Rippled Rocks

These were the rocks in a portion of Lake MacDonald in Glacier National Park. Sure wish I could have confiscated some of these to bring home for a rock garden! The lighting was enhancing the color of these rocks, which were just below the surface of the water. All I've done to this is a slight saturation and a rather severe cropping to emphasize the rippled effect.

Please leave a comment. Thanks!

Very cool shot! As you probably know, what you are looking at is the bits and relicts of the preCambrian Belt Super Group rocks. These very ancient (1.5 to 1.2 billion years). I have taken the liberty of pushing the black point here, just to give a little more contrast and pop. I also sharpened this a touch. If you don't like what I've done, let me know, and I'll delete it. I love Lake McDonald, the gin-clear water, and the terrific colored rocks! Cheers! Chris

Well, you certainly have given me a lot of credit for knowing about these Pre-Cambrian rocks (NOT!!) :) So I appreciate the geology lesson, Professor! Thanks! And I have to tell you, Mr. Harris, that you have made my day with your comments on my recent photos. Apparently there is a pattern of them not being sharp enough. So....I've learned 2 things from this. First of all......trust myself and go with my gut and artistic sense, such as it is. I also thought they could use more sharpening. But in the past I've had a tendency to over-sharpen, and I also often like someone else's work when critiques will mention that they are over sharpened. So, I intentionally backed off from these. Also, these rocks are such an unbelievable color that I thought people wouldn't believe it if I pushed it too far. But as you know, they really can look like this in the right light. So lesson #2 is that I need to not worry so much about what others will think. Lesson learned (maybe, at least until next time!) :) Today is my day off, so I should have time to play with this later (after I make my plum crumble and get dinner started). Thanks again for your valuable input!

Wow Christal, these colors are beautiful!

Christal... Great color, both your original and the Prof's version. Somehow we missed these when in GNP, I look forward to going back. Excellent shot that would frame out well... Mike

 

 

As I said on the first shot in this series, you did a wonderful job. I really like the whole series and your comments about trusting your judgment on how much sharpening is right on. My Amigo Chris's revisions on a couple of these are really good (specially this one). Thanks for sharing a beautiful photographic trip with us...RAY

Based on Chris's comments above, I revised this, and I hope it's an improvement. I really had fits with this. With my limited editing ability, whenever I tried to make it brighter and more vivid, the white rocks would get blown out. I won't really know what this looks like on PN until its loaded, which may take awhile. But if it isn't right this time, I'll keep trying. Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions.

Wow! Fantastic colors! Very well seen and caught! Bravo

Christal, beautiful rock garden photo. Love the ripple effect and the outstanding color contrasts. Very striking. It would indeed frame out very nicely. This would be a nice addition to any ones portfolio. Thanks for your comment on my photo. Jim

Thanks for your kind comments.  And FYI Sadegh, my daughter actually requested this image, and she now has it framed in her house.  It would not have been my choice, but I'm glad some find it frame-worthy.  Thanks!

A very interesting shot, great result with beautiful colors and details.

Fabulous.