A leaf in ever mutable river ice gets loose and then regripped over and over. I’ve been sidelined by Covid since mid-December so this is from November when I was prowling the backyard with the camera, something I do fairly often. With the dock out of the water, I have to creep down to the rocks and try to lean over and not break the ice. Hopefully I can get out again soon, but I wanted to share this one since I like it.
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Wish I could have gotten a bit more DOF with this. Does the shallowness bug you? Should have gone in for the tripod or upped the ISO.
Technical Details
Handheld
Lr for basic tonal management including some masking to dodge and burn with contrast and clarity. Massaged the color palette too since the reflecting sky was a bit weird. A bit of distraction removal on the ice surface.
So sorry to hear about the Covid thing. I hope you’re on the mend and back to health soon. I like this a lot. The DOF is fine except for the rock under the leaf…it might be due to water not DOF though. Just a bit distracting. The comp is fantastic.
I’m sorry to hear you’re a bit under the weather, Kris. Is this “Covid thing” ever going to be over??? However, I am glad you had a chance to find and post this image. I like the composition and the DOF doesn’t bother me at all. For me at least, it adds to the environment the leaf is in. Is it an optical illusion or my eyes worse than I think, what is under the leaf? I thought it was melted ice from the heat of the leaf? Or, at @David_Bostock mentioned at rock? Either way I do like the contrast in texture and DOF.
Kris, I am so sorry that you have been dealing with COVID. I pray you will be back to your usual self soon.
This is such a nice find and capture. DOF is fine for me. It looks like melted ice rather than a rock. Going with that thought, I like that the hole in the ice is mimicking the shape of the leaf. Nicely done. Feel better soon.
Thanks @David_Bostock, @linda_mellor & @Shirley_Freeman - I wondered if the dark bit would be a confounding factor. It is indeed melted ice in two shelves - the one the leaf is resting on and a view from the hole it created down to the next shelf of ice. Maybe I should darken it or something?
Very cool image and well seen! I love the simplicity in the image and the shallower depth of field isn’t a deal breaker for me.
I hope you’re feeling better now!
Love this image Kristin. To me, it seems like the leaf is slowly and steadily moving along the ice to its destination. The shallowness does not bug me at all, I like how the leaf is more in focus than the background. The only thing I would change is maybe cool down the ice a bit to give it a more bluish tinge, mainly for two reasons. First, to give the message of how cold it was and second, to increase the complimentary colour harmony a bit more. Thanks for sharing this image. Love it.
I initially wasn’t sure what the dark area under the leaf was. I’m glad you explained it. Very interesting. Nice textures and I like how the curving line in the ice intersects the leaf.
Hope you get past Covid soon, Kris. I really like the photo and the DOF is good for me. The ice on the top of the leaf is great because it tells the story of it melting underneath it. I think the leaf shows very well because the rock is soft. You have s great eye to spot a nice photographic subject.
Ice is wonderfully plastic and even though we think of it as a fixed thing, it isn’t and so yes, the leaf was frozen in one place, released and then frozen again. Endlessly changing.
I put a second version with a bluer cast to the ice than originally - did I go too far? Also darkened the hole in the ice left by the leaf after the first melt. Does it help?
Kris, I definitely like the added blues in the reworked version but I’m torn about the darkened hole because I quite liked that you could better see the pebbles in the creek bed through the water.
Kristen, Sorry to hear about your Covid woes. Hope you are feeling better. I’m late to the party but great minimalist image. Love seeing the subtle transformation from the suggested edits by the community. The last edit’s the keeper for me.
Thanks @AndreDonawa & @subhasish_dutta - looks like the third time is the charm once again. Little tweaks can make the biggest improvements.
Covid-wise, I’m getting there. Lingering cough that just. will. not. go. away. Crazy, but at least the fatigue is gone and I feel more or less human again. Stupid virus.
I’m really glad for this community of great, kind people and how we can all help each other out!
I hope you get rid of the stupid virus soon! I caught it last March, was sick for only a few days, but I lost my sense of smell completely for about a month. It then sort of came back in that I could smell some things a bit but it made a lot of the smells from toothpaste to wd-40 smell the same and disgusting which was really odd. It was only a couple weeks ago that I finally noticed my sense of smell returning to what it once was.
I think that it’s just perfect now.