Mirror

Very original shot that works so well. Excellent composition, best wishes William.

It has impact, but something's not right. How can the reflection a) be brighter than the sky and b) not show the clouds and color of its source? Surely an impossibility? Is the sky photoshopped in?

Personally, I'd like to see the midtones brightened a bit.

It seems that most photos of reflections off calm lakes emphasize the extent of the reflection, and in those photos the separation between the objects and their reflections is essentially a horizontal line across the photo. Ricardas's photo is different from most because he has chosen a small tarn to do the reflecting, so the reflection appears more like a window than a complete wall. In such a wide open and mountainous terrain, I would be attempting to capture the feeling of spaciousness, but here the photographer has put the focus on a small pond, which gives the shot a bit of intimacy. Compositionally, I like the diagonal lines made by the slopes, and their reflections, and how they radiate outward. I like the echo of the shape of the mountains in the shape of the near shoreline. I like the contrast of the rocky peaks against the vegetated areas.

There really is very little blue sky in the right position to be reflected, so showing clouds in the reflection might be difficult. To me, it seems a minor point. Yes, reflections should be darker than the objects that are reflected, but this scene looks realistic to me. It's hard to tell if processing has lightened the reflection, or if there is some other factor at work.

While I'm not one to mind centering as a rule, here it doesn't work for me. The composition makes the view rather stagnant and uninviting to me. It seems to emphasize the fact that this is yet another reflection photo without a compelling point of view or personality, lacking a perspective which will somehow engage my imagination or thoughts. It just seems to be what it is, what most people would snap if they were touring the area. The deep tones in the hills work well, especially as offset by the soft lighting of the foreground. The light of the reflection feels like it's shouting, no matter what caused it. If it was post processing, it feels off and if it was "natural" it still feels off in terms of its photographic presence, and I would have toned it down. (I would bet on it having been lightened in post.)

For comparison, I'd recommend THIS photo by the same photographer, which feels less pedestrian to me, has subtlety, utilizes space nicely, and seems alive, as nature so often does.

I see why the author increased the brightness, because otherwise it would not have made a statement, however, I believe he has gone too far as the realism has been destroyed. Just back it off and it will be better, but I do think that the point of the photo is the reflection in this case, and when made to be more realistic the photo may lose impact and may just become "another landscape". Still it's worth a try.

Robin, the sky is not photoshopped in. I think there is no so much blue color to be reflected on the water.
This photo was taken in the morning , when the sun was still behind the mountain,but started to light rapidly the valley (look at the left corner of photo). So I had to hurry and took several images of this pond,with various compositions. I didnt wanted to look reflection centered and it still seems a bit of center to me.
Maybe a bit too much light on the reflection added in post ...,maybe :)
Any way thanks for discussion.