A Walk Around Mud Pond

[bob_marz]

<p>So, there's probably about 30 Mud Ponds in the Adirondack Park of New York. This Mud Pond is close to my house and usually I just use it to walk or jog around. I took this photo/jaunt at about the same time frame as Michael E's Puget walk. His thread inspired me to edit my images and post this thread. All images were taken with my workhorse K10D and Tamron 18-250mm. Critical comments are appreciated. Click on images for larger view. Trail thru the woods <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> I liked the grouping of these overhanging branches <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Mud Pond <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> The bright white contrast and bright yellow leaves caught my eye <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Reflections <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/5.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/6.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Bald Faced Hornet Nest. You do not wanna mess with these guys. <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/7.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Beaver Den <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=8.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/8.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Water Colors 1 <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/9.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Old Tree 1 <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=10.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/10.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Old Tree 2 <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=11.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/11.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Beaver Den 2 <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=12.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/12.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Canadian Goose on beaver den <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=13.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/13.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Water Colors 2 <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=14.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/14.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Ripple reflection <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=15.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/15.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Clipped reeds <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=16.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/16.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Reed reflections <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=17.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/17.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Reed detail / bridge <a href="http://s407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/?action=view&current=18.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp153/marzrw/A%20Walk%20Around%20Mud%20Pond/18.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>A simple place of great beauty. The water reflections and yellow leaves on white are particularly well seen and enjoyable. Thanks </p>

[markus maurer]

<p>I hoped for "a walk in the mud" but I do like the reflections on the water also a lot.</p>

[shots worth sharing]

<p><em>Very</em> nice set, Bob! All interesting but Mud and Water Colors 1 are my favorites.</p>

[ukhov]

<p>-good image of deep autumn </p>

[dorus]

<p>as good as ik can possibly get, wonderful autumn series !</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Congratulations on an éclat! :)</p>

[steve_t.1]

<p>Just a couple comments on a couple photos-</p>

<p>#1- Along with the diagonal of the shoreline, the subtlety of the leaf covered trail as a leading line is helped by the subtlety of the few lighter colored tree trunks along the trail as they eye approaches the background. The eye is drawn to the lighter color of those trunks, and the two feature combine to pull my eyes through that part of the scene. Nice. Just saw, though, a tree on the right side of the trail near the background, what is the red circular detail on the tree trunk? Can that be touched out? Great photo, though.</p>

<p>#2- the overhanging branches. Again, leading lines, all the branches hanging in harmony bringing your eye to the water. And the rich colors of the leaves. Very nice.</p>

<p>#5, reflections. I like how the leaning trees, and their reflections, are adding a geometric quality to the photo that would only be possible with a reflecting surface, like the natural mirror of the pond.</p>

<p>#7, bees nest. I like the blurred background of the shallow depth of field, very good use of that. But can the image be recomposed to move the nest away from center (albeit lower center)? If it could be framed a bit more to the right side of the frame... maybe a bit of a crop from the lower right corner up into the image? Maybe in combination with a bit of a crop down/in from the top right corner if needed.</p>

<p>Nice work, I like doing stuff like this myself. I recently viewed a Bryan Peterson how-to clip (thought it was at Adorama's site, but I can't find it there...) about how he uses a polarizer when shooting scenery just like this on cloudy days, especially if everything is wet (post rain, dew covered, etc) because the wet surfaces have even richer colors, and the polarizer will cut down the light glare/reflection off those wet surfaces letting the rich colors come though.</p>

[steve_t.1]

<p>Here's the Bryan Peterson clip using a polarizer during cloudy/rainy conditions.</p>

<p>http://videos.ppsop.com/polarizer.html</p>

[bob_marz]

<p>Thanks everyone for the comments. It is appreciated.</p>

<p>Steve, thanks for the thoughts. The red circle is actually a trail marker, and since I am a hiker I actually intended to keep it in the scene. But I like all of your other comments. And thanks for the link to Bryan Peterson. I have his book. Also, I<em> </em>took a few pics of the bees nest and tried different crops and things without any satisfaction, so your thoughts again are appreciated.</p>

[steve_t.1]

<p>You're welcome, Bob. Happy shootin'.</p>

[laur1]

<p>The two "Water Colors" are both great.</p>

[bob_marz]

<p>test</p>

[MattB.Net]

<p>Good stuff! I like the second and third images a lot. Reflections like that are just irresistible to me!<br>

I agree with the comment about the hornet nest being too centered and a few others where the subject is centered (like the beaver den). I think it would make a better composition if it fell on a third of the frame. <br>

Overall very nice work and a nice capture of some great natural beauty.</p>