At the end of the day... I had a vision for this when I took the shot but after a lot of consideration, the vision changed - good or bad - I'm not sure. I would really like your...

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

I had a vision for this when I took the shot but after a lot of consideration, the vision changed - good or bad - I'm not sure. I would really like your thoughts on this as presented. It isn't what I had in mind to start with but rather where I ended up.

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oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

kind of sense what you mean:
all the elements for a shot are there, just in the wrong places

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

oldtigger wrote:

kind of sense what you mean:
all the elements for a shot are there, just in the wrong places

Thank you for taking a look. I think the only thing I could do to change the basic elements of the shot at this point would possibly be a different crop. Is there something of that sort that you think would be an improvement?

Crazyknight Loc: Orange City, FL

With the way the tree and heron draw your eye to the open area, there is a nice sense of depth and distance. The refracted water also helps this feeling, IMHO. If you must crop, a bit off of the right is all I would do. This would keep the eye from wandering so far off the subject but overall, I really enjoy the entire image.

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

The sky, tree and heron totally work for me, the brightness of the water draws my attention away from them and becomes a distraction. You do have a neat shot in there when you solve the riddle. There is something e oof mountains that is also distracting to me but I can't put my finger on it.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Crazyknight wrote:

With the way the tree and heron draw your eye to the open area, there is a nice sense of depth and distance. The refracted water also helps this feeling, IMHO. If you must crop, a bit off of the right is all I would do. This would keep the eye from wandering so far off the subject but overall, I really enjoy the entire image.

Thank you for the encouraging review CK. I'll take a look at the crop possibilities.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

BassmanBruce wrote:

The sky, tree and heron totally work for me, the brightness of the water draws my attention away from them and becomes a distraction. You do have a neat shot in there when you solve the riddle. There is something e oof mountains that is also distracting to me but I can't put my finger on it.

Bruce, I would love to have mountains in my shots. This is in Florida so those are actually just trees across the lake. The trees are very oof for sure and maybe their shapelessness is what is distracting. I'm not great at pp but I can probably tone down the water a bit. I'll take a look at it.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Cwilson341 wrote:

I had a vision for this when I took the shot but after a lot of consideration, the vision changed - good or bad - I'm not sure. I would really like your thoughts on this as presented. It isn't what I had in mind to start with but rather where I ended up.

It is nice. It is a little too pleasant. Too smooth and too soothing. Cough syrup...

It needs shock effect, to jangle a nerve or two, wake up the viewer's senses.

Crop out the bird, flip it left to right, and paste it back in. I.e., have the bird looking out of the image rather than into it!

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

I think if your vision had started with getting the bird and branches in focus you would have stood a chance of saving the shot. Either your camera missed focus point or you had a touch of camera shake. Even if you try and make it into a silhouette type of shot the movement in the tree branches spoil it.
I think its improved with a crop from the bottom to eliminate the river bank and a crop in from the right but even then would not be convinced to keep it.
It may be unfortunate but you posted this on the same day malarz posted a superb bird picture also taken in difficult conditions.
Im aware there is a bit of luck getting a good bird shot but I do think they need to be a lot sharper than yours. You also have some fairly noticeable CA around the bird which is easily fixed in PP.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Apaflo wrote:

It is nice. It is a little too pleasant. Too smooth and too soothing. Cough syrup...

It needs shock effect, to jangle a nerve or two, wake up the viewer's senses.

Crop out the bird, flip it left to right, and paste it back in. I.e., have the bird looking out of the image rather than into it!

I can very well see what you mean about syrupy and that is probably a lot of what I liked about it being sort of a syrupy person! I don't think my pp skills would successfully turn the bird around but it is an intriguing idea for creating tension.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

Billyspad wrote:

I think if your vision had started with getting th... (show quote)

Billy, I'm fairly certain it was camera shake. Big lens hand held and in a hurry because I was running out of time and needed to get on the road. Next time I'll get the tripod out of the car or skip the shot altogether. I think the CA is something I caused in post as a result of the camera shake. When I shot this I thought I was wasting pixels but I liked the overall look when I saw it on the computer so I chose to fool with it. Lesson learned-take more time with every shot to get a better starting point.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

A big heron standing atop a spindly, leafless tree would have caused me to slam on the brakes for sure!

I too love softly spoken, gentle images, especially when involving nature or wildlife. But I don't get "syrupy" here because I feel a tension in thinking surely the heron is going to lose its balance any moment

I love the silhouette of these two elements, very eye-catching. I am going to pm you a crop where the subject is centered. I don't know if it's the color, the depth of field, the relative brightness, or a bit of all three, but the amount of open space to the right I'm finding somewhat distracting.

As far as suggestion to not keep it, if you follow the progression of discussion in MinnieV's knees and ice topic, with the resultant pp solutions, you will find a good lesson on don't give up too soon, especially if there are elements of the image you enjoy. Of course, as you know, everything suggested here are our own visions, not necessarily yours

A fascinating presentation to ponder, Carol!

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

Cwilson341 wrote:

Billy, I'm fairly certain it was camera shake. Bi... (show quote)

Not everybody will agree but I am one of those who thinks if the shot is not at least somewhere near correct it is not worth messing. My old ma would have said you cannot make a purse out of a sows ear. She would have been a hoot with some of the sensitive souls on here lol
Kindest regards Billy

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I like it, Carol. I agree that a bit off the right might improve the photo.

Snap Shot Loc: California

Nicely done Carol! Simplicity and serene images are always welcomed after the holidays!