Everything was still. Even the birds, which are usually rampantly trying to acquire a piece of your powerbar, were nowhere to be seen. I tried to capture this atmosphere.
Location: Garibaldi Lake, Garibaldi Provincial Park, Beautiful British Columbia, Canada. Equipment: Nikon D90 + Tokina 11-16mm + Tiffen Polarizer. Technique: Photomatix Pro 4.0 and Photoshop CS5 from 3 RAW exposures.
I like this image, but it doesn't blow me off my feet. I know the light is diffused and low-key, so maybe the timing just wasn't there, but I feel the colors don't represent the true feeling of this image, and careful manipulation with curves could bring it closer to what the eye can see and the mind perceives. A thing that really bothers me is a slight tilt to the right - there is no justification for it, and as the image was cropped it could have been rotated (arbitrary, probably less than 2 degrees CCW) to correct that. I am also unsure of the square crop - for me the trees are too close to the left, and IMHO a little more space to the left and quite a lot more on the right would have been more stable. Regarding the vantage point, I am inclined to think (again - cannot say for sure without being there) that a lower vantage point, possible to the right, would have resulted in a stronger image by limiting the color and expanding the snow. My gut feeling would be to balance the mountains with the water (the water would appear narrower as the camera is lowered).
Some of my comments are speculative, but I hope this helps...
The last two from this location have really had such a different feel to them. So cool, almost enough to make you shiver just looking at them... Anyway, the polarizer really added something that this photo needed. Without it I might not have very high esteem for it...maybe that's because I'm pretty used to scenes like this in good old snowey Utah, though! XD Yeah, must just be me... And good on you for not letting a cloudy day screw up your shoots, using them to your advantage!
I know the light is diffused and low-key, so maybe the timing just wasn't there, but I feel the colors don't represent the true feeling of this image, and careful manipulation with curves could bring it closer to what the eye can see and the mind perceives.
A thing that really bothers me is a slight tilt to the right - there is no justification for it, and as the image was cropped it could have been rotated (arbitrary, probably less than 2 degrees CCW) to correct that. I am also unsure of the square crop - for me the trees are too close to the left, and IMHO a little more space to the left and quite a lot more on the right would have been more stable. Regarding the vantage point, I am inclined to think (again - cannot say for sure without being there) that a lower vantage point, possible to the right, would have resulted in a stronger image by limiting the color and expanding the snow. My gut feeling would be to balance the mountains with the water (the water would appear narrower as the camera is lowered).
Some of my comments are speculative, but I hope this helps...
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