'Fall Morning, The Northwest Steelhead River'

Steelhead are rainbow trout that go to the Pacific Ocean to grow and

look and grow just like salmon. And like salmon they return here to

their place of birth, here the Kalama River near Chehalis Washington

State, USA to spawn in gravel upstream right where they were born

But unlike salmon they do not die when they spawn and can return to

the ocean to spawn again. The still river mouth here feeds into the

massive Columbia River nearby one fall morning. Your ratings,

critiques and observations are invited and most welcome. If you rate

harshly, very critically or wish to make a remark, please submit a

helpful and constructive comment. Please share your photographic

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! john

This was taken as a NEF (Nikon's proprietary raw capture), but at the time it was taken there was no proper software to manipulate it.

 

Also the capture, even now is so dark that in thumbnail it is impossible without manipulation to see the scene.

 

I revisited this capture recently, taken long ago and was surprised as I brought out the scene, as I never really previously had seen it,  and I barely remember taking it.

 

This is a good lesson for those folks who 'shoot and delete', shoot and delete' looking for winners and saving nothing.

 

This was saved the better part of a decade and only now is being seen for the first time.

 

Garry Winogrand may have had the right idea.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

When I converted to digital, some ten years ago, it came after 30 years in the darkroom. I'd grown accustomed to spending hours coaxing quality images from defective, but promising negatives, so shooting raw files seemed the only way to go. And like so many others, I discovered their magical potential, especially when combined with PS. I still have nearly every raw file taken during the decade, because you just never know. Look how well it paid off for you. There, hiding in all numbers, was this beautiful, evocative scene. I'm glad you were finally able to capture it. Best Regards, Jerry King

Mostly for years I almost never even opened past downloads, and this one shows almost completely dark even when shown in NEF with modern viewers.

 

I had to lighten it considerably to even see its scene let alone bring out its beauty, but oh, what a surprise!

 

I tend to keep everything (except bird shots), because, as you said essentially, 'you never know'.

 

It did work out well here; though I doubt there are many surprises left; I abandoned shooting NEFS after a brief experiment because I couldn't open them or in most instances even view them.

 

I learned a lesson, but paid a price.

 

Thanks for an informative comment.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

great pic...can't wait for the steelhead run here in the NorthEast. Steelhead Alley.

Can you believe I just discovered this?

 

What a find, hunh?  It's why I almost never delete anything unless it's terribly out of focus and even then with caution.

 

Thanks for the nice comment.  Good fishing for you when the steelhead run.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

This was taken with a Nikon D70 when it was brand new, a 6.1 megapixel camera.  The photo was taken in raw, but not processed until it was viewed recently. and then was processed in the latest Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS5.

 

It is doubtful if it had been processed when taken it would have looked so good, as there was a dearth then of NEF (Nikon raw format) processing software, a fact that caused me to abandon taking NEF photos for some considerable time out of frustration.  

 

I just couldn't process them and didn't want to wait forever; I couldn't see the point.

Now I can.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

Well seen. It looks like pastel painting art!

It does have a painterly 'feel' to it, doesn't it?

 

Just another one of my many genres.

 

Thank you for a helpful comment.

 

john

John (Crosley)

 

like♥♥♥

Wow!

I never got one of those before.

 

Where on my keyboard is the heart?

 

Thanks so much.

 

john 

 

John (Crosley)

Very nice.

A hidden treasure indeed! The mist and the golden colors are wonderful. I too would not delete photo files right away, even in-camera.

With your credentials and accomplishments, any positive comment from you is held in high esteem.

 

Thank you.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

When after nearly a decade this very dark file began to take shape on my screen as I brightened it, I looked at it and congratulated myself for thinking ahead for just one decision.

Never delete.

 

You never know when you're deleting a world class photo (or nearly so) that you don't then recognize, or that the software of the day doesn't allow you to bring to fruition.

 

For some, not me, it also means lifting and copying portions such as skies, bodies of water, colors, etc., to place in other photos, but if the photo is gone, you can't lift portions of one photo to create another.

 

For instance if the famed Jerry Uelsmann deleted his captures or recycled his negatives, where would his next captures/creations come from?

 

Occasionally I lose some captures, though I back up incessantly, (but with bird photos shoot and delete sometimes), but in general hard drives are cheaper and cheaper and with larger and larger capacity (not now until Thailand dries out as store shelves are empty . . . . and bargains hard to come by).

 

Thanks for the comment.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

Hi John,  Beautiful, love the still of the water and mist in the distance, colors are great with good composition. There is one tiny thing that bothers me and that is I think a rock midway to the right, it looks to be perfectly round and sort of reminds me of a plug, pull it and the river drains, I know it is not but that is what I thought of when I saw it. I would clone that little round thing out of there. No distractions for such a beautiful capture.  Best Regards,  Sherry

 

 

I like the colours and light! Beautiful work! 6

Thank you for the kind compliments -- to find this among my older work, almost unrecognized was a great surprise to me.

 

As to your suggestion to clone, I take it in good faith, but I don't clone.  My last Photo of the Week had people lined up with shadows against a wall and  a stray plastic bag 'spoiling' it.  I didn't clone out the bag though many suggested I should.  It was well received any way.  I think that the issue you see also may be particular to your vision so I will not worry about it, but thank you for bringing it to my attention; never withhold because you think something is to small, weird, or personal to write because others sometimes will write 'I was thinking the same thing but though no one else would feel the same way.

 

Thank you for your analysis and compliments.

 

john

John (Crosley)

And to think that I am known for 'street' work.

 

Who know that I could do landscapes?

 

Actually where composition is involved, I feel I can do most everything, except 'street' poses an additional challenge, like the challenge of speed chess to chess.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

One compositional analysis can center on the subject of '3s'.

 

Take the color group centering around yellow/golds and reds.  

 

The first instance is at the lower right, the second to the upper left in the farther distance and the third group in the very far distance right in the center of the upper part of the photo.

 

Additional, one can analyze this photo in terms of light and shadow, seeing lightness in the center, with a large triangular light shape with the water and reflected sky in the center foreground, and the darkness on the near right and farther left from the shadow of the trees and shrubbery/overhang shielding the water from reflecting the sky and finally in the distance, the reflective water, but less clear in part because of overhanging morning mist.

 

In another analysis, this is a 'C' curve, similar to an 'S' curve, and quite compelling -- almost as compelling as an 'S" curve and more so because this is quite a complex photo with its other features (yellows, shadows,  and geometrical shapes).

 

I have always found the 'S' curve to be one of the most compelling for drawing in a viewer's eye, but in a range of interesting compositional devices, the 'C' curve is a very close second and sometimes in the right circumstance, it can compete very well with the 'S' curve.

Here I think this 'C' curve actually may outperform an 'S' curve.  If one could draw back and up, one would see that this actually would be an 'S' curve if shot from higher up on the bridge, but I didn't have a bucket lift to use as a platform to elevate me.

 

In any case, that's my analysis.  Do you have a different or varying view?

 

john

John (Crosley)