On reflection

[alfbranch]

Here is a recent shot of mine I would like some advice on.


Ennerdale panorama 6 by alfred.branch, on Flickr

[amk1977]

I really like it. Frozen tranquility, with the sun fighting a losing battle to break through the clouds. Nice tones and colours. It feels cold and barren.

The only negatives for me are the distracting stone at the bottom of the frame. I want to pick it up and toss it somewhere. I also think I would have preferred it had the trees not been in the frame too. The photo is nicely balanced with nothing interrupting the relfection until you reach the right hand side of the image, which detracts from it somewhat.

Next time, pop your shoes and socks off, roll your jeans up and wade into the icey water. Just try not to shiver and cause ripples. Not tooooooo demanding, am I ? lol

Still, a very nice shot

[rbarry]

Its a stunning image.

It's hard to criticise an image like this when the subject material is so powerful, but I agree with amk1977 about the distraction of the tree on the right hand side. Compare this image with your image of Thirlmere, where the foreground framing/composition is better balanced.

But as I said, it almost seems wrong to pick fault with an otherwise beautiful image, well done!

[alfbranch]

The trees I hate myself and wish I had moved along a little but I was trying to ctach up with the wife who was a quarter of a mile ahead by this point so I did not set up my tripod and consider the framing as much as normal.

I sthis better then

Ennerdale panorama 7 by alfred.branch, on Flickr

[rbarry]

Hi Alf,

Yes it is better, but I've taken the liberty of removing a bit more of the tree, using content aware fill and a bit of cloning. I also made a second layer which I then mirrored and moved so as to blend the two layers where the reflection in the water and the corresponding top right area of the mountain were hard to match.
And to finish I finally cropped out what I couldn't clean up.

Please let me know if you want me to remove this edited image.



Edit
Just noticed the two pairs of white dots I've created in the clouds top right. This could be fixed easily enough but it's time I went to bed!

[alfbranch]

I dont mind at all as it shows what possible.

What is content aware fill?

[amk1977]

Its a feature on Photoshop CS5 that allows you to select an area of an image that you want to replace and fill it with pixels from the surrounding area. What could sometimes take a few hours worth of cloning and blending in older version can be performed in minutes in CS5.

Here's a video to demonstrate its capabilities

[pburness]

I might be out on a limb here....

I don't mind the tree's on the right, gives a perspective of scale and an immediate indication of what we are looking at

More distracting for me is the brightness of the amber/yellow reflection of the sun. I'd be more tempted to darken the sky and water, up the contrast on the mountain a bit.

Nice shot, I'd of been tempted to let the wife walk on....

Phil

[amk1977]

I'd be tempted to push my girlfriend in.......

[pburness]

Originally Posted by amk1977

I'd be tempted to push my girlfriend in.......

Maybe she could remove the rock on the way out - but not allowed to make a ripple!

Phil