Kenai Mountains and Chugach Spruce

I was finishing up a day of shooting in so-so light when the colors

started to pop. I found this composition with the spruce trees

framing the reflection of the peak in the water and really liked the

relationships between the shapes. (I have a tighter-cropped version

of this in the same folder.) Please rate and comment, particularly

letting me know if this is interesting enough to avoid the usual

problems with mountains and reflections. Thanks.

I like this much better than the tighter crop. Great colors and composition. My one criticism depends on whether or not the camera was level; I can't tell whether the lake shore is naturally contoured like that or accidentally tilted.

This photograph is all about the composition, it works well. The colors are amazing too, as above I can't tell if your camera is level or not but hey it's still a great shot.

Though done many times over, I always like these shots. I too thought the camera wasn't level but those trees look ruler straight! A beautiful photo nonetheless.

 

Happy shooting,

 

David.

Very nice shot. I love the colors, great light on the mountain.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

I agree this is a beautiful photo, and the trees *are* straight, but that tilt to the shoreline is too confusing to me. It keeps me from enjoying this photo as much as I would if it were straight.

I am going to have to go back to the location to check, but I think that the sloping of the horizon is a product of that part of land coming out into the inlet along the shoreline. The inlet narrows a little at this point. Every indication at the time told me that the camera was level. I will let everyone know what I figure out.

Very nice shot!

The soft hues give a very nice aesthetic to this image especially to the trees and rock slope in the foreground. The water and distant mountains are less interesting and the primary reflection of the lighted peak feels less powerful than it could be because it is compositionally muted.

 

The comments about a level tripod and whether "the horizon tilts that way or not" seem to ignore the simple fact that the image had to be compromised. Either allow for a straight horizon (the water level) or straight trees in the foreground.

 

Whichever choice would compromise the other element in the image. Those are the choices we constantly face as photographers and they differentiate very good images from the great ones.

this really is a stunning photo. the coloration is just incredible, especially in the foreground snow. i know the phenomenon you spoke of, where a shoreline looks tilted because it's not perpendicular to your line of sight...yet still i see from some masking that the trees are quite square with the shoreline. after some nudging, i found that a 1.6° clockwise rotation set my eyes at ease with this photo and allowed me to really soak it up without...er...feeling like i was leaning a bit. ;-) here is the result.

Leif,

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I have adjusted the image and things look fine. Hopefully no one will be further distracted. It is amazing just how subtle it was...