Jonathan, Cool, Thanks for the honest critique, and yes, I welcome constructive criticism, I?m here to learn, not to win a popularity contest so your post is very much appreciated! Personally, I like the star burst filter, but I would have preferred a denser filter for this one if I was to shoot it again. I agree with you on the foreground, it should have been in focus or it shouldn?t be in there at all, and actually I don?t understand why it?s not. It was extremely cold and windy out that morning not to mention it was obnoxiously bright out. Like burning your eyes out kind of bright. So I set the camera to ISO100, max shutter and the tightest aperture it will do at that focal length thinking that @ f8 , everything would be in focus.. guess not. But about the saturation level, Jonathan, this thing was shot in color but it looked like a black and white with a hint of color at the horizon line, so the 10-20% desaturation wouldn?t do that much in my opinion. I attached the color version to this post. To me, I just thought removing all color would make this look better, maybe I?m wrong about that, I don?t know. And that?s an idea about merging 2 images, I?ve tried that before, it works well. Thanks ~Mike
Beautiful light from the sun-trace but I'm afraid I don't share Dan's enthusiasm for the star-burst filter - I hink it would be much nicer without it.
Although the lack of colour adds to the winter feeling it could work even better if you didn't fully desaturate it, just down to 10-20% so the hint of colour would make it seem more real rather than just a B%W print.
Maybe you particularly wanted the overhanging winter vegetation to be out-of-focus but I don't see why. You could have kept it sharper by using a small aperture as you don't need such a fast exposure, or by taking a second shot focussed on it and merging both images.
You did say you welcomed even critical comments but sorry if this all sounds a bit negative - I still think it's a nice shot. Best wishes, Jonathan
Hey Mike, Outstanding photo! I really just like the whole things, water trees, and especially the twinkle (that star filter rocks!). Soothing... Regards, Dan
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{K:5248} 11/2/2004
