Loch Leven morning

[Donald]

Up and about early this morning.
Can't decide whether this works for me. What do you think?

40D, 17-85Kit IS USM@50mm, Manual, 20th@f18, Spot, Circ Pol+GND4

[wjh31]

close but no cigar is my first impression. It wants the plants in the foreground to frame the isle in the background, but unfortunately they creep in a bit

[Steve S]

I agree with wjh................i also think the island needs more contrast and should be set off center.

[Donald]

Thank you both.
Why didn't I see that the island was being invaded by the foreground grass and was not properly framed!? Ah well, don't like cigars anyway. But if only I could stop smoking cigarettes I'd be able to afford a lot more equipment.
Back next weekend to try again.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Donald,

Personally I think the island's contrast is fine, but I agree with those about the composition.

Sometimes the lengths I go to to rescue an 'almost' picture are scary ...
Thus I present a little topiary (or is that just hedges?), I'm quite pleased with it, now, where did I leave the hedge trimmers?

Apologies for the very crudely re-applied border on my crop - this is so NOT a finished picture, just a preview of "what could be" next week!



Good luck,

[Wirefox]

Donald, I think if you could somehow push up the translucency of the leaves and perhaps actually tone down the island this would really fly. The framing would become somewhat irrelevant if the grasses are pushed as the main subject. this is the type of image I wish I had thought to capture myself

Steve

[Donald]

Dave, Steve

Thank you both. On the back of what wjh31 and Steve S wrote earlier, this picture on this forum has really been wonderful. Why? Because of what I have learned during the course of today.

It started off with the realisation that I hadn't paid enough attention to composition. I did go back after the first couple of posts and cloned and played with levels round the island.

This is the first time that anyone else has taken one of my pictures and done some work on it. What a powerful and wonderful way of learning. Don't know if others have experienced this similarly, but you learn so much from looking at what someone such as Dave has done with your image.

And Steve - Yes, I was aware of the transluceny, but didn't apply myself to getting it out. It is there.

So, thank you all. Another step forward achieved today on that learning curve.

[Dave Humphries]

Donald,

Thank you, I have enjoyed doing quite a few of these for people here recently, and it is always nice to know it is appreciated. I learn to from these encounters myself, however, I must do some of my own pics though, it's almost like I'm afraid to, stupid, huh! But not before I've fixed the plumbing tonight, reality bites, or in this case, makes the floor wet and slippery.

Cheers,