It was a cold blustery winter day with on the shore of lake Huron.
Specific Feedback Requested
Two items I was investigating was white balance and depth of filed. My eye was drawn to the oval patch of snow with sand in the bottom right corner . So that’s where I set my focus. Experimenting with depth of field to see if a shallower depth of field will add depth. sometimes with everything in focus you may lose a sense of depth. I also slightly softened the upper portion of the image with a gradient filter in LR.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
F11, 1/200, iso800 at 160mm.
What a lovely scene. The WB looks fine to me. I’m not so keen on the fading focus, though, as far as it giving a sense of depth. Maybe if it was even more exaggerated, it would work better. Alternatively, I could see this as more of a semi-abstract, with all in focus. Maybe crop off that very top line of grass, so you just have those lovely curves of the bank.
Bryan, these dune grasses make for a very interesting winter subject, great idea to explore this location. I think the WB looks fine, the grasses not too warm, and the whites slightly cool, but not too cool. You hit the Goldilocks WB, just right.
I like the concept of having repeating ridges of dune grass, but I’m also in the camp of the fading DOF not appealing that much to me. I think its because when I see repetition in an image (such as the ridges of dune grass), my preference is to see them look similar, including DOF. Just my subjective opinion.
The white balance looks just fine to me also, Bryan. I also like the repeating shapes of the ridges, but for my tastes I find myself wishing you had more depth of field so they were in focus. Just my opinion of course. The unusual patch of sand and snow that you focused on is certainly intriguing.
Great intimate subject matter, Bryan. So much is appealing and working in this image. Completely agree with @Bonnie_Lampley’s critique about the crop along the top and soft focus. Also agree with @Ed_McGuirk that the repeating curves would carry most of the weight for this image. Very much looks like a pencil drawing in artists sketch book. Nicely seen and captured.
Very nice image. Good job on visualizing a photo in this scene. I found myself wondering if adding a little contrast by darkening the vegitation using a Levels adjustment would be an improvement and tried it…different, not necessarily better.
