The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I can move this elsewhere if it doesn’t fit.
So often we use the word abstract in only one of its three meanings - to express a thing that has no physical form or solidity, something that can be interpreted differently under different circumstances. But this photo doesn’t fit that. It is exactly what it appears to be - leaves in ice. Rather than something only borne of feelings and ideas, this is an abstract in the sense of something removed from the whole. It’s not exactly a landscape, neither is it a macro. Whatever it is I liked it.
As seasons cycle through, we get periods of quietude in the woods where nothing much is happening where we can see it. Plants are dormant, animals are brumating or hibernating, water is frozen. Sometimes I feel like my ability to see is frozen, too. But being outside is its own reward and photos are a bonus. This is a small slice of a much larger vernal pool I noticed off trail two days ago when it was a freakish 60 degrees (it was 0 this morning). Soon this pool will be alive with movement, song, rebirth and competition for resources. Right now though, it is calm and locked in silence.
Specific Feedback
Too weird? Not weird enough? Sometimes the things I see only light up my brain and no one else’s, but I am curious and so here it is. Ideas for next time and processing welcome. I’ll try anything once. Ha!
Technical Details
Handheld w/CPL turned partly on
Lr for basic processing for textures and to get the colors right using the Calibration panel. The usual S-curve for contrast, but nothing added in vibrance or saturation. Into Photoshop for some distraction removal and then cropped in Lr with a horizontal flip because it flowed better. Also reduced the contrast slightly and nudged the saturation, blacks & magenta a bit (single digits).
Kristen, this is perfectly fine to be included in the abstract channel. Really cool find. I like the layers and depth in your image. I see the color of the ice and it’s likely faithful to reality. If you wanted to nudge this to be a bit more abstract, you could introduce some blue tones in the ice to compliment the leaves.
Thanks @Paul_Breitkreuz & @Alfredo_Mora - glad it resonated with you both and that it can stick here. My brain is wired for more linear and literal thinking than most which is why I took a realistic approach with the image, so I appreciate suggestions. In the OP I added a version with the ice given a blue hue (mask in Lr with a luminance level intersect). Interesting and kind of fun.
I for one, totally understand where you are coming from, Kris. About a month ago when we had a slight freeze, I knew exactly where I wanted to be. Down at the Nature Trail on the edges of the Guadalupe River. I knew there would be soft thin frozen photos just waiting to be had. Also knew I only had about a half and hour to capture whatever I could before the sun caught the magic.
To answer your question; absolutely not weird. I love it. How the reflections of the half submerged leaves reveal a totally different look. Detail in the leaves and ice is perfect. It is like another world. Great shot.
I like the blue tone added to the ice, Kris. It adds some nice color contrast to the rust colored leaves. I especially really like all the texture in the ice that you caught. I mostly think of ice as sheer and clear, and this ice is just so interesting. I like the simplicity of the scene.
Oh, drat – I enjoyed this for a long time then got interrupted before commenting. What a wonderful find! The half-buried leaves are so cool, and the textures on the ice are absolutely tactile. It’s all here to spend time enjoying. There must have been so many tiny compositions to discover here – I get the feeling from the clean edges that the ice goes on forever. Both versions work equally well for me.
Very interesting thoughts about different kinds of abstractions and how this kind of tiny scene fits in.
Did you post any shots of your ice, Linda? I’d like to see what you found before it melted. Ours is basically gone now. It’s going to be about 60 degrees this weekend during the day. Insane. Glad it isn’t too weird. I’m working on another that is a bit more literal and has only one leaf…I think.
Also glad the blue works, I think I may have over-cranked it, but I’m going to let it go for now. If I do a series of this kind of thing I’ll have to make them more unified I think, but this session didn’t yield more than a couple or maybe three. What do you think about adding textures to this kind of thing when the scene itself didn’t show much?
Kris, I did not post any, actually haven’t post for over a year or so, my life is getting in the way. However, here are a couple. Basic post processing wasn’t planning on presenting them here. They were taken mid January. All with similar settings; f/11, 1/10 sec., ISO 160 @250mm.
I see what you mean about the blue cast. I also saw it in mine, tried to reduce it a bit, but clearly need to spend more concentrated time in post processing.
Still a totally fun day!
I love it! The colors and literal/not literal caught my eye.
Not weird enough! I’d say go wild on the weird and see where it leads you, let it be as much as an abstract as it wants to be. You could definitely play with it in many ways. For example, you could run further with your idea of blue sky in the ice by suggesting clouds in the ice too (maybe by using some blur or Orton to separate the details in the leaf from some softness in the ice/sky background?).
Thank you, @Cathy_Proenza for your very kind words. While I do love and value this NPN community, my life has given me other priorities at least for now. I comment when I can and still take photos whenever I have an opportunity. I’ve not given up on my passion for photography, it just can’t be first and foremost for now.
Not weird at all! I love the blue version; the blue isn’t overdone. Whoever said this was tactile was right on the money. The texture in the ice is wonderful. The little bits of icicles showing in melted gap between the leaf and the ice are fascinating.
@linda_mellor, your ice shots are cool, too. That first one is positively creepy (in a good way, of course). My first reaction was" Spider!"
I’m HAPPY to have your ice wonders here in this thread, Linda. I’m sorry life has become a runaway train for you, but feel free to drop any similar photo you have into one of my threads. And I hope you can return to photography again soon.
Not weird enough? Oy…I’ll have to have more wine and then maybe I can get outside my very literal approach to nature photography. Using the Orton effect is something I do now and then, and I think I did on this one, but it’s such a light touch that might not be obvious.
Tactile is a good adjective - the ice was underfoot and crackly, even when I couldn’t see it below a big carpet of leaves. Glad the blue doesn’t overwhelm.
