Starrigavan Estuary - Reflections

My suggestion for this shot during your time of taking it would have been to warm up the white balance and to make moderate use of a polariser.

White balance adjustment to enhance the greens and browns in the scene a polariser to reduce the haze and bring definition to the clouds (Example: 1 & 2, 3 & 4), 'moderate' use of the polariser to maintain reflections of the mountain range in the water. Since you used a wide angle lens for this shot and the suns light is somewhat perpendicular to the axis of the lens and not behind you I would also be mindful of possible unwanted banding.

If banding became an issue a soft graduated ND filter would be my other option - possibly a 2 or 3 stop - as opposed to a polariser for a short focal length lens. This would allow for better lighting control with the foreground and background.

(See: "Avoid polarizers on wide-angle lenses")

An alternative for adjusting camera white balance would be to use a warming filter such as an 81B in conjunction with those other filter options, however white balance should not be on auto mode if this option is used as it will attempt to neutralise the filter's warming effect. Some may argue that using a warming filter as opposed to adjusting your camera's white balance is a better option for maintaining dynamic range and avoiding chromatic aberrations. Others may claim that using a warming filter is unnecessary and may result in unwanted reflections on the CCD sensor. Both methods have their merits. It's a matter of personal choice.

This is a fine composition.

I sure appreciate your taking time to comment on my photo. Thank you, especially Earl for the long and informative, technical evaluation. It will take me some time to digest all that.

Regards, Wolf.