The colors of the creeks in Whiskeytown Park (northern California) are just wonderful in winter - when we have water, of which we have a lot this year. Our big rains and snows this season have all the little creeks flowing very well. Hence, Winter Joy as a title.
Where the creeks flow over the greenstone bedrock, the color is a lovely blue-green. Where different colored cobbles and gravel collect, the color contrast is striking. Finding a spot with perfect ripples makes for cool abstracts.
This was a spot that I saw with my peripheral vision, a la that described in @murray_livingston 's recent article. I moved around to be closer to the scene, but those shots are not as effective as the angle I spotted initially.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
I have various other frames of this and had a hard time deciding which one to post. Any comments on color, comp, etc. welcome.
Technical Details
D5600, 92mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 400, hand held.
Processed in ACR & PS; expanded histogram, increased saturation, dodge & burn.
Oh my! This is fantastic. Instinctive impression was that I immediately wanted this rotated. Of course as an abstract, there’s no reason not too… Then one quickly realizes - you’ve probably already exhausted all the possibilities and ultimately I came to the same conclusion … and like this orientation the best…
Second impression was an abstract, warped mosaic. I think of mosaic as tiles, but these are stretched, warped and tossed in a big mixing bowl of color. This is one of those natural abstracts that one could get lost in for quite some time. I do see the head of a goose in the ULC - and a 90deg rotation, one could imagine the whole goose. But make no mistake there are many things to be imagined here.
What I don’t get is a sense of winter… but I certainly understand the notion of your title.
Agree with Lon regarding wanting to rotate this fantastic image Bonnie but upon further review, I love the way you have presented it here. The standout features to me are the blues and earthy colors playing off each other and the mosaic like patterns. This definitely has an impressionistic quality about it. Excellent work spotting this and presenting it!
What a beautiful arrangement of shapes and colors. And that small splash of orange really makes this image for me. I would experiment with enhancing some of the other 4 or 5 oranges to that same level and see how it affects the whole composition. One at a time. Orange and turquoise is a great combination.
This reminds me of marbled endpapers used in bookbinding. The colors are so harmonious and pleasing as Igor pointed out. I could see playing with some of the tones on either side of the range and see how that affects the overall. The water looks so crisp and refreshing. That little bit of movement created some great surface textures, too. Keep looking down!
Yes, it could be rotated any which way - I tried every possible permutation I think. I’m still considering other options. Maybe one of the other frames I shot.
Yes, that small splash of orange was the deal maker for me. I did enhance some of the other orange spots, but didn’t want to go too far. Will look again.
That’s it! I couldn’t put my finger on what it reminded me of, but it’s those cool old endpapers.
I did think that my title wasn’t so great. Another example of the title conveying the personal experience and the photo not matching.
