Leisure Time on Willow Creek

A chance encounter from a bridge over Willow Creek. I had stopped

near sunset to see if conditions warranted a frame or two and

spotted these guys putting their boats in the water for some

recreation. Camera was on a tripod with cable release and shutter

down around 1\30 sec. (note the blurred paddles) I waited until

both boaters were in a position to break up the rather bland

highlight on the water and released the shutter. Cropped square

(simply looks better to me) in PS, I also toned down the bright

highlight on the water so it wouldn't be too bright; more like I

remember the scene. Your suggestions, pre or post exposure, on how

to make this a stronger shot, will be gratefully received. Best, LM.

Excellent composition.

Len, this photo instantly reminded me of a movie called Deliverance. It's an American movie that came out in the 70s. I won;t go into detail but if you get a chance, you should watch it. I would agree that the composition is flawless. I think this shot would have been greatly improved with a polarizer though.

Satvinder, Thanks for taking the time & for the validation.

 

Will, That movie sounds familiar; perhaps I've seen it. I'll keep my eyes open for it in any case. Yah, the polarizer; I've started to keep one mounted on whatever lens I am using. Don't always need\desire the full effect dialed in and it does offer some protection for the lens front element. Best, LM.

I like the image but I can't get by what looks like a color cast to the image. The saturation just doesn't look right. IMHO it looks as if the image is overexposed.

 

I like the fact that you had the patience to wait until they moved into the highlighted area to break it up and I like the diagonal movement the highlight makes but the image looks a little flat. I hope that you don't think I am being rude, I just can't seem to find the right words.

 

Don

Don, thanks for your input. The colour cast of which you speak could have been due to my laziness in selecting the Auto Color feature in PS. The overabundance of green here probably caused a corresponding 'correction' a bit on the magenta side. I'm posting the original file with only Auto Level & Auto Contrast selected after resizing for the web. A bit of overexposure could be attributed to the in-camera meter seeing so much dark surroundings though I thought the highlighted area would compensate & produce more of an 'average'exposure. (rechecking, I see the negative is OK) I thought this was taken with Reala but now I see it was Superia 200. I never once doubted my cropping decision & still feel it is the right one for this shot. Reducing the highlight tone was perhaps a mistake but the only way I could see to bring out any surface details in the water. Still hung up on that one! Telling it like it is doesn't constitute rudeness. Yours is the most beneficial type of feedback there is and it is gratefully received. Best, LM.

Looking at both shots I can't decide which I like better.

 

In the original what I like is how the reflection seems to create a border on the left side and the mud bank on the right, allowing you to move into the picture from the bottom. It leads you deep into the image letting you wander causualy through the image.

 

As far as reducing the highlight, I don't think it was a mistake. You have great detail there and you would have lost a lot of that if they go too high and has a tendency to keep grabbing your eye and not allowing you to just wander around.

 

I would also say I think this could have been improved with a warming filter but that would have lowered your speed even more and I don't know what the additional blur would have done to the overall affect. I don't think changing the aperture would have worked because I like the DOF that you have. It always seems like we have to sacrifice something when we make the decision to push that little botton.

 

Don

Len, the richness of the grass ahead of the paddlers on the original is very nice, but they are both fine. I don't see the need for a polarizer, and a warming filter would take away that fresh look of the greens of the real outdoors, in my opinion. Nice work!

 

--Lannie

Lannie, Long time no speak! Shame on me! Your name got zapped on my 'friends' list somehow but I've got you back now. I've taken to keeping a polarizing filter mounted on my lens recently primarily to be able to dial in the degree of filtering I need, if any. If none is dialed in I'm short 2 stops but in landscape work it seldom makes a difference if the shot is 1/125 or 1/30 sec. No need for Don's warming filters with neg. film, in my opinion, when you have PS. Thanks for stopping by. Best, LM.