This has been languishing on the hard drive for a few months now. I couldn’t decide whether to post it or not, but I keep coming back to it, as I continue to like it, so here it is.
What called to me in this scene were the transitions between the reflections, the rocks beneath the water, and the grass. The sharp reflection of the trees, implying the presence of the forest on the steep slope above the water, was especially interesting to me.
Specific Feedback Requested
I tried various things with the grass in the LRC - lighter, darker, etc. I settled on making it +/- the same luminosity as the water, so it didn’t become the main event. Any comments related to that would be welcome.
I processed this to accentuate the rocks beneath the water at the top and towards to the LLC, and to minimize them where the clouds were reflected.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
a7r3, 28mm, 1/50s, f/16, ISO 400.
I quite like this, except the grass isn’t working completely for me. I took great liberties (and very little time) to see what it looked like without the grass. I find it makes an excellent abstract and your B&W treatment works great.
No problem. Your clone job is pretty good! I agree that is would be cleaner and more abstract without the grass, but I’m not sure I would do that much cloning. I would try to get a different comp in the field. I would have done that here, but the angle that I needed to stand to get that cloud reflection + the sinuous line of the tree reflections brought the grasses into the frame.
I’m glad that you decided to release “Transitions” from captivity on your hard drive.
This is my absolute favorite part of the image, it is so unusual looking and striking that it almost carries the image by itself. It’s so neat looking to have the dark rocks above contrast with the light ones below, and that contrast works better with the jagged transition of the trees.
I’m not sure about the grass though. It makes the composition well balanced, but injects a bit more realism than I prefer into an otherwise surreal looking image. I tried darkening the grass down so it drew less attention, but as you said that didn’t really help much.
A vertical of the left half of the image? Again, likely best done in the field via re-composing
Wonderful!! Harley has worked some magic, but I think the grass remains secondary enough to the reflections and view through the water, which is so compelling and interesting. I love the B/W tonalities!
This is a very creative image from the point of view of incongruity that grabs your attention. From that point of view the grass adds to the unexpectedness. Therefore it stays, in my opinion. One thing that nobody mentioned is the large rock in the shadows directly center. It’s edge is right on the transition line between shadow and clouds. I find that somewhat bothersome. I don’t think there is much to do about it now though. I’m not sure everybody would agree but from first sight that stands out for me.
Nice, nice image. My initial reading of the thumbnail was that it was a reflected sky shot, but then the boulder at the reflections edge caught my eye and pulled me into the below water detail. Now I wanted to see it larger. The grass adds a sense of place for me. I suppose if you wanted strictly an abstract you could clone it out, but I wouldn’t enjoy this image as much as an abstract. I also would not clone that large of an area out of an image, you can usually detect the repeating patterns like I do in @Harley’s “transgression”. :^)
No problem. Your clone job is pretty good! I agree that is would be cleaner and more abstract without the grass, but I’m not sure I would do that much cloning. 
I would try to get a different comp in the field. I would have done that here, but the angle that I needed to stand to get that cloud reflection + the sinuous line of the tree reflections brought the grasses into the frame.