themusicman2001 wrote:Here's a more recent one bear... thoughts on this one?
Hi John,
all gear is gone unfortiunately already. I am going to miss the 90-250 f2.8, then again, I am not missing the weight. <grins> I am shooting with a phase one (medium format) as well as the alpha900 and a variety of lenses now. New territory and I am glad to have a very powerfull Mac here, otherwise processing would be a very painfull exercise. The phase one is a beast, and requires flawless shooting techniques, anything less would show in the picture, the reward is a 40 MP file with outstanding tonality. The alpha900 is my walkaround camera now, my always on lense is the Zeiss 135mm F1.8, but I like all of them Zeiss lenses a lot.
I can only make suggestions and very personal observations John.
Composition: I would crop this different and adjust the horizon about 0.9 degrees, which gives you a totally different impression. As for crop, I would crop out the person to the left and a good bit from the bottom probably around 1/5.
By doing this, you would avaoind two things. 1. Centric view; In my world a centric view is very rarely desired. 2. Focus; This way you could help the picture to add a stronger composition that allows the observer to focus on the essentials in the scene.
Here it would seem that you were fascinated by the reflections in the water, but a stronger geometrical composition would help that a lot. If you could have stepped back for example, if possible, the full reflections of the trees to the right could have been covered as well. This way you see only a part and this makes it less interesting.
In general; I would question the choice to use HDR on a scene like this. - Why? - HDR can be used to increase the visible a dynamic range in a given scene where normally aspects would loose out.
Here, we see a very contrasty picture in the first place, the sunlight causing strong reflections in the foiliage, which btw. can be controlled easily with circ. Pol Filters. Without that, the already harsh light turns even harsher through the choice of processing. Shooting over water is another such example where a circ. Pol is a must have.
The midtones are very contrasty and the highlights burned out too much (clouds), but the worst part are the shadows. While a HDR should help to open shadow information, here it is completly lost. Note the dark area to the right of the tree in the water, there is not enough texture left to be seen.
Suggestion, revisit the place and take your time when composing the frame. First, try to make a choice what you want to show, and then reduce it to the essentials, try different angles and heights.
Choose a different time to shoot with more pleasant light. Now in July, best time is 5:00 AM - 10:00 AM and 7:00 PM - Sunset and beyond. Take midge jacket with you. <grins>
