got there almost accidentally trying to get rid of reflected sky on the ice and once I saw it, I boosted it as far as I dared.
Stunning image, Dennis. Incredibly festive also. Seen large the structure and depth of this image is first rate. Is it wind that causes the ice formations to ripple like this? I agree with @Lon_Overacker that this looks like the plastic, textured icicles that you can buy as Christmas decorations in multiple colors. I have nothing to add that could possible make this any better so I will simply say, incredible image and one that you should be very proud of.
