The uncommon confluence of a clear sunrise with no wind after a heavy rain occurred on New Year’s Day, so I headed to a local area that can yield some good images when that happens. This time the hoped-for ground fog didn’t materialize but there was a bit of mist on the water.
Specific Feedback Requested
All comments welcome!
Technical Details
A 5-stop HDR, processed in LR. Even with the natural appearance of the LR Photo Merge algorithm, I didn’t get the tonal separation I was hoping for. Maybe next time.
This is certainly one of the drawbacks of using HDR. You could correct for it though by bringing back in another of the images and feathering it in for more contrast. The hero here is that band of amazing orange light at center… I’d be compelled to crop in more to emphasize that. The dark trees on the right are “heavy” and my eye went there before the nice light. Something to think on.
Hi Diane, this is a lovely scene. I think the trees on the right could be brought up a bit. I also wonder about HDR in general. Today’s sensors are so dynamic that I haven’t had a thought to do HDR in a long time. I just expose for the highlights and bring the shadows up in post. I would think the Canon R5 would have plenty of dynamic range too.
I could picture camping on the banks of this river and waking up to this beautiful sunrise on the water. I love the orange lighting that floats across the river and the reflections of the trees. Soooo peaceful.
I have to agree with @Matt_Payne about a small crop and with @David_Bostock about the R trees being brought up a little. What a wonderful way to bring in the new year. Everyone could use some peacefulness in their lives now. Very nice, Diane.
Thanks, @Dave_Douglass, @Matt_Payne and @David_Bostock. More work on this one is in order. I was more concerned about the brighter tones and didn’t take the exposures high enough, but I’ll dig into the brightest one and see what I can pull out of it and add a masked layer. I love what I can do with the Shadows slider in Lr and NR tools.
This is beautiful!
The colors are great, the gradient blue compliments the orange very well!
The silhouette of the trees is very nice and the birds add a nice subtle touch to the scene!
To me however, there are two competing themes going on in this image, one is the symmetry of the trees from the reflections in the water and the second is the lovely orange misty light coming across the water.
They still work well together but I might be tempted to sacrifice some of the symmetry by cropping the bottom as shown below, just to bring the viewers attention to the best part of the scene which is the orange mist (only my opinion).
As always, it’s just something to think about (from a pair of old eyes).
The below example wasn’t cropped to any specific point, it was just to convey the idea, crop to your liking if you consider cropping at all.
I’m curious, rather than suggesting such a drastic change, should I just say: “Beautiful Image” and leave it at that? I’m always afraid I’ll offend someone by my critique when really all I want to do is provide an optional perspective.
HAH!! Thanks, @Merv – I do like the crop idea and will incorporate it when I try to do something with the dark tones. I always think of reflections when I’m shooting there, but you’re right, this one does profit from a different emphasis.
I love the give-and-take here, and often stick my nose into other people’s business with my idle thoughts on their images. So don’t worry about offending me with different takes on mine – I’m not sensitive. You can ask my kids…
